BYC gardening thread!!

[yellowbee0110]

Yea! Gardening time!

I love the your fence and your beds @politicalcenter ! It makes me envious and excited at the same time.

Last year I had an experimental garden in bags, then I ripped up a little ground for the fall, and this year we are ripping up a bigger plot.

I would love to be able to grow a ton of food one day. For any of you gardeners who grow a good bit (enough where you feel like you are feeding your family), how big are your gardens?

 

[hippiestink]

Yea! Gardening time!

I love the your fence and your beds @politicalcenter ! It makes me envious and excited at the same time.

Last year I had an experimental garden in bags, then I ripped up a little ground for the fall, and this year we are ripping up a bigger plot.

I would love to be able to grow a ton of food one day. For any of you gardeners who grow a good bit (enough where you feel like you are feeding your family), how big are your gardens?

My family is small (only two people but I also feed six chickens with fodder) and we have a plot about 27X18 ft. It's more land than we end up using but I do really intensive gardening and I also grow up trellises and forms to save space.

 

[yellowbee0110]

Thank you, @hippiestink ! That doesn't seem like too huge of an undertaking (sizewise) at all! I'm really impressed.

Right now I have some baby brassicas (chard, chinese cabbage, bok choy, mustard) sprouting in the basement to plop alongside my fall babies (kale, brussels sprouts, and broccoli) in the next month or so. I also have some various herbs and flowers starting. I'm using 50 cell seed trays and LED grow lights.

We recently got some really yucky winter weather and my garden survived without any interference from me, so that really makes me happy to know I can probably grow year round. We usually only get one or two bouts of snow a year and my little guys made it through so far. The chickens would have been very sad if we lost all of our greens.

 

[lazy gardener]

Yea! Gardening time!

I love the your fence and your beds @politicalcenter ! It makes me envious and excited at the same time.

Last year I had an experimental garden in bags, then I ripped up a little ground for the fall, and this year we are ripping up a bigger plot.

I would love to be able to grow a ton of food one day. For any of you gardeners who grow a good bit (enough where you feel like you are feeding your family), how big are your gardens?

For me, it's not about how much I can grow, but how much I can preserve. I'm working on improving my stewardship in that area now, recently started doing some canning, bought a dehydrator and pressure canner. It's a learning experience. Then, there's the storage space issue. I think you are doing great. You started with containers, and now you are moving into the soil. Start slow. some things to consider:

Trellis gardening will enable you to grow much more produce in the same amount of space. Look at cattle panels, old metal swing sets, electrical conduit as options for easy trellising. By far, my favorites are cattle panels and old swing sets.

Keep your garden under a constant mulch. This will feed your soil, help with weed management, and make it easier to keep the moisture level constant. Check out Back to Eden gardening.

By far, the most important condition you need for a successful garden is good sunlight. You can fix bad soil. You can fix bad drainage. But, if you have too much shade, your plants will struggle all season long.

 

[yellowbee0110]

For me, it's not about how much I can grow, but how much I can preserve. I'm working on improving my stewardship in that area now, recently started doing some canning, bought a dehydrator and pressure canner. It's a learning experience. Then, there's the storage space issue. I think you are doing great. You started with containers, and now you are moving into the soil. Start slow. some things to consider:

Trellis gardening will enable you to grow much more produce in the same amount of space. Look at cattle panels, old metal swing sets, electrical conduit as options for easy trellising. By far, my favorites are cattle panels and old swing sets.

Keep your garden under a constant mulch. This will feed your soil, help with weed management, and make it easier to keep the moisture level constant. Check out Back to Eden gardening.

By far, the most important condition you need for a successful garden is good sunlight. You can fix bad soil. You can fix bad drainage. But, if you have too much shade, your plants will struggle all season long.

Thank you for this good information. I, too want to be able to "put up" my produce. To me, that defines a bounty and is the ultimate goal: To produce food enough to make up some kind of percentage of what we eat all year long.

As far as the mulch, would you recommend that I use leaves? I have a lot of leaves. I could put in my transplants and then load the place up.

 

[politicalcenter]

Thank you for this good information.  I, too want to be able to "put up" my produce.  To me, that defines a bounty and is the ultimate goal: To produce food enough to make up some kind of percentage of what we eat all year long. 

As far as the mulch, would you recommend that I use leaves?  I have a lot of leaves.  I could put in my transplants and then load the place up. 

Thank you for the compliment. The best mulch you can use is mulch that is available and free. Leaves are good mulch but you may want to chop them up before putting them down. Remember to feed the soil and the plants will take care of themselves. Sunlight is a must. And beware of roots and trees. It sounds like you live in the sub tropics. Summer heat may be a problem. And mulch will be even more important. No one wants to weed in the hot sun with high humidity. Good fortune to you!!!!

 

[lazy gardener]

Quote: What PC said. Free is good. Tree roots and shade are bad.

 

[yellowbee0110]

I've been thinking about what you guys have said and I'm going to chop up (or have hubby do it) my plethora of leaves with the lawn mower for mulch. When I started a new compost pile today out of leaves (I have a finished, a cooking that i won't add to any more, and a new one) I noticed how wet the bottom layers of the leaves were. Makes me realize how much help it could be for the hot summer cracked soil we get here.
We also plotted out an area he's going to work on tilling for me. It does have one pecan tree over the area, but it's an expansion on what I used last year....less shade in the bigger section. And honestly the early sun we got last year was plenty. Also we are expanding away from the tree so I'm pretty sure the roots will be Ok.
I'm looking at about 800 square feet which is about 4x my last year space!!! Super excited. Now i just have to pray over my basement "greenhouse" with its LED grow lights.
Gardening isn't for wussies!!!
Thanks ya'll!

 

[chickadoodles]

Yesterday my dh used the lawn vac to get up the leaves. I will use them for the garden, rabbits and the floor of the new rabbit house.

 

[lazy gardener]

I've been thinking about what you guys have said and I'm going to chop up (or have hubby do it) my plethora of leaves with the lawn mower for mulch. When I started a new compost pile today out of leaves (I have a finished, a cooking that i won't add to any more, and a new one) I noticed how wet the bottom layers of the leaves were. Makes me realize how much help it could be for the hot summer cracked soil we get here.
We also plotted out an area he's going to work on tilling for me. It does have one pecan tree over the area, but it's an expansion on what I used last year....less shade in the bigger section. And honestly the early sun we got last year was plenty. Also we are expanding away from the tree so I'm pretty sure the roots will be Ok.
I'm looking at about 800 square feet which is about 4x my last year space!!! Super excited. Now i just have to pray over my basement "greenhouse" with its LED grow lights.
Gardening isn't for wussies!!!
Thanks ya'll!

Save that shady area for your greens and brassicas. Put your sun lovers where they will get the most sun. congrats on the new space to be.

I was talking with a young woman at church today. She has a young family, and loves to buy my eggs. She's hoping to start a garden this spring. She said, "I hear that kale is easy to grow. I'd like to try some of that." She says she's never grown a garden before. Most likely has not done any outdoor gardening. So, of course, I offered to come to her yard this spring, and help her plan out her garden, and figure out the best gardening style for her. Oh... the passion of it!!!! Creating a new gardening addict. I urge you all to look around, and find someone near you that you can mentor!!!!