It's Garden Time!!

I'm sure by now you're saying, let's get this show on the road!

Before we start, I have to get something off my chest... EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE A GARDEN! It's true and I'm sure you know what excuses are like... It doesn't have to be extensive, but its a good habit to get into...

Having said that... Before I even started moving dirt, I had to PLAN!

First, decide how much space you have. (obviously)


If you have a balcony, you can start a planter garden very inexpensively and with little maintenance. Lettuce is a great crop to succession plant in big pots, peas will also work well if you have a few pieces of string and enough sunlight. Watch to see how much light your small space gets a day and look for unique seeds to make a statement.

If you have a little yard or space to work with, look into raised beds and Square foot gardening. They can be easily constructed out of inexpensive/reclaimed lumber, downed trees, or even cinder blocks. Who says they have to be square, triangles are fun, or how about that spot where you ripped the pool out? (sweeeet circular garden)

If space is not a problem, It is said that a 20' X 20' garden is large enough to feed a family of 4, and that is a good rule of thumb.

I'm going to line this with plastic... just in case...

Try potatoes in a barrel! I haven't tried this myself, but it's a genius idea... Take a clean, empty barrel of some kind (garbage barrels, 55 gallon drums, large buckets, even stacked tires) and drill some holes in the bottom. Put it up on 2 blocks for drainage and place about a foot of soil in the bottom. Potatoes will go around the circle about 10" apart. As they grow, keep adding soil so the green part is only about 8 inches tall... (don't forget the organic fertilizer!) by the end of the season there will be a plethora of potatoes that you just have to dump out! 

Next is time and energy... How much effort do you want to (be honest with yourself) put into your garden. You can split crops up and designate certain areas for vines, tomatoes etc. This may all seem like an awful lot of work, but you could end up with a nice ROI (besides, unless you're making money, what do you REALLY have to do with your time?)

My plan... south is to the left...

I originally wanted to go with a 20' X 20' plot, however I ended up compromising on location.This meant that I needed to move it to a hill next to a giant south facing wall. I watched where the sun tracked as I worked on it and realized the top gets full sun until about 6 or 7, and the bottom gets sun until about 3 or 4 (plus there are tree branches overhead so when the leaves grow in it will get even more shade) This meant it would have to be longer and thinner, how about 12' X 35'? (ended up at about 13' X 38') Sounds good! So my plot was planned... There are also a TON of resources online for choosing your plot size, and you can easily check where out get the most sun when you get out of work (don't forget to take trees and bushes into consideration.)

The PLOT!

Next step, locate compost... There happens to be a manure pile on our property, so I just started to hack into the 40+ year old block of compost (it literally broke apart in blocks). If you are looking for compost or manure, Craigslist is a great resource; Freecycle.com can also help you find someone in the area that is looking to get rid of compost or, if you have time, start a compost bin or pile of your own (even indoors). Heres a great video on compost. Oh ya, Vermicomposting is easy too!

We love to shovel!

Compost piles are fantastic! They not only provide you with nutrient rich soil, they are also incredibly easy to implement and greatly cut back on rubbish going to the landfill (What's not to love!) You can throw all non-meat food scraps in there, along with paper napkins, newspaper, leaves, sticks, some cardboard, and all sorts of other stuff!

So (a couple weeks ago by now...) my brother Bob, and artist girlfriend, Sarah Burns, decided to come give me a hand moving crap... literally...

Bobby on the Allis...

We broke out the ol' '38 Allis Chalmers and brought about 8 small trailer loads over to our location...

With the area covered in about 6" of black gold it was time to till!!!! (Of course I read this blog post and it told me not to fertilize or put compost for Carrots and other root vegetables, as it will make them stringy and tough. I left the top 10', or so, compost free...)

LET THE TILLING BEGIN!!

Tilling on a hill!

I borrowed a rototiller from my uncle (relatives and friends are amazing resources for expensive equipment if you're on a tight budget) and started to go to town. About 3 passes later and its really starting to look like a garden! CRAZY!!

done!

Next time I will go into detail (GREAT detail lol...) about constructing a fence to keep the critters out. Some people trap or kill them, but I like wildlife, so I will not destroy it!! STAY TUNED!! Follow me on here! receive updates by email... Let's see where this takes us!

Next is the fence and soil enrichment!