Botany 103: companion planting

The Great Bean Bakeoff

Raised bed #4.  During installation, MacGyver uncovered a massive decomposing palette.  This may have been to store treasures off the ground when house storage was no longer an option.  It also may explain why the pecan tree looked so sick/thirsty.  After spending an inordinate amount of time with  companion planting quick reference, I decided to plant all 6 heirloom bean varieties (bush & pole) from my apocalyptic readiness kit in conjunction with garlic, shallots, carnival carrots (multicolor), and zucchini which I received as gifts (thanks!).  This builds off lessons learned from raised bed #1:  different varieties of the same plant perform wildly differently (see: cherry tomatoes) and one trellis of peas doesn't yield enough to make a persistently harvestable full serving of veggies.  I've also heard horror stories about prolific zucchini, so I started a few of them in a potting tray to avoid an Audrey II type situation.  I tried to plant the purple podded beans towards the less-accessible side and center to streamline harvesting.  I used the companion plants to designate the boundaries.  We threw some chicken wire on top to keep the tunneling Klee Kai from messing up the plan.  

Bitter Greens & Beer

The mixed greens we planted in front of the spinach took on a life of their own.  We tried clear cutting them and juicing them, but the ones that were thriving were the super bitters.  No amount of banana, OJ, or chocolate protein powder was going to make that smoothie palatable.  I clear cut and composted most of it.  To fill the void, I started a couple basil plants from gift seeds.  Our last basil in molecule garden got decimated, so I want to plant the replacement where we can keep an eye on it.  Fortunately, basil plays nice with its future neighbors (pepper, lettuce, tomatoes, and spinach).  To free up space in the potting tray, I transplanted the 7 globe artichoke starts to be ground cover under the Reed avocado tree.  These guys are doubling as landscaping since they take a year to mature. 

MacGyver also ordered myriad hops varieties for Operation Home Brew.  Maybe they should grow up the house after it gets repainted.. or maybe the final fence when it's installed...  we're weighing our options and testing out how much sun these guys need with some planter prototyping.  

Finger Foods

Raised bed #3 is a petite triangle of snack food.  We started with edamame (which is finally sprouting). Strawberries are also starting to sprout.  The hope is they will be low-profile edible living mulch.  If this batch doesn't work out, we've got gifted seeds (w00t!).  We set the triangle up on the major thorough-fair between the gate and the backdoor right by the mega hose, so we can stay on top of it. 

misc Epic innovations

• Office Yacht desk converted to back porch work table (aka MacGyver's junk drawer)
• Upgraded front room theater keyboard and mouse to ones which are more responsive
• Sleeping bags in bed to minimize draft (now with bed buddy bed warmer)
• El cheapo paintbrushes for wood stain crevice application and paint stripping (better finish, less chemical burns)
• Lil victorian dog door concept (implementation was all MacG).