You can grow your own food. We can help.

Choosing our garden area

Jul 20, 2012

Ok - so I'm not sure I have my husband totally on board. He has Ok'd the site I have choosen for the new garden, but still has ideas (at least in my mind) of doing things that I don't agree with. Such as using the manure from the horses which isn't composted, aged or screened - I've gone along with this over the years and always end up with gardens where the weeds are out of control.

I also would like to go as natural and organic as possible and have found compost from our local natural store that I would like to bring in to bring our Pennsylvania soil up to par. Not sure if he will go for that yet.

This project is one that is on our "to do" list and we hope to start on it late summer or early fall. It will be a major undertaking and I want to put a lot of efficient energy into this project. First we need to finish our garden shed which will part of the garden, patch up our horse pasture fencing, put up a small run-in shed for our hair sheep, etc. You know how it goes on a farm, no matter the size.

Stay tuned to see how our garden unfolds!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR, K9FindM

Comments

antonis

Fri, 07/20/2012 - 14:54

Hi K9FindM ! At the point You are standing at You could also consider setting up another kind of garden, as advocated by several permaculturists: Grow a permanent ground cover of white clover, which is cut periodically and left on the ground as a kind of rotting mulch; and grow Your vegetables randomly scattered in there. Randomness takes the place of crop rotation and the clover green manure does the fertilizing, along with returning everything You don't consume from Your garden as a mulch. Never digging, no machinery to avoid soil compaction, and no fertilizing to speak of. The topsoil will slowly build up in forest soil style. Takes less work then any other concept but is sensitive to correct timing and understanding of local conditions and vegetation. Also needs more space,of course. Meant just as a hint. Greetings, antonis

K9FindM

Fri, 07/20/2012 - 16:17

Thank you for the information Antonis - I will do some research on this gardening concept! Maria :0)

david e kelley

Sat, 07/21/2012 - 14:25

Hairy Vetch also serves well as a green manure, cover crop. Just mow it and leave the tops on the ground. You can plant seedlings right through the mulch created by the Vetch. A great way to grow tomatoes. Ideally, the manure should be composted about a year. Good luck and stay natural, David