Proposed garden layout. Comments & suggestions welcome (& asked for!)

[vfem]

how do we tell if our soil is acidic? Wow... I guess we REALLY have a lot to learn!! LOL

Find your local agricultural extension agent.

I just (finally! after a year!) managed to stop by while mine was open and got little paper bags with instructions on how to sample and mix soil for the tests. It will be $10, and not only will I get the basic results, but if I tell them what crop is to be planted, they will provide instructions on how to amend the soil for best results.

This is your tax money at work, make use of it.

-Wendy

Goto NCstate's website and request their soil test boxes. They'll send you some, you send them in and they'll test for free! Just gotta wait for them to do it by mail.

 

[nachoqtpie]

Interesting!!!
I didn't realize we could get our soil tested!

We did get a little booklet of "what, where, when" for planting in our area from the "master gardeners" at the local farmers market a couple weeks ago! It has been pretty helpful. We also talked with a beekeeper that said that they would help us out with any questions that we had and invited us to the "beekeepers club" Everyone has been really helpful so far!

 

[vfem]

Interesting!!!
I didn't realize we could get our soil tested!

We did get a little booklet of "what, where, when" for planting in our area from the "master gardeners" at the local farmers market a couple weeks ago! It has been pretty helpful. We also talked with a beekeeper that said that they would help us out with any questions that we had and invited us to the "beekeepers club" Everyone has been really helpful so far!

Ooooh... we have a bee keeper thread here! We're getting our bees from a sustainable farm in Coats, NC. Its call "Lone Pine Sustainable Farm" and they sell bees as well as organic produce. They also work with another farm who raises bees closer to you, somewhere near Carthiage I think?

 

[nachoqtpie]

So awesome!!

I'm not sure where they get their bees from, but I don't think they want to sell any considering they told us that they were considering getting a few more hives before summer arrived. I'm just a bit worried that they would be too close where we have them planned and wouldn't take kindly to me being around their hives while I'm working in the garden! Of course, where we have them planned is right next to our back fence, which is currently covered in honeysuckle vines! I actually think that they might need cutting back before too long as they are starting to come up the side of the fence that the kiwis are on! LOL

I'm going to have to do a lil research about this bee farm close to us! We're probably not going to be ready for them until next spring, but, it never hurts to do all the research beforehand. (Yano.. kinda like we should have done more with our garden... LOL)

 

[nachoqtpie]

I thought I would share some pictures of what we have so far.

This was the side yard this weekend

This was the other side yard

Here we have a close up of one of the strawberries (With my Greyhound Doc in the background)

One of the blueberry bushes

Grapes

Kiwis (and Lilly)

New mulberry bush we just put in this weekend! (look at all that growth!!)

And... here's Dusty (cos everyone else got one) and the honeysuckle

 

[vfem]

Awww... the babies are cute! Gotta get the kids in the pictures! hahaha

You look to have an awesome start and LOTS of ground to cover!!!!

We started with a bare yard... in 2008 nothing was growing but weed infested grass for a whole acre. I took care of that. :mow :watering Hahahaha

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

Gosh....everything is sooo green there! We're already turning brown.

I like your layout and your greyhounds too!

 

[nachoqtpie]

Thansk vfem! Dusty (the last picture) is my heart dog. She's never that far away from me! If I'm in the kitchen, she's laying in her crate in the laundry room. If I'm in the office, she's in the living room (or sometimes right beside me! LOL)

It was pretty bare when we bought it! We still have quite a few fix ups that we want to do, not only to the yard/garden, but to the house itself as well!


murphysranch- I remember one time when my aunt and uncle brought my cousins out to Ohio (where I grew up) for the first time. My cousin was so astonished that we didn't need to use a sprinkler system of some type to keep our horse pastures green!! LOL

 

[ninnymary]

You know it's really hard for me to imagine that people have so much space/land to garden in. All I've known is small city lot's which stink when it comes to gardening!

Mary

 

[nachoqtpie]

I guess it's a good thing that you didn't see my neighbors yard... they have about 3 acres! Most of it is wooded tho, and they don't use it for really anything. They have a small garden... but I think it's mostly to keep Gramma happy.