September Update

As I mentioned in a previous post, one side of the raised bed seemed to be doing better than the other. At the time, I concluded that it might be because the south west side of the raised bed was not getting enough water, or maybe too much sunlight, or that the cardboard under the soil and much didn't have big enough holes in it to allow the plants to sink roots. At one point, I even blamed the underlying soil. As the summer wore on, I concluded that, of course, the problem stemmed from a lack of water. This being Oklahoma in July and August, the lack-of-water explanation seemed to jive with the wilting. Then, everything but the okra dried up and died in about a week.
Around this time, I discussed the problem with a friend of mine, and he suggested that the problem may be that the chipped straw product had been mixed with with salt-treated sawdust to extend shelf life. I had not thought of this, and it certainly would explain the fact that everything shriveled up and died pretty much at once. So, in the spirit of experimentation, and the fact that i didn't this stuff contaminating potentially productive soil, I dug up the raised bed (below) made with the straw chip product. I tossed it on the weeds growing along the fence. The dig-up ended last week. You can see the early results

In a happier turn of events, the raised bed made from real straw seems to be doing just fine. The corn isn't very tall, which may mean that next year I plant it directly into the soil and not a raised bed. Some of the watermelons cracked open. I have read that this can be due to infrequent rain, followed by heavy rain. The rainfall this summer certainly has been infrequent interrupted by downpours.

Coming soon: a pumpkin patch!

 Today, I planted strawberries. I am conducting a double experiment with the berries (called Sparkle Strawberries).
I planted one set directly into unamended soil, and the other set went into a 1:1:1 mix of black gold gardening soil, peat, and local soil. I built up this combo of soil into a makeshift raised bed. Both areas receive roughly the same amount of sun, and bout will receive the same regular watering regimen.
I planted each set (looking at the pictures) at deep-to-shallow. On the right end of each strawberry mini-field, I planted at a depth of 2 inches, 1 inch in the middle, and barely a half inch on the left end. We will see what the results yield.
Yay science.

The rescued slippery maple seems to be doing fine. The compost is cooking down nicely. The chicken coop is still empty.