Hello to everyone!

Amyh

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I just realized that I didn't introduce myself before I dove in.

I live in North Carolina, but grew up in NJ. Our soil is clay with quarts mixed in liberally... in NJ it was like digging with a hot shovel in butter, so the clay is a lot to get used to. :)

I typically grow a few things in the Spring and then cukes, tomatoes, peppers, squashes in the Summer. I love gardening, but with two little ones (three year old daughter and 5 month old son), I don't have as much time as I would like to devote to the garden.

We have wild blackberries that grow on our property and I recently planted two apple trees. I plan to put in a few fruit trees every year until we have a good variety and amount of trees to feed our family.

I love to eat locally and try to visit the pick your own farms throughout the growing season for things I don't grow myself. I love to can pickles, jellies, syrups and anything else I can think of.

We have a dozen chickens, but only two are laying right now... hoping that the others join in shortly. We also keep two rabbits for manure to add to the garden. The chickens, rabbits, kiddos, three dogs and three cats keep me very, very busy. :)

I dream of having a farm one day, but for now, we have one acre, most of which is wooded, to plant. I am very excited to learn from everyone here and to share some of my ideas as well.
 

Collector

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Welcome Amy, We are possesed by clay in my area also. If you dont work it up in the spring while it is still wet, you wont get through it with a jackhammer when it dries.
 

vfem

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Welcome! it is most excellent to DIVE right in here. It gets addicting. With spring coming we are pondering our gardens and needing advice, right away!
 

journey11

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:welcome Amy!

Amazing what you can do with one acre isn't it? I've got a 3 year old too. She's growing up to be a good garden helper. ;) Sounds like you have lots of good compost to put on your garden with all the critters. Hope you'll feel right at home here and have fun! I know I've learned so much on here and have really been inspired to try new things.
 

Ariel301

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Hello and welcome!

We've got clay here too, clay and rock. I have decided it's not worth it trying to amend this soil, so any new garden space I add is going to be raised beds. I have a 20X30 feet "traditional" style garden, and this year I basically dug out all the soil a foot deep and filled it in with compost from our farm animals, because when our clay gets wet, then hot, it turns into bricks, and the plants die.

I am jealous of your blackberries! Wild blackberries are just about my favorite fruit ever. I used to be able to go out in the fields in Oklahoma and come back in an hour with five gallons of those delicious berries.
 
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