Road Construction Oaks

The Oaks Shopping Center, the construction site across Black Rock Road and the Expo Center all have contributed to a need for increased traffic capabilities of the nearby roads. Hopefully, that need is being addressed with the current road construction.

The Norristown bound side of Egypt Road is being widened as it approaches the eastbound US 422 entrance.

The grass has been scraped from quite a bit of the hillside along Egypt Road.

It looks like new storm drains will be installed along the road.

New utility poles were planted to carry the overhead traffic signals at both intersections along Egypt Road - Black Rock and Mill Roads.

Although the entrance ramp will be wider, it is not likely US 422 will be widened much beyond the entrance ramp.

Above is the eastbound exit from US 422 onto Norristown bound Egypt Road. There is a basin that was excavated to the right of the exit ramp. It is full of water. I spoke with an older lifetime Oaks resident who remembers a spring right where that basin is today. I wonder if anyone did their homework before digging that basin?

Below are a few images I created whilst out with a camera. I can be dangerous, at times.

With all this road construction, surely the roads will not be jammed in the future. One can only hope someone knows what they're doing.


©Damyon T. Verbo - all right reserved

Late First Planting New Square Foot Raised Beds

Here in the Philadelphia area, it is customary to plant peas and onions on St. Patrick's Day, 17 March. My two new raised beds were still in the planning stage on that date. I finished constructing, mixing the planting medium and filling the beds 15 April. Too late to plant peas and onions. Not to late for tender plants if they are protected from frost.

Lowe's had these Bonnie tomato plants on sale 20 April. Besides being on sale, they were tomato varieties I wanted to plant. One thing about Bonnie plants I have learned over the last few years is that the variety you want may not be available if you wait to make your purchase later in the season. For those two reasons I purchased the following four tomato plants.

Red Beefsteak-My wife's request

Mortgage Lifter - A huge tomato with great taste

Mr. Stripey - A buttery sandwich size tomato

Tamy G Hybrid Grape Tomato- I have never grown it but will give it a try

In the past I have failed to get the newly purchased plants into the ground before they suffered damage. I tend to procrastinate. Therefore, as soon as I got these plants home from Lowe's, I prepared the grid and started planting the tomatoes.

Each tomato plant got its own one foot square. I cut an X in the center of a square. I folded back each triangular flap to form a square. I then dug down to near the bottom of the raised bed, putting the displaced growing medium on the plastic mulch near the hole.

Using my thumbnail I removed branches about 6"/ 15cm up from the bottom of the stem. Why do this? Tomatoes sprout roots along the buried stem. The extra roots add support for the fruit. Plus, the tomato will access moisture deep in the soil that doesn't dry out as readily as soil near the surface.

Next I removed the label and pot from the growing medium and tomato roots.

If the roots are dense and growing in a circular pattern, 

they must be loosened, straightened, freed from that circular pattern. If you don't, the roots will continue to grow in that same circular pattern and not stretch out for support and access to more moisture.

Place the plant into the hole, roots first, of course. The bottom branches of the plant should not touch the plastic mulch when the plant is standing straight. If they do, remove those lower branches.

Return all of the displaced growing medium into the hole around the plant and firm it down a bit. Move on to the next plant and repeat. 

Besides the tender tomatoes I also planted seeds of several varieties of lettuce and several varieties of carrots in the raised bed.

The four squares on the bottom row are each planted with four lettuce each. The two squares on the left side of the next row each has 16 carrots spaced equally.

For a continued supply of lettuce, I will plant more every two weeks until the temperature gets hot when the lettuce tends to bolt to seed. I reserved some squares for peppers and other tender plants to be added at a later date.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Square Foot Raised Bed Delineated

The square foot raised beds were completed, filled and covered with plastic mulch on April 15.  To prepare for planting, it was time to layout the squares of the square foot garden.

The inside of the beds measure 4' x 4' / 1.2m x 1.2m.

The beds will be divided into 16 equal size areas. Each 1'/ 30cm square.

Mark the frame every 1' / 30cm.

Do the same all around the frame.

Using a straightedge, draw lines on the plastic mulch from one side of the frame to the other. Once all the lines are drawn you will have a grid. Each square measuring one foot by one foot.  Thereby the name, square foot garden.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Raised Bed Growing Medium Recipe

Traditionally the growing medium for plants has been soil, dirt, earth, ground, loam or what ever you to call it in your neck of the woods. The composition and structure of soil can vary widely from place to place. To take the guess work out of the composition and structure of your local soil it may be better to create your own growing medium. Start from scratch. Play God a little bit.

According to the original Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, the growing medium consists of: 

1. Sphagnum Peat Moss
2. Mushroom Compost
3. Vermiculite

Also recommended are organic sources of nutrients. Above you see:

1. Blood Meal
2. Bone Meal
3. Wood Ash for which I substituted Green Sand

In the photograph is enough peat, compost and vermiculite to fill two 4' x 4' x 1' / 1.2m x 1.2m x .3 m raised bed. That is 32cu ft/ .9cu m of material.

To start mixing the medium I dumped two bails of sphagnum peat moss onto the patio. The peat is very dry and light in weight. I then added three bags of mushroom compost to the pile. This bagged mushroom compost is almost wet and very heavy. Then it was time to mix the two together.

Using a square mouth shovel, slide the shovel under the close edge of the pile and place the shovelful atop the pile. Continue that action moving the pile away from you. The clumps of compost and peat will fall from the top of the pile and settle at the edge. Smash those clumps with the flat of the shovel to make small pieces of the large.

Be sure to move all the mixture in the pile and not leave any concentrations of components.

Once the medium is homogeneous add one bag of vermiculite. 

Using the same shoveling technique, mix the vermiculite until the medium is again homogeneous.

Add 1gal/ 3.78L of green sand and mix again.

The next step will take some time. Add water to the medium. Shower the pile with water. 

Both the peat and vermiculite will absorb a great amount of water. Use the same shoveling method as before to mix the water into the medium.

The medium will have enough water when squeezed 

it holds together in a clump. The mixing is finished.

It feels good to create.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Preparing Second Raised Bed Site

The second raised bed was to go on a new area of lawn. That meant much more labor than the first site. My back already hurt, and my right shoulder and both knees. I don't want to complain but, from what I remember of my youth, that is what old people do. I will, however, spare showing you my surgical scars.

I wanted the second raised bed very close to the first. I also wanted a reasonable amount of space between them because, I am big boned. If you know what I mean. So I chose an area just NE of the first bed with 30"/76cm between for the path. This placement will facilitate extending the drip irrigation system, if it ever arrives in the mail.

I started the prep by measuring 5'/1.5m from the concrete patio. As I did with the prep of the first bed. That measurement would include the 4'/ 1.2m bed plus 1'/30cm for a buffer zone between the raised bed and the lawn. That buffer zone would be covered with wood chips or some other material that would make weeding easy.

I measured along the concrete patio 7'/2.1m. That measurement included 30"/76cm for the path, 4'6"/1.3m for the bed and 1'/30cm for the buffer zone of wood chips along side the raised bed.

The next step was to remove the grass/turf from the soil. To do this I used a border shovel. That shovel is flat and cuts a straight line. It also gets under the grass to cut the roots. So I tried to keep square to the patio and I cut into the turf a straight line 5'/1.5m out from the patio. Next I cut a straight line parallel with the patio to meet the cut-out buffer area at the first bed. Then I cut lines the shape of a grid approximately 1'/30cm apart in both directions.

Lastly, I cut the roots under each square of turf and piled the squares around the dug out area.

Reminded me of the turf houses built on the prairie in the mid-nineteenth century when there wasn't much else with which to build.

Last was to level the frame. Above you can see its proximity to the first bed.

I could hardly wait to mix the 16cu ft/.45cu m of soil to get the second bed filled. But first, I had to go inside and sit down. My back was hurting. I fell asleep in the recliner until after dark. Too dark to continue. As my mom always said, "There is always tomorrow." I didn't like it when I was eating cookies but, it works for me here.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Hate Weeds - Plastic Sheet Mulch

I hate to weed my garden. This time of year the dandelions are in bloom and the Norway Maples will soon be dropping their winged seeds. With virgin growing medium in my raised bed there is no better time to act. 

I planned ahead, a bit, and purchased plastic sheet mulch online from Burpee.com.  This is the kind of plastic seen on vegetable farms. Plastic mulch keeps out the weed seeds, warms the soil by a few degrees and keeps the moisture in the soil. This red "Tomato Mulch" is suppose to increase tomato production 20% by reflecting the red light up under the leaves. I will settle for keeping out the weed seeds and preserving moisture in the soil. A major reason I purchased the red mulch over any other kind is because it was 4'/1.2m wide. That width will cover the bed completely with no seams under which weed seeds could find their way to the soil.

I laid out the mulch on the bed from side to side. I cut the length adding about 3"/76mm to the 4'/1.2m needed. Just to be safe.

I pegged down the corners to keep the mulch in place. I don't need to be chasing it around the yard. Besides it won't be of much use if is not held in place. 

I might still hate weeds but I will not have to pull weeds from the garden.


©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved