Category Archives: Soil

Concrete Block Raised Beds

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The good thing about using concrete blocks for your raised bed is that concrete will last for a lifetime. Although this one is being used for flowers you could just as well grow vegetables in it:


Photo by Liz (perspicacious.org).

The concrete blocks will stay in place for many years but unfortunately they take up more space in your kitchen garden due to the thick wall each raised bed will have.

Not to worry – take a look at these neat beds made from concrete slabs:


Photo by Jennifer Rafieyan.

The walls are thin but just as durable as wooden walls would be, and concrete can’t rot like wood can.

Normally the length of a raised bed would be longer than the width of the bed (oblong) but the one in the picture might work just as well. It’s important that you’re able to reach the middle of the bed without standing on the soil and thereby compressing it. The plants love a loose soil.

Another nice thing about the setup above is that you can use the same type of concrete slabs for walking aisles as you use for raised bed walls. Then you won’t need to worry about weeding your pathways, plus your shoes will be free of dirt when you go pick some fresh vegetables in the pouring rain.

Early Potatoes – Part 3: Results

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At first my indoor potato growing experiment looked promising. The small potato plant grew fast beneath the 36 watt growing light:

A month later the potato plant reached the grow light 1 m (3 ft) above the soil but at the same time the plant began tilting to the side:

Sometimes it would straighten itself back up only to fall over again later.

Since the much anticipated flowers never developed and the plant started to look weak, plus the lower leaves turned yellow, I decided it was time to harvest any potential potato tubers. When I grow potatoes outdoors in the spring I wait until flowers have developed before I start digging up early potatoes.

Unfortunately this is what I found:

Only the original potato tuber. Hmm. I guess it’s not as simple as that to grow potatoes indoors.

I expect that the plant was given too much light. I was really generous in the beginning – full light from 6 AM to 11 PM (though later only 8 AM to 9 PM). I suspect that the plant grew too big too fast to handle it’s own weight. Also, I’ve heard that the light outdoors changes through the season and the plants see this as a signal to start flowering. I didn’t change the light at all.

I actually did two experiments and the first as described above was definitely the one I expected the most of. I didn’t pay much attention to the other one but the result was actually a bit better.

This other tuber was planted even before I moved to this house, so it traveled along on the moving van (Gee, I’m turning into a plant geek ;-) ) The pot was left beneath a windowsill and as the days went by the plant climbed up behind the curtain to reach some light. I didn’t water it much and in time it just wilted down:

But look at the stem:

Small green tubers! At first I thought it was potato fruits but somehow the plant developed tubers above the surface and actually two small yellow ones below the surface:

Which is kind of sad ;-) My deliberate attempt failed and by accident I grew potatoes in the pot I forgot about. Hmm…

Video: Revisiting the Victory Garden

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I was actually looking for videos starring Barbara Damrosch but only found one, that I already linked too previously. She is co-owner of Four Season Farm and I read that she appeared in the PBS series The Victory Garden. My search lead me to this old, old video about victory gardens in the US during WWII, that I want to share instead. This is old school vegetable gardening, from a time when it was a matter of life and death.

I don’t think much have changed regarding gardening techniques – the instructions in the video could just as well be used today. But the battle for victory is different as I see it. It’s still a battle, but it’s for your health. Growing your own food is just healthy. Plain and simple. Exercise, sunshine, vitamins. It reminds me why I even bother writing this blog, but what it all boils down to is preventing muscle atrophy and depression and avoiding fast food.

Although the quality of the video is poor it still moves me. Young people doing meaningful work in the field – exercise, sunshine, vitamins. They even work with a horse in the garden. I can’t remember the last time I even touched a horse. (… no, Jim, not in that way.) Completely disconnected from nature. I think it’s unhealthy and dissatisfying. Look at the amount of vegs they pull from that ½ acre (2000 m2)!

In the video they talk about:

  • Early vs. late crop
  • Crop rotation
  • Fighting pests (with some nasty looking spraying I doubt would be legal today ;-) )
  • Crazy over-sized swiss chard (what IS that?)

And remember what grandpa said:

No work – no garden. Get what that means. No work – no spuds. No work – no turnip, no tank, no flying fortress, NO victory. Bear that in mind, all you victory gardeners, and work – for VICTORY!

… Your good health, that is.