Sustainable Growing Project

[Backyard Buddies]

Hi Carri!

We went out to the project to do some measuring this past weekend and to determine a direction toward making this a go. Fortunately, there is water out there, although lines will need to be run to provide access to different parts of the garden. As we went through there, buried deep in the common mallow weeds are three citrus trees and what may even be a banana tree!

In the next week, we will begin clearing out all the mallow, which needs to be done quickly because it is flowering and will be going to seed soon. It's going to quite a challenge, given the shear number of weeds out there! Here are a couple of pictures:

The goal is to clear quickly and get everything going as soon as possible so that there is an official dedication of the garden on Earth Day in April!

One of our members is working on a website/blog to detail the project. As for me, I'm very excited and can't wait to see this develop. We've had so many people join in that I think this is actually going to become a reality!

And, I'm sure we'll take some horse poo off of your hands!

 

[Carri]

Wow! That's a pretty big piece of land for being where it is! I know banana trees will grow there because my grandma had one at her house (about four miles from where your church is).
As far as horse manure... I have a limitless supply. I will be out there the weekend after Easter more than likely if you want a load!
Are you guys starting everything from seed?

 

[Backyard Buddies]

No kidding! It is a huge piece of property. I know it's hard for non-Californians to believe, but a property this size would go for a half-million dollars or so on the open market. That is why this is such a wonderful opportunity!

I do hope that is a banana tree, and if it's not we're probably going to plant a few along with a couple more citrus and perhaps a few other fruit trees.

We'll probably plant most everything else from seed, other than tomatoes, peppers, and perennials such as asparagus and artichoke.

We'll probably be planting part of the garden right away, leaving sections for successive plantings and so that we can leave sections to rest and rejuvenate between plantings.

As for the horse manure, I'll let you know when we're ready for it. We've got to get that mallow out before it goes to seed. I'm starting to think we may need to weedwack it just to stop the seeding cycle, then pull up the roots behind it. Once that is done, then we're going to roto-till and be ready to add to the soil.

 

[Carri]

No kidding! It is a huge piece of property. I know it's hard for non-Californians to believe, but a property this size would go for a half-million dollars or so on the open market. That is why this is such a wonderful opportunity!

And slap a house on it... It would go for a million.

I would offer my husband and his Kabota tractor (it would be PERFECT for clearing that space) but we don't have a trailer for it. Drats.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

And slap a house on it... It would go for a million.

I would offer my husband and his Kabota tractor (it would be PERFECT for clearing that space) but we don't have a trailer for it. Drats.

Yeah, no kidding about the house/land!

I have NO idea what a Kabota tractor is (city dweller that I am), but I sure wish you had a trailer for it! I have a feeling that I'm going to be sore and blistered next weekend!

 

[Carri]

It's like this but small enough to fit in the back of a full sized pickup. It's really heavy, though, so it needs a trailer.

We won't be around next weekend anyway. But if someone has a car trailer, we can bring it for the manure spreading! Also, I "sow" approx. 96 gallons of manure a week (less if it's spread out and dried), so let me know a couple of weeks before you're ready for it so I can save it up. We have it picked up with the trash on Mondays.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Wow! Way cool! I'll run it past my project people and see if that's a doable thing. I'll also let you know about the horse manure and when we think we'd need it. That way you can leave some of it sit for a bit and, therefore, some of it will be pre-dried.

 

[jdypat]

A suggestion .. i made the mistake once of growing tall plants on the south side of the garden spot. they shade the smaller ones that way.
my garden now goes east to west.. with the corn in the north side.. tomatoes and squash in the m iddle and onions and peppers or even potatoes on the south side.. that way they get sun all day if its a really good location.. but they will get the best advantage either way.
and ive been quilty of planting things too closely in an empty lot it is easy to do that. ive had mine so close i could not get to them and of course they choked.
goodluck wish i was there. jdy

also... a cute thing i did one summer. we had lots of cow dodo in the barn. but it was full of grass seed. I had usedd it on my flower beds and grew wonderful weeds worked me to death.. so.. one year as i was watching the men here clear out the barn and throw that good stuff to the side.. i was just struck with an idea.
we have several old bath tubs we got at the dump for watering the cows. wonderful things.. cant do without them. so i put four bricko bricks in a square and placed a bath tub on them, using them for legs. filled that tub with water AND MANURE and built a fire under it. i placed a peice of tin roofing on top of it and let it boil for about 20 minutes. ijust let the fire go out and the next day i opened it up and i had the most wonderful tub of manure tea with no seeds in it. also the manure was ready to use. i put a bucket under the drain and let it fill up and used that for watering things and the manure remained for use when ever i needed it. the agriculture agent was amazed.. he took some home with him in a milk jug.
im retired.. have too little to do.. keeps me out of the bars.. hahah thats a joke.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Great ideas Jdy!

For a point of reference, the north corner of the garden is can be seen in the bottom photo I posted above. I think that'd be a great place to put the corn!

We intend on planting in raised blocks, with pathways in-between. At the back of the garden, someone had tossed about a lot of pavers that we'll use in the pathways.

That's a great idea about the manure tea! I bet that was amazing stuff! For my own garden, I purchased some organic liquid that was a tea of some sort. I believe I paid over $7.50 for a 2L bottle. I'm all for using what already exists - making good use of the things we can find in nature - whether it be compost, manure, manure teas, and cover crops to create the most fertile environment for growing.

I love your creativity!

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Here's an update on the project . . .

Yesterday, we had our first work party. At the top of page 3 of this thread are a couple of images of what we were dealing with - lots and lots of common mallow as well as tall grass and a general tangled mess. Nine of us (7 adults and 2 kids) got to work to see what we could do before the gardeners come in this week. Our main priority was to uncover the citrus trees, banana tree (at least, that's what we *think* it is) and whatever else was down there out from under the brush so that the gardeners didn't roll over it. We had also heard there was a water spigot under the mess and hoped to find it as well.

Well, after several hours of work, this is what the right portion looks like:

Is that a banana tree?

The citrus trees:

And, what remains for the gardeners to tackle this week:

We met our goal, uncovering the trees, finding the spigot, and even a bonus rosemary bush.

The soil is dry and really hard. It's going to need some major amendments. Any suggestions?

Edited to add: Sorry about the pixilated images. I do NOT like Photobucket's new image editing software! When it doesn't freeze, it pixilates. Sigh.