Newbie from Wisconsin

[Oboegirl]

Hi! Just found this board! We have about 300 square feet of raised bed veggie gardens on the banks of the Mississippi river. We've been growing our own produce for about 4 years now and we love the square foot method and keep everything as organic as possible. This year, we've added a bee and butterfly garden! Here is a screen shot of our garden plan. Nice to find a board of garden enthusiasts.

 

[Beth_B]

Welcome! That's impressively organized! What dye plants do you grow?

 

[CanadianLori]

Welcome. You will love this group. I am still green thumb challenged and appreciate this group.

 

[grouie]

You have indeed found a site a site that has the community sharing your interest. Welcome.

 

[Trellum]

Welcome to the forum! Best of luck with your project, even though it sounds like you guys are already doing so well Actually your new projects sound amazing and so impressive! I hope you can show us some pictures later

 

[zigs]

Welcome to Gardening Forums

 

[Sheal]

Welcome to the forums Oboegirl.

 

[Oboegirl]

What dye plants do you grow?

Thank you! It's impressively organized on paper but the actual planting went a little off-plan. I'll update my map soon. In my Dye Garden my main plants are Amaranth: Hopi Red, and Woad. I've added a few other prairie plants that should give me dye if I harvest but I'll probably donate them to a friend who is more into dying than I am. I mostly wanted to give my bees some variety. I ordered Mason Bees (they are currently hibernating in my refrigerator) and I also set up a little tiny bee-waterer/ fountain. The bee-waterer is basically a little 30 gallon tub full of rocks with a little fountain in the middle of it. The rocks create little pools of water and offer the bees a spot to rest while they drink so they won't drown. Here are a few pics of my lettuces and one of my bee-waterer:

 

[marlingardener]

Welcome to the forum! We have bees--honeybees--and although we have a pond, we also have a bee-watering station which attracts butterflies, too.
Do you save yellow onion skins (the outer papery skins) for dying? It makes a nice rich brown color. The "butternut" of Confederate uniforms came from onion skins. (Not that you needed to know that, but it's a bit of interesting trivia!)

 

[JBtheExplorer]

on the banks of the Mississippi river.

Welcome! I'm also from Wisconsin, but on the opposite side of the state. I'm glad you've added a bee and butterfly garden. A tip, as far as that goes, the best possible bee and butterfly garden is one with all native plants.

 

[Oboegirl]

What a beautiful garden!

I live within driving distance of Seed Savers Exchange and we bought up a bunch of their prairie plants in their spring sale! Can't wait to see what they grow up to look like!

 

[Oboegirl]

Do you save yellow onion skins (the outer papery skins) for dying? It makes a nice rich brown color.

I'm not yet into dying but I have a few friends that are. I'll pass that one on!

 

[Becky]

A belated hello and welcome from me!

 

[PipGirl]

Welcome to the Forums!!