Garden planning now !

[CoastRange57]

Garden season is here. Time to get the plots ready, seeds ordered, early crops started, and seedlings ready to go here soon. Container gardens can be grown on small lots and decks, you can generate a lot of food off a small area.

First turning of the soil here soon. Adding compost as I can afford it. Going to grow more than I can [possibly use so I can give it away or barter.

 

[salmonriverjohn]

Yes, it's that time again. The Pigs will be around 300 lbs. in two weeks, then it's time to get to work on the soil. They turn and fertilize it all winter and in the spring, it's butchering time and we grow again. Works out well.

 

[westcoastal]

Excellent idea salmon
Ill have to try that, getting the garden ready is always a huge chore.

 

[westcoastal]

Have almost all my seeds planted in the greenhouse. And have dug up the garden. Amazing how fast weeds and topsoil will grow in around here.

 

[CoastRange57]

Traded eggs for raspberry plants last week, planted them, traded more eggs for 3 more blueberry bushes. Going to try shelling beans this year and some open source corn for meal.

 

[Heidland]

I usually go by the almanac anyway, so we're looking to plow, disk, and furrow beginning the middle of Feb, then get the seeds in the first week of March.

 

[SheepDog223]

ooh ooh ooh. I just bought my seeds and I'm trying to get my 12 tree orchard in before it's too late.

 

[Heidland]

ooh ooh ooh. I just bought my seeds and I'm trying to get my 12 tree orchard in before it's too late.

If you are planting Cherry trees be sure to plant alternating. Ie. Bing Tree, Black Tree, Bing Tree, Queen Anne Tree, etc. Bing Trees need other's to pollinate and produce. I have four 30 yr. trees (2 Bing, 2 Richmond) just outside here and MAN can my wife make some kickass jelly from them.

 

[SIG383]

I'm trying to figure how to do a garden here. The soil here is extremely rocky and next to impossible to dig in. Also doesn't help that my yard has really bad drainage so the back is currently a muddy, rocky mess. Any ideas? I'd really like to have a garden this year!!

 

[CoastRange57]

I'm trying to figure how to do a garden here. The soil here is extremely rocky and next to impossible to dig in. Also doesn't help that my yard has really bad drainage so the back is currently a muddy, rocky mess. Any ideas? I'd really like to have a garden this year!!

All depends on how much garden you want, and how much time and money you have. You can make almost any soil grow with the right amendments. Making sure soil structure is correct, adding some organic matter is a start. From the sounds of it you don't have a real great area to garden in the ground with, and it might cost you too much to get it to where it would yield better than raised beds or containers.

Time to look at raised beds and containers. You can make raised beds or buy containers cheap, add a manufactured or prepared soil, plant intensive and get some great yields. You can grow pole beans, they grow up and not out, tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, onions, carrots, squash on poles, strawberries. You can grow an amazing amount this way. Get the hang of it and have some great food to eat and put up.

I grow in both my garden and in pots on my deck and patios.

 

[EZLivin]

This will be year-3 in our ongoing transition from "ornamentals" to "edibles." Everything is planted with our climate and growing season in mind. Herb garden, various berries, and cold-season citrus are all looking good. Apples, peaches, and plums are going in this year. Have to decide if I want to replace the broken down raised beds with a simple garden plot though. Both have their advantages.

 

[Chalupacabra]

I'm trying to figure how to do a garden here. The soil here is extremely rocky and next to impossible to dig in. Also doesn't help that my yard has really bad drainage so the back is currently a muddy, rocky mess. Any ideas? I'd really like to have a garden this year!!

I used this setup last year because I also have to deal with a lot of stray cats looking for a toilet. It worked pretty good.
The Original Self Watering Rain Gutter Grow System!!!! - YouTube

 

[SIG383]

I think I like the idea of the container gardening. There is an abandoned house in my neighborhood that has an old bathtub in the backyard....that could work, lol

 

[CoastRange57]

I would recommend checking out this website and this business. They have a lot of great ideas, a free e newsletter. They are a landscape contracting business who specializes in gardens and container set ups. As a former landscape contractor myself, these people are hitting a huge home run, meeting a need that needs filled. I have no relationship with them, I have talked to them several times and get their newsletter. We can always learn from them.

https://www.verduragardens.com/

 

[Synnergy]

I'm trying to figure how to do a garden here. The soil here is extremely rocky and next to impossible to dig in. Also doesn't help that my yard has really bad drainage so the back is currently a muddy, rocky mess. Any ideas? I'd really like to have a garden this year!!

Perhaps you could use a bunch of those rocks to build up some walls for a raised bed? I LOVE my raised beds! Helps keep the weeds out, you don't walk on it-so the soil stays very loose and easy to weed, saves some back-ache, etc. Turn your situation into an advantage. Perhaps channel some earth for a watering method of some sort. Good luck! Remember, good gardeners grow excellent vegetables and excellent gardeners grow good soil (something like that.)
Synnergy

 

[speeddemon94]

So, while at school in Portland my family and I are stuck in an apartment. Luckily, we have an enormous (for an apartment) patio, that I think we can do something fairly good on. We will have to see how it goes.

 

[Heidland]

I used this setup last year because I also have to deal with a lot of stray cats looking for a toilet. It worked pretty good.
The Original Self Watering Rain Gutter Grow System!!!! - YouTube

We use something similar on our front garden, but our average rainfall is fairly heavy so folks in dryer climes would have to set up a more robust storage system.

I also feel your pain about the cats...our issue is with rabbits. The upside is rabbit stew.

 

[Clarkie46]

All depends on how much garden you want, and how much time and money you have. You can make almost any soil grow with the right amendments. Making sure soil structure is correct, adding some organic matter is a start. From the sounds of it you don't have a real great area to garden in the ground with, and it might cost you too much to get it to where it would yield better than raised beds or containers.

Time to look at raised beds and containers. You can make raised beds or buy containers cheap, add a manufactured or prepared soil, plant intensive and get some great yields. ...

Agreed! We had gone without a garden for 22 years at our place because of poor soil and other issues. Made some simple raised beds last year from rough cut cedar boards purchased at a local lumber yard. A 16 sf raised bed cost me about $25 to build, but that cost spread over the life expectancy of the beds is pretty low. We got new soil and added lots of compost. We really enjoyed the harvest. The biggest challenge was the deer who considered these beds their private reserve. I had to use deer fence around the whole area. Not a paying proposition the first year, but as I noted above, the costs from this point on are primarily seed and the "return" will be much better.

 

[mjbskwim]

STOP YELLING AT ME
I'll get to the garden in a few days.
I hope to at least.It will be my first for a couple decades

 

[SIG383]

On the raised gardens....how high do I need to make the walls? If possible, I want to get started on that during my next weekend!