Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

GARDENING QUESTION

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    Something everyone needs to keep in mind, whether gardening raised bed or row style. When you are gardening for survival you MUST have a way to ammend that soil every year in some way. Those veggies take nutrients out of the dirt to produce food and even with well thought out rotation the soil does need nutrients added to continue to produce well. That's the main reason I keep goats and chickens - to make compost to feed the garden.

    Comment


    • #17
      Raised bed or containers is all we do. Nothing fancy. Old flower pots, tree pots, even the 30gal and 55gal drums cut both ways(depends on what you on how you cut it).All of it is free and reusable every year. We have them placed all over the house and yard this year due to the fact we moved into a camp ground until we buy a new farm down here. At our old house we had 20rows 20barrels cut end to end. Every year we turn the beds over a few times add rabbit, chicken and pig poo and let them set before planting and every year we had tons of veggies. The biggest problem we had every now n then was bugs. Alittle spay and they were gone.

      Comment


      • #18
        I agree with the comments regarding the Square Foot Gardening book. I have that book and have been very disappointed with it, fortunately, I have other books that are much better, including the one LD3 recommends, "Gardening when it Counts".

        Thank you for sharing the "Gardening Revolution" link, what a great web site.

        SC
        "Do not fear, for I am with you;
        Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
        I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
        Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

        Comment


        • #19
          Sq. Foot gardening works well if approached with the perspective that it is NOT like traditional gardening. Been using that method myself for 20+ years and have excellent production as in enough veggies to freeze, can, eat fresh, and even share with the neighbors. It takes paying attention for the first few years and it does take time to get it all set up, but once in place it's a breeze. I have twelve 4 x 8 foot beds, add 2" of compost each spring, 5 minutes per bed to till it in and "fluff" the soil with my Mantis (1 gal of gas last all year) relay the irrigation hose, smooth, and plant (intensively), and harvest. I can turn on 1 faucet for 30 to 40 minutes each week and all beds are nicely watered. I stapled weed barrier on the bottoms of each bed so no time spent weeding. Easy to cover the beds with row cover to extend the seasons in spring and fall, shade cloth in the middle of summer. No bugs, no walking 50 or 100' rows to check for bugs, weeds, or disease. Hardly any bending as I can plant and harvest sitting on my overturned bucked which certainly helps my back and knees! For ME it's the only way to garden. I also have nice trellises set up at the ends of several beds for the cukes, peas, squash, and melons. I have grown corn, sweet potato, white potato, beans, everything in my beds over the years except the standard wheat/barley type grains. Just my experiences over the many years I have been gardening for my family/pantry.

          Comment


          • #20
            A nice thing about raised beds located in a fenced garden, is that you can put small gauge wire under it to keep out voles and other critters that love to eat the roots of your transplants or sprouting seeds.

            We use a combination of raised beds ie. The french intensive method of gardening with a few container plants. Our raised beds are doing very well and we have been able to berm up the sides of the beds with out using lumber or $300 kits.

            At a local school they have canvas grow beds that look like long tubes in which they grow food off the ground and in the sun for classroom and lunch room use.

            Good luck in your next gardening season.

            Comment


            • #21
              Just to throw a thought out there on raised beds. Instead of adding and mounding up you can have the same effects for the plant by digging a trench down. I have a 2 bottom plow that I just run a dead furrow every 10 ft. it doesn't get the plant up for easy harvest since you still have to bend down but it does encourage easy drainage and early warm up. My ultimate plan one of these years is using a skid loader to make a 2 to 2.5 foot deep by 3-4 foot wide trench 100 foot long then use 2 x 12's to shore it up. about 10-12 foot wide. that way can still use my tillers on it easily like normal garden plant it. Then after planting you can take poles to make hoops across every 4 feet angled up 3-4 ft. high in the middle that just slide in other pipe drove in the ground. Basically a combination hoop house/covered rows. it would protect from wind and raise temp. plus you can use 14-16ft by 100 foot plastic 5 mill which are cheap and easy to handle and when your plants are growing good and past frost free date just throw the plastic away. If you roll a pipe around the edges of plastic and use bungee cords to keep tight. If you have rocky soil won’t work to well and if you have heavy clay soil dig 4 in drain lines across it trench to trench every 10 ft. with a spade couple feet down. As LD3 says soil test is best money spent. I took 6 soil tests in different parts of the property when I first moved on this property as a base line. Now I want to retest again this spring.

              Comment

              Working...
              X