Whizbang Gardening

Whizbang Gardening Good ideas make great gardeners. This is the official page of "The Planet Whizbang Idea Book For Gardeners." www.WhizbangGardening.com

Minibed Cover Crop Technique—I started hammer-planting cover crops in my Minibed garden a few years back. The technique ...
06/17/2026

Minibed Cover Crop Technique—
I started hammer-planting cover crops in my Minibed garden a few years back. The technique works so well that I've continued to use it. This photo shows a Minibed in my garden this morning that I planted to oats. 13 spots is ideal. The bed has had a raspberry plant in it for several years. The soil tilth is poor. Getting a cover crop, with roots in the soil will help get the soil back in shape for planting vegetable crops. Having raspberry canes in Minibeds is a bad idea. The roots spread into adjoining beds. It's an "experimental" Minibed garden. I learned from that experiment. I made a YouTube video about hammer planting a few years bck. Check it out here: https://youtu.be/PzmLOYbklvU?si=Vp0-8_lWmegYGCjl

Comfrey Is An Ideal Potato Fertilizer—God made comfrey with the fertilizing constituents that are perfect for potatoes (...
06/15/2026

Comfrey Is An Ideal Potato Fertilizer—
God made comfrey with the fertilizing constituents that are perfect for potatoes (and tomatoes). I've used my comfrey patches as fertilizer for many years. The easiest way to do this is to cut the comfrey, let it wilt down, and use it as a mulch. When the rain comes it will percolate fertility down into the soil. Or, you can do as I show in these photos... lay the comfrey alongside the potato plants before hilling them. See explanation text with each photo.

A New Minibed Garden is Created—My local friend, Pat, visited me a few weeks back to see and discuss my Minibed gardenin...
06/14/2026

A New Minibed Garden is Created—
My local friend, Pat, visited me a few weeks back to see and discuss my Minibed gardening system. He grasped the concept and sent me this picture a few days later. It’s a fine looking setup. I think it will be 44 Minibeds when finished. Minibed gardening is not a “no-work” gardening system. It’s a less work (after the infrastructure is in place), surprisingly productive, and oh-so-satisfying way of growing a kitchen-garden.

Minibed Beet Layout—Beet seeds are notoriously poor at germination. If I plant rows of beet seeds in a Minibed, they com...
06/14/2026

Minibed Beet Layout—
Beet seeds are notoriously poor at germination. If I plant rows of beet seeds in a Minibed, they come up with many skips. It's discouraging, especially when the beds are prime real estate for planting. I've solved the problem of spotty germination (as you can see in this picture) by transplanting young beet seedlings that were started in self-watering trays (also pictured). I planted 5 rows of 7 seedlings when they were very small. They were about twice the size of the seedlings you see in the tray. They never flagged, and started growing with surprising vigor. I've come to realize that planting seedlings very young is best. 35 beets to a minibed looks like a nice amount to me. They will soon grow to shade the soil. I could mulch these at this point but considering the leaf cover, I probably will not.

The Ideal Layout for Onions in a Minibed—One of my objectives with the Minibed Experimental Garden (now in growing seaso...
06/08/2026

The Ideal Layout for Onions in a Minibed—
One of my objectives with the Minibed Experimental Garden (now in growing season 10) is to determine the best layout for different crops in the minibeds. This photo shows onions planted in 4 rows, with 4 onions to a row. I've concluded that this is the best spacing for large storage onions. ... The beds are mulched with dried grass clippings. To be clear, the clippings are dry before placing an ample layer around the plants. And this mulch is put in place after the plants have grown a little, but not too much. Mulching around crops in the Minibeds is critically important to the success of the plantings. Once mulched, like you see in this photo, these Minibeds will require pretty much no care until harvest.

Tomato Planting Scheme for Minibeds—As in past years, I plant one tomato to a Minibed. I cloche them when planting to pr...
05/23/2026

Tomato Planting Scheme for Minibeds—
As in past years, I plant one tomato to a Minibed. I cloche them when planting to provide a protected environment.

The solar pyramid cloches are on tomatoes from the local Amish greenhouse that I planted yesterday. The clear trash bag cloches are on tomatoes I started and planted a couple weeks back. I removed the solar pyramids on those yesterday and placed the red plastic mulch over the beds, then the cage with plastic.

I will remove the clear plastic on those cages once the weather here improves. It has been cold and rainy. The solar pyramid tomato plants will eventually get trash bag cloches.

Once the tomato plants are established with mulch and cages they are pretty much good to go for the growing season. I will remove any bottom leaves that grow to touch the ground, and perhaps prune the plants some, but I rarely do much pruning. The plants have everything they need to grow with joyous abandon. They will fill the cages and, God willing, produce an abundance of fruits.

My Trash Bag Cloche Video: https://youtu.be/fgeByhxv7nI?si=X_Ks80nm9rgtTAPQ

My blog post explaining how to make solar pyramid cloches: https://minibedsonplastic.blogspot.com/2017/05/making-whizbang-solar-pyramids-most.html

Onion Hope in The Spring—Yesterday I planted onions in my Minibed garden. Mostly Patterson, but a couple different red v...
04/25/2026

Onion Hope in The Spring—
Yesterday I planted onions in my Minibed garden. Mostly Patterson, but a couple different red varieties too. I've experimented with different spacings and am pretty much settled on 20 onions per bed, as you see in the planted bed. They don't look like much to start, but they will grow big and fill the bed, as the photo from last year's garden shows. ... When these starts get a few inches of fresh growth, I will cultivate the bare soil and mulch around the plantings. The beds will not require any more attention until harvest. For fertilizer, I added poultry feathermeal to the soil before planting.

War Rationing—Every so often I'll find old war rationing booklets at an estate sale. They are an interesting part of Ame...
04/24/2026

War Rationing—
Every so often I'll find old war rationing booklets at an estate sale. They are an interesting part of American history. If the current war in the Middle East continues (and that appears to be the unfortunate trajectory) Americans may once again have to deal with rationing of food, fuel, and other items. This is already happening in some other countries.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the government already has some sort of modern, internet based rationing system figured out... just in case.

I've always been a proactive person. So, my garden this year is 2x the size of recent years. There is no downside to growing a lot of your own food.

Click this link to learn more about WW2 rationing books: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/take-closer-look-ration-books

Strawberry Update—I got my strawberry plants awhile back and planted them, four to a Minibed. They don't look great at t...
04/22/2026

Strawberry Update—
I got my strawberry plants awhile back and planted them, four to a Minibed. They don't look great at this point, but it looks like they are going to survive. The berry plants I put in last year are looking great. They were covered with leaves over the winter. I left some leaves for mulch through the growing season, and topped that off with cut-up oat straw I had saved from last year's Minibeds. The straw will help keep the berries clean when they come.

Tomato Hope in The Spring—A couple days back, I planted tomato and ground cherry seeds in my Lee Valley self-watering se...
04/21/2026

Tomato Hope in The Spring—
A couple days back, I planted tomato and ground cherry seeds in my Lee Valley self-watering seed starting trays (I've used them for many years).

Unfortunately, my TommyToe and Juliet seeds are some I saved from 2022. It's not ideal to plant older seeds, but some shoud still be viable.

My objective is to get the tomato plants up to transplanting size without artificial lights, heat mat, greenhouse, or cold frame. I've done it in the past on the kitchen windowsill by transplanting the seedlings twice into progressively larger pots, then planting in the garden when surprisingly small, and covering with a solar pyramid.

It's low tech, and it can work very well. But I only have so much windowsill area, and we always buy most of our tomato and pepper starts from the local Amish greenhouse.

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