Garden Secrets: A Journal of Our Methods, Successes, Failures...PICS!

[Beekissed]

I've decided to start a journal to document things I've tried and found successful...and some I tried and were not so successful.

This year I am trying several new things and will try to document through pics and yields how they went for me in hopes that others won't have to make the mistakes I've made.

So far, I've tried raised beds and found them very nice but I had them too wide, too shallow and found them too difficult to till. If they had been smaller and deeper, I could probably have done a no-till approach.

I have tried the square foot gardening and still do this whenever I can to maximize garden space. I've found that one can take this a little too far and it may reduce yields when plants are too stacked or crowded.

I've tried mulching and this has revolutionized my gardening....LOVE mulching heavily with old hay or straw. My plants were green and lush when everyone else's in the area were going through drought conditions.

My favorite mulch is fresh grass clippings.

I am currently trying green mulch of white dutch clover and find it a wonderful weed suppressant and a low growing ground cover for my permanent pathways. Not to mention, it really attracts bees, keeps the ground covered and moist, is a nitrogen-fixer and is just darn pretty.

I have plowed right into the clover that I planted last year in my garden. The past few years of adding hay and grass clipping mulches, chicken manure, etc. has seemed to make my soil very workable and rich.

I am also going to plant a garden of corn and pumkins in the pen that I overwintered my sheep in this year. I spread their winter bedding over this space and burned the dry hay. This is approx. 10 ft. x 60 ft. of space and will be the first time it has been planted.

After the corn and pumpkins are through, I will plant turnips, beets, clover and winter wheat. I will be storing the corn stalks and pumpkins for winter feeding.

I will post pics of the freshly plowed rows and will document progress of the garden, as I am trying more companion plantings, SQF spacing, green mulch and trellising on the perimeter fencing this year.

Feel free to post here and give advice, insights, results of things you've tried and pics. I would love all the help I can get!

Can't wait to see how this year goes!!! :bee :watering

 

[vfem]

What I like about raised beds is in the fall I layer with leaves, old mulch, straw and grass clippings I will turn in later winter before I add fresh compost. Keeps it soft, and gets it deep again for spring planting. Maybe if you try that before you till next year it will higher and softer and easier for the tiller? I saw it in a Mother Earth Mag article, but they did it around a built up rock garden I think. I thought it would work well with raised beds. I don't have a tiller and have to do everything from hand, but it saved me a lot of hoeing the hard stuff.

I also agree with the square foot gardening... if you don't have the space it is wonderful, but I got runty plants and it lowered what I got from things like Tomatoes. I think I would have gotten more from spreading those out. BUT it worked wonders for my root veggies

Sounds like you have a lot of great things working for you to follow. Are you just going to post it here or are you going to start a good blog to follow too? LOTS of photos to share?!

 

[Beekissed]

Vfem, I'll post pics and progress here.

I would love to have leaves to compost here but I have apple trees and the leaves get eaten by my sheeples as soon as they fall. I've offered to collect leaves from local lawn services so they wouldn't have to take them to the dump and pay a fee...no takers!

I hope others post here with insights on how their gardening experiences with different methods went, so we can create a single thread with a big data base.

 

[vfem]

Vfem, I'll post pics and progress here.

I would love to have leaves to compost here but I have apple trees and the leaves get eaten by my sheeples as soon as they fall. I've offered to collect leaves from local lawn services so they wouldn't have to take them to the dump and pay a fee...no takers!

I hope others post here with insights on how their gardening experiences with different methods went, so we can create a single thread with a big data base.

Just go find a local 'suburban' neighborhood in fall and do what boggy suggests, steal their bags of leaves! I will! I don't get much as far as leaves because I have a tiny wooded area. Straw I get from the side of some old local farms. I know my raised beds are so small compared to your area though, your garden is HUGE from last I saw. Mine is a small area. Totaling less then 200 sq ft I think with the use of the front yard beds.

 

[vfem]

I was just thinking maybe we should start another thread the specifically says "EVERYONE's 2010 Garden journal : Post experiences, help one another and LOTS of Pics" maybe?

I just like looking at other people's gardens and trying to see if anything working for them my work for me.

 

[Beekissed]

I think it would be a great idea...or I could just change the name of this one? We have a thread called What are you growing? but its not the same as "how are you growing it?".

The closest suburban area to me is about 50 miles away! Not worth the drive just for leaves.....

Okay, folks, how about it? Will you give your secrets away here and help us all become the best gardeners we can be? If you have tried something and it didn't work..tell us how you did it and the results? If you tried something and it was a smashing success, could you give details and post pics?

We love our gardens and want them to flourish...please be a part of the magic! :tools

 

[curly_kate]

My best tip costs absolutely nothing, and anyone can do it! My biggest piece of advice is: Pay attention! Anyone can be a good gardener if they are out in their garden every day, looking at the plants. You can spot the earliest signs of infestation and disease that way, and nip it in the bud. Plus, just being out in the garden enjoying nature is free therapy!

ETA: Also, mulch - whatever kind you choose - is your friend.

 

[vfem]

Good plan, come one... come all!

 

[journey11]

My best tip costs absolutely nothing, and anyone can do it! My biggest piece of advice is: Pay attention! Anyone can be a good gardener if they are out in their garden every day, looking at the plants. You can spot the earliest signs of infestation and disease that way, and nip it in the bud. Plus, just being out in the garden enjoying nature is free therapy!

That was also my FIL's best gardener's secret, and he was a tremendous greenthumb. It's like visiting with your best friend, if you really care about your garden, you will want to spend time in it. My FIL said morning was the best time to be out there and that you could handpick more bugs off your plants at that time of day.

I think my tip would be--put forth the effort right from the start to build up the tilth of your soil, collecting and adding every bit of organic matter you can get your hands on. Good soil makes all the difference. Much better than blindly dumping boxes of pelleted fertilizer on it.

Neat idea for a thread guys!

 

[Beekissed]

Morning is my favorite time in the garden also...sometimes I'm almost late for going to work because I get wrapped up in inspecting the garden. Its my quiet time.

I also like to visit it late in the evening when things are cooler.

Gardens are like relationships...sometimes you give your all and lavish attention and it loves you back. The weather is right and you get good results from your efforts.

Sometimes, no matter how much love you give, you will get little or nothing in return and will mourn the time you gave up to get so little.

Sometimes you don't have the time to give to the garden and it shows and you will gain little. And resolve to be more true to your garden next time.

Sometimes your garden looks great but yields little fruit and other times it looks like crapola and you get more than you can handle!

At least, with a garden, you can give it lots of crap and it will love you more for it!