from 'comunity garden' - into 'first try at a garden'..

[canesisters]

So here's what the crazy garden newbie has planned so far:


We had TONS of rain this weekend so the ground is saturated right now. This week I'm gonna mow the area REAL SHORT and cover it in feed bags (paper) and all the old hay from this summer. Then strip the stalls and coop and spread that around too.
Later - late Oct (?) - or whenever it gets cold enough that I won't be paralized with fear thinking about the snakes in my brush/branch pile - I'll move that over. I'll also add any leaves raked up from the yard. And since I want to clear out a few little trees and lots of branches to give me a good, clear view through the trees between the house and the coop, I'll toss all of that over there to dry out some. Then... maybe Nov or early Dec (?) burn it. It might or might not catch the hay underneath. Either way, I hope that I will be able to take soil samples to the local extension soon after that and find out what else I need to be adding.

 

[897tgigvib]

That sounds like a good plan.

Since I'm the guy who suggested burning, I feel obligated to suggest some safety measures about it.

Let me know if you have any questions about doing the burning. I found that burning several small fires scattered around is more effective for this situation than tryinbg to burn one single big fire. Make sure you follow all fire ordinances including a burn permit if required, have plenty of water hoses ready, and at least 2 folks doing it. A third person is a good bonus. Not on a windy day, and you feel good and fit for it, dressed right. (One of my bosses is a fireman). I found that I can manage 8 small burn piles, but I suggest no more than 4 at a time. I actually water a fire out before everything is totally burned. Putting a fire totally stone cold out takes more water than it seems it should. Rocks and bigger wood pieces hold hot in them. An out fire no longer steams up when being hosed. An out fire is one that you can set your hand on and hold it there. Give the pile a perimeter that is cleared down to dirt before starting it. When putting the fire out, make sure that perimeter is sopping wet. Have rakes, shovels, hoses and all tools at the ready.

NEVER EVER POUR GASOLINE ON THE PILE TO START IT!!! EVEN MORE NEVER EVER, NEVER EVER POUR GASOLINE ON A LIT FIRE, NOT EVEN A SIDE NOT YET BURNING!!!

I'm sure you already know all these things, but I just felt an obligation to say the safety things just on the small tiny fraction of possibility you, or anyone else planning on burning piles, might not know some safety about burning piles.

 

[vfem]

I am forever trying to find a way to make the work easier. Our big issue, the heat! I like to get my hands dirty pretty all fall and winter so the spring planting is enjoyable. I spend 20-30 minutes in the garden each morning before the day begins. I take care of a few weeds, the chickens, some picking of fresh veggies... then I come inthe house before it gets hot and start my work day.

Problem is, since we started our garden in 2008 my husband pretty much makes excuses not to help. He'll get a wild hair, and till up the yard leaving me a muddy mess to clean up and plant for weeks. Then we sit together on the porch and talk about how amazing it all looks all summer. In the end, I'm extremely pleased, and each morning I am more overwhelmed with joy then I can explain.

So back to trying to make the work easier!

First, I came here! What I love about TEG, is so many different people, with different gardens and different advice. And it all works! So you just try to find what works for you.

Second, find someone locally who'll give you strength to get through each project. Whether its a friend, significant other, parent... whomever. That person needs to see your work, and tell you you're AWESOME.... then you can keep going and not quit. Getting starting, all the digging and construction stuff is the hardest.

Lastly, have fun. Be creative. Do whatever you are comfortable with. ...but start small and grow with your garden. Don't overwhelm yourself. Do a little this season, a little next season and more then the next season.

I started with an acre of NOTHING. Literally an acre of grass and rock and mud. It took me 4 years to get where we are now, and we still have tons we want to do.

 

[canesisters]

Thank you vfem. That is very encouraging! I wish I COULD do some yard work in the mornings but I'm on the road by 5:30 - ack! BUT - on the plus side, I get home by 3:30 which gives me plenty of time before sunset, even in the winter.
LOL - 'start small and grow with your garden'. Yeah. For all of my BIG ideas - I know that by the time next spring rolls around what ACTUALLY gets planted and tended will very likely be a small corner of the space where my grand plan started out. But that's ok. If I can help ONE family the first year - it's good. And the next year, I'll have some experience and can maybe help 4 families. After that, who but God knows. Maybe one day I'll look back from my acres and acres of garden and giggle about how pensive I was to take it on in the beginning.

Marshall - thanks for the burning advice. Hubby was a volunteer fireman so I had fire safety drilled into my head years ago. Did you know that Fritoes are a GREAT way to start a fire? Those curly little yummies will burn for about 3mins each! (something about the oil on them....?) With careful setup, it's possible to line them up just right and light them like a very slow burning fuse.

Can't wait till thsi weekend. Got a 3-day weekend and planning to spend just about all of it in the yard.

 

[897tgigvib]

Ya know yer if'n ya recollect on th oval screened black n white tube :bun eared TV set:

"Munch a bunch of Fritos, Corn Chips"

Heck, never thought of Fritos to slow fuse a burn pile! That'd mean having some left in the bag to munch on, put some hot dogs on an old shirt hanger, and some marshmallows on another one, while burning the old wood, leaves:bun, hay, and grass roots. uh ohhh some folks don't like marshmallows! row

Next after the burn piles are cooled comes the :tools time! That'll be when the :weight starts! I lost a good 30 pounds enlarging my garden last winter!

You'll be getting into the needing a wheelbarrow that's just right, the gardener's new "wheels". You'll be stopping at the garden centers and looking at those bags of soil amendments. Whitney brand is making some that I started liking recently, 5 5 5, with added microbes, made of several "meals" like bone meal, kelp meal, feather meal, poultry poo, and a rapid release Potassium sulfate stuff.

Right now is your planning stage. Plan well! Ya know, maybe we should have a thread of photos that show garden photos that emphasize the plan, layout, how it was made, design.

And purpose.

 

[canesisters]

Well it's been a while.

Busy, busy, busy with family stuff and finishing up the chicken coop. Then 'Sandy' came to visit and took up a few more weekends. More planning and adjusting and planning and standing in the yard staring at the ground and planning.

And then - suddenly - on Thanksgiving day (between cleaning up after brunch and starting to cook for dinner) I decided that I could be planning forever... So I went out and grabbed some little flags, a tape measure and a shovel and FINALLY STARTED!
row

It's modeled after a keyhole or circle garden - although it's not built up high. I understand this is a 'gardening style' that will be suited to being hand worked (no tiller). It's 14' across with a planting space of about 5.5' around the center.

I marked off the area.

Then started scraping off the grass. I wasn't sure what to do with it exactly so I piled it up around the edge.

It took me 2 afternoons to scrape the entire circle clean. Then I hauled several tarp loads of leaves over until I had a shoulder high pile. The fire was pretty awesome. I'm hoping that I killed any grass roots still in the area.
I need to take a few more picts. I've started 'composting' on it. More leaves. Some chicken poo (more this weekend). The dried up flowers from a couple of events at church. Coffee grounds. Yard cleanings like dead, mushy elephant ears and the prunings from the rosemary bushes.
I discovered yesterday that I need to put up a simple fence around it. I came home yesterday to find both dogs happily rooting around in there - getting ash covered feet and eating who knows what.

 

[so lucky]

Yeah! for getting started. If you have a lot of cobble size rocks around, or concrete blocks, those would make a good fence/border.

 

[digitS']

Good for you! I can imagine that ground will soon be very easy to work with.

Kassaundra was just telling us about these types of gardens. Honestly, they seem a little like what I used to do when I'd grow things on the 6 to 12 month old compost pile. (I'd use the 18 month old compost out of the bin beside it and refill that thru the season.) The only thing was that I'd have to get up on top of that old compost and tromp around at times.

The keyhole is a solution to that bad behavior! But . . . you may have some doggy bad behavior you will need to find a way to deal with.

Steve

 

[bobm]

I am doing a similar thing to the keyhole garden... at our new home, I dug out a dry creekbed 1' deep by 2'-5' wide and meandering about 140' long and lined the bed with 17 tons of 2" rock and 5"-1' smooth river rock. I made 5 irrigular mounds in round, rectangular and comma shapes 2'-3' high with the excavated soil. I then surrounded them with 32 tons of boulders ranging in size of 200- 600 pounds each. I got 3 of my neighbors to bring their grassclippings to cover these "mountains" also I added compost and horse manure . Now the native worm population is exploding from the clipping/compost/ manure bounty as food and the retained soil moisture as well as the moderated even soil temperature due to the boulders. My newly planted 10 rhubarb and 15 blueberry plants have been exploding in size. Since the heavy rains have come ( about 9" the month of Nov.) I will now have to use my hoe weapon to combat the numerous sprouting weeds in the flat areas before I can plant edible landscaping ( no rows,scattered clusters and groups here and there among tall ornamental grasses and trees)next year.

 

[canesisters]

I posted this in the gardening section of BYC too - but thought I'd add it here also. ...


I am (was) hoping to compost all winter right on the area that I'm going to use as a garden. Well, here it is mid Feb and I've still got a large, wet pile of mostly sawdust...

Here's what I did - can someone tell me how to rescue this for spring planting - if it's possible.

- mid November - cleared a 15' circle by scraping the grass off and piling it up around the edge
- piled a HUGE pile of leaves on the bare dirt and burned them (hoping to kill left over grass)
- piled more leaves (only about 2-3" deep) on the ashes and then covered with about 8" hay (really old hay)
- added a LOT of sawdust with a little shavings (thinking the smaller bits in sawdust would go faster than regular shavings)
- chicken poo / coffee grounds / dead plant (flower arraignments from church) tossed in and scattered over as they became available

We've had a LOT of rain this year - a LOT.. And the weather has been pretty mild, so no extended freezing temps. Up until yesterday, it has just sat as it was dumped. Yesterday I went in and used a hoe to stir it from the ground up. It had a sort of nice, earthy smell and when I got to the layer of hay/leaves it was still hay, but very soft and dark.

I'm thinking that I need much more plant material like leaves or hay or both - from what I understand, shavings don't count like that.
Do I need to stir it regularly from now on?? Weekly?
Maybe cover it with a tarp to help it heat up??
Would dumping dirt on it help?? I have a ditch project to do in the paddock and could use some of that dirt.

Or should I just store my seeds and expect a whiz-bang garden NEXT year....