What can I do with my little garden?

[ninny]

Thank you everyone!! You have given me hope. We sorta compost. I share the garden with my in laws. They have just been throwing it all right on the garden letting it rot and then tilling it in. Then we moved next door and well I have four dogs and now the chickens. So it now it gets fed to the chickens. I figure it turns into poo I use and eggs. However, we got a bad deal on chicks this year and ended up with only two hens out of six birds. So I think we are giving them to my friend and ordering chicks for next spring to try again. Would it be worth it to really look into worms? I really like the idea of them and my basement is perfect for them. I have the go ahead from the in-laws( we rent from them) to get them if I want. Then I could toss the castings in the garden and some worms too. I may be able to get rabbit poo and if I ever take the truck to my moms I can get horse poo too. I really don't think the girls would be happy if they had to share the backseat with a bag of poo. So my thought now is till all weeds and chicken bedding plus some play sand I have under once my melons are done. Maybe grab some more sand it's cheap. Let it sit then plant a cover crop. We just let it grass over and till it come spring now. What would be a good choice instead of that or is that okay? I have been thinking of using pallets to do short raised beds so I can cover them with plastic or shade cloth whatever is needed. Turn them into little hoop houses. We did our first and only batch of meat birds this year. I raised them out on the garden. Not going to be doing that again.

I just had a thought. If I just used the frames of the pallets that would give me 6 beds that are about 4x4 ( I have six pallets). If I spray pant the outside of them white they should look nice. I am trying to use the other boards for a fence somehow for the chickens. I can get as many free pallets as I want. I could have those beds then mulch the snot out of the space between them. I can get free mulch too. Then I would still have space left over. I could plant my creeping stuff and mulch all around them. I just need a way to make watering faster. If it is still really needed I could possibly get a good mix come spring and put a bag in each bed on top on the soil and in each plant hole. Then at the end of the year till everything in and move the beds the next year. If I used succession planting and square foot gardening would this work?

I really want to can salsa, pizza sauce, pickle cukes and peppers, get watermelons (we eat a ton of these), salad,some squash maybe a pumpkin plant and beans(pole and bush) onions,garlic, potatoes, . Is this area too small? I have 8 pots that I can do herbs in up by my house. I also have a couple of self watering planters. Is there a list anywhere of what plants and varsity do best in what areas? I would like to save seed if possible.

Also (sorry my mind is really going at the moment) could I get a small patch of the three sisters in here? Would the melons work instead of squash? I would like some blue corn for corn meal. Would it mess with my inlaws sweet corn they plant?

I have a small rasied bed in my side yard I think I going to try and plant strawberries in. We are planing on moving in the next five years so just trying to get the big learning curve out of the way before I someday get my acre or more garden. I'm going to get my orchard then too and my big livestock. Not sure Hubby had any idea how much work was in store for him when we got married.

Can any one suggest a good soft wear program for planning?

 

[catjac1975]

I call chicken poo instant compost!

 

[digitS']

Lots of questions, Ninny . . !

". . . a small garden about 600 sq feet ish. I have another long skinny plot a ways from the reach of the hose about 75ft long and 5ft wide."

75 x 5 = 375sqft . . . + 600 = ~ 1,000sqft. That size garden is often considered by the Cooperative Extension horticulturalists as a "family-size" garden. I'm thinking that you are planning to use all of it for a vegetable garden. There are places where summer rain is common - this is not one of them. Even in better-than-drought conditions, less than 2 inches of rain thru July, August & September is normal. I could grow little to nothing in that 75' by 5' bed without water.

The shape of that bed makes me think a soaker hose for watering would work well. Being too imaginative about watering techniques isn't my style. There is 231 cubic inches in 1 gallon and 144 square inches in a square foot. If I only put an absolute bare minimum of 1 inch of water on those 375 square feet each week, I'd need to carry 234 gallons to it! (375 x 144 = 54000 / 231 = 234 gallons) I hope you have a plan to get water to that bed without carrying it.

It will take 3 cubic yards of compost to cover that 1 bed with 3 inches. Shrinkage from start to finished compost is variously estimated as between 1/2 to 3/4. You see what I am getting at? That is a lot of material! And, that's for only about 1/3rd of your garden.

If you can cycle 20 cubic yards of compostable material through a basement worm bin that would be beyond amazing!

Yes, framed raised beds are a good idea. Square foot gardening has made many people happy gardeners. But, look at "Mel's mix." It is 1/3rd peat moss, 1/3rd vermiculite and 1/3rd compost. It is 100% soil amendments and 0% soil at a depth of 6" to 12"! That is really a lot of material!

If there is choice at all between where your efforts should be placed next year, I think it would be best if getting water to every part of your garden, improving the soil, and suppressing the weeds would be the priorities. Just my 2.

Steve

 

[plainolebill]

I haven't tried it but someone not too far from me plants potatoes and sweet potatoes in straw bales. Whenever I pass by they look like they're thriving. Local farmers sell 2 string wheat straw bales for 1.50 each and when you are done with them you can compost the straw.

The local trash collection company here has a composting center where they recycle yard waste and sell compost for $10 a yard - maybe something like that is available.

Starting small and working your way to big is good advice.

 

[catjac1975]

I can get compost from the town dump for free. I do not use it any where near food crops. I fear that it has high heavy metal content. I doubt that it is tested. There is a wast to energy plant nearby and many towns mix the fly ash into their compost. I fear that is an environment disaster of the future.

I haven't tried it but someone not too far from me plants potatoes and sweet potatoes in straw bales. Whenever I pass by they look like they're thriving. Local farmers sell 2 string wheat straw bales for 1.50 each and when you are done with them you can compost the straw.

The local trash collection company here has a composting center where they recycle yard waste and sell compost for $10 a yard - maybe something like that is available.

Starting small and working your way to big is good advice.

 

[Wisher1000]

Ninny - The only thing I can add to the wonderful responses you have gotten so far is this. Be very careful with adding sand to your clay soil. Clay + sand = concrete. I live in Alabama and have gardened in red clay soil all my life. I thought it was a pain in the butt to work but have found that it has its benefits. The only way to improve it is to add vegetable matter. Grass clippings, leaves, sticks, corn stalks, should all be added liberally. Large stuff like limbs and corn or sunflower stalks should be (at least partially) composted first, but the rest can go directly into the garden. I have used a shovel to dig lots of holes and filled those with whatever I could gather in the winter and then tilled it all even in the spring. My concern is your five year limit. You may want to consider layering (lasagna gardening) on top of the clay or in raised beds so that all the beautiful soil you will create can be trucked to your next garden. The land we live on now is pure sand, not sandy, SAND! All the ammendments I try to add help, but it still won't hold water. I have to water and fertilize WAY more now than I have ever had to in the past. I am building my own soil and layering it on top with only a bit of the sand mixed in. It is slow going but finally coming along. At least your clay soil holds water and fertilizer well! I sort of miss that aspect of the clay I am used to. Good luck and happy gardening!

 

[mabsonjackson]

Excellent guidance from all... Getting your ground in form is going to create the greatest distinction. Until you have excellent dirt- you will always have problems. As wonderful as your backyards look, I am amazed you are not getting more collect. You've got poultry waste, which creates a large difference- now you just need rich compost to unwind your backyards. As your ground becomes better- you will be stunned at what you can develop. Satisfied Gardening

 

[journey11]

Bless your heart, Ninny. I think you need a I am much in the same boat as you...my baby is 5 months old now. It is so hard to keep up with the garden when there are more pressing matters (and I figure you also have that 3rd trimester fatigue to deal with too.) I found it best to try to keep my projects smaller and more manageable in this season of life. It only pays off if you can manage with it and do well.

I have been a little more stressed about not having a big, producing garden this year of all years, what with the food prices slated to rise again. I've been able to make up some of the difference by going to U-picks and buying bushels of stuff to can. They don't grow it by the same standards as I would at home, no heirlooms that I prefer, etc., but I figure it's better than having no food if costs go beyond what I can pay in the store.

You've already gotten so much good advice and with my 5-year old hanging over my shoulder and the baby fussing, I can't think clearly enough to add much anyway. Just hoping to be some encouragement and say hang in there! Definitely get your soil tested. I've got heavy red clay too. It tends to have plenty of the minerals and things your plants need, but has to be limed to help make them available to the plants. Don't add sand...you do get concrete. Compost and organic matter is best. No melons and no potatoes sounds like you may have too high of nitrogen? I wouldn't proceed without a soil test first. Get the thorough test that they do at your local ag extension. They will also walk you through what you need to add.