Amending sandy soil

[lazy gardener]

Are you planting in regular rows or wider rows or beds? 1600sqft is a lot of ground to cover. Wider rows/beds will allow you to put your organic materials only on the growing area. 16 wide rows or beds that are 20'x3' with roughly 2' paths between would fit on the 40x40 plot. (I would cut the long 40' length half by a path bisecting the rows/bed, thus the sixteen 20' rows). Going with the scenario that I laid out would create a growing area of roughly 960 square feet which would save a ton (possibly literally) on organic matter, water, etc.,. Of course, you may already be doing this, but it seems you're talking about adding things to the full garden area. The wood chips might work really good in the paths. Just some thoughts.

Best wishes,
Ed

Excellent input Ed! BTW, love your avatar! As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!

 

[Chic Rustler]

Are you planting in regular rows or wider rows or beds?  1600sqft is a lot of ground to cover. Wider rows/beds will allow you to put your organic materials only on the growing area.   16 wide rows or beds that are 20'x3' with roughly 2' paths between would fit on the 40x40 plot.  (I would cut the long 40' length half by a path bisecting the rows/bed, thus the sixteen 20' rows).   Going with the scenario that I laid out would create a growing area of roughly 960 square feet which would save a ton (possibly literally) on organic matter, water, etc.,.  Of course, you may already be doing this, but it seems you're talking about adding things to the full garden area.  The wood chips might work really good in the paths.  Just some thoughts.

Best wishes,
Ed

That would have been a great idea! Maybe next year. I just planted rows that were 3 foot apart and 36 feet long. I really didnt have much of a plan i just knew i was late and needed to get something in the ground. I planted pole beans along the whole fence, corn, okra, tomatoes, bell peppers, squash, zucchini and cantaloupe. This fall im going to sit down and actually put pen to paper and plan out something. I thought about doing raised beds but haven't made my mind up on anything yet

 

[lazy gardener]

Quote: I would suggest that you plan a rainy day trip to the library. get a bunch of gardening books out, look them over. Decide which gardening style matches your personality best. Decide how much work you want to do, and how much time you want to spend gardening. You also should decide how you plan to manage all of the produce that will be getting harvested. No sense growing it if you don't have a harvest management plan.

 

[Chic Rustler]

I definitely have a plan on using the produce. My wife and have 4 children that eat more than grown men. We also have a big deep freezer and im planning on getting a pressure canner soon. The wife wants to try to make spaghetti sauce from scratch and can it. We will see how that goes.. im looking forward to pickled okra.

Like i said, im brand new to all of this but the end goal is a more self sufficient life style. We are making progress. Between hunting, fishing and raising food we haven't had to buy meat since last November. The wife makes a mean chicken fried deer steak! Not so great at cooking rabbit yet tho. Lol

 

[junebuggena]

Rabbit does best with slow cooking at lower temps. And it helps to add some sort of fat, like bacon grease.

 

[lazy gardener]

I definitely have a plan on using the produce. My wife and have 4 children that eat more than grown men.

We also have a big deep freezer and im planning on getting a pressure canner soon. The wife wants to try to make spaghetti sauce from scratch and can it. We will see how that goes.. im looking forward to pickled okra.

Like i said, im brand new to all of this but the end goal is a more self sufficient life style. We are making progress. Between hunting, fishing and raising food we haven't had to buy meat since last November. The wife makes a mean chicken fried deer steak! Not so great at cooking rabbit yet tho. Lol

Sounds like you are making great progress. That's great. I'm new to pressure canning myself.

 

[Intheswamp]

CR, it sounds like you're doing great!!! You're doing a lot better than I am. I'm still trying to figure how to fence my plot to keep deer out. I've got tomato and pepper plants needing a place to plant roots but the deer are holding square dance lessons in my new garden area. Right now I'm thinking along the lines of a double electric fence...inside fence wires at 18", 36", and 54"...outside fence at 18". No sense in planting until I get something up.<sigh>

Good advice from lazy gardener regarding some reading. When you browse the books keep your eyes open for "Step by Step Organic Vegetable Gardening - The Gardening Classic Revised and Updated" by Shepherd Ogden. It was printed in 1992 so some of the information may seem a little dated BUT a very good book on how to get started gardening. Naturally it focuses on organic gardening but it holds a wealth of information for every type of gardeners.

Thanks lz. I've used that avatar since I registered here on BYC...been a while. I've thought about changing it at times but so far I've decided not to.

Ed

 

[Chic Rustler]

Deer is an easy fix. Get a pitbull, get a shock collar for the dog and wrap the whole place with receiver wire for the collar. Then get a big fluffy sheep dog to keep the coyotes run off and let him go where ever he wants. Thats what i did. Be sure to wrap the wire around the coop tho. Pitbulls love killing chickens

 

[Intheswamp]

No dogs at the moment and won't be any pits. I put an order in for a fence charger this afternoon...Parmak Magnum 12v battery operated. I've got a 100w pv panel and ordered a small charge controller for it. Last thing to get is a battery to store the solar energy in and feed the charger...and, of course, build the actual fence.

 

[lazy gardener]

No dogs at the moment and won't be any pits. I put an order in for a fence charger this afternoon...Parmak Magnum 12v battery operated. I've got a 100w pv panel and ordered a small charge controller for it. Last thing to get is a battery to store the solar energy in and feed the charger...and, of course, build the actual fence.

Have you looked into Premier 1 electric poultry netting. Awesome stuff that provides an easily moved electric run. I used it for several years, until hawk predation required that I build a covered run. I think that PM charger is the same one I use. It's about 30 years old, and still working very well.