Back to Eden Gardening and Hugelkulture and other non-conventional garden methods

[igorsMistress]

@lazy gardener I'm transplanting some bushes to an area that we have tilled and I want to suppress weeds and grass there with cardboard. Would you leave some space between the base of the plant and the cardboard? Or put the cardboard right around the base? Going to cover with a layer of woodchips as well.

TIA.

 

[HoopyFrood]

I'm around the border of zone 8a/8b. The pigeon peas may not make it through my winters but if they do well I'll reseed them each spring I guess. I haven't grown many peas before so maybe their not much different but what I read was how prolific they were and could actually serve as trellis support for other vegetables like tomatoes.

I'm also going to plant some comfrey all around. It has deep tap roots that pull up lots of minerals from the ground its good for chop and drop or animal fodder as well. It dies back in winter but comes back in spring on its own. I really like the idea of having lots of perennials that come back year after year without replanting.

I'm even thinking about saving some pepper plants this year after the summer, repotting them in containers and keeping them alive through winter. Maybe try just 2 or 3 this year and see how it goes.

I think the hybrid varieties of comfrey "Bocking" 4 and 14 are the most commonly used in gardening/permaculture efforts. But others will have to offer guidance and next season will be my foray into comfrey (and many other things). For deep-rooted crops that can work as accumulators, and/or soil workers/builders, and/or food I'm planning experiments with burdock, chicory, and daikon, too.

Buckwheat is supposed to be a great nutrient scavenger/accumulator too; able to mineralize many nutrients. I only started experimenting with it last year but I've been delighted with its prolific growth in very poor soils. It composts VERY quickly - It's one of the several things I'm planning on using (as a green manure mulch) in the place of side dressing fertilizer in our veggie raised beds this year.

Good luck overwintering the peppers! It SHOULD work. We have one hot pepper plant that is going on two years old now and flourishing. It's survived two winters in the house (we have kept it inside since before its first winter). I wish I knew what it was. It's self pollinating so we get hot peppers in the middle of winter in our living room! A lovely break from the Maine winter doldrums

 

[pennyJo1960]

I'm around the border of zone 8a/8b. The pigeon peas may not make it through my winters but if they do well I'll reseed them each spring I guess. I haven't grown many peas before so maybe their not much different but what I read was how prolific they were and could actually serve as trellis support for other vegetables like tomatoes.

I'm also going to plant some comfrey all around. It has deep tap roots that pull up lots of minerals from the ground its good for chop and drop or animal fodder as well. It dies back in winter but comes back in spring on its own. I really like the idea of having lots of perennials that come back year after year without replanting.

I'm even thinking about saving some pepper plants this year after the summer, repotting them in containers and keeping them alive through winter. Maybe try just 2 or 3 this year and see how it goes.

see I am out Washington state rain USA still waiting on spring here to cold and wet to try anything outside when I see the mint rear it's head next to the pumphouse I can plant outside

 

[Leahs Mom]

I'm looking for some ideas and hope you will all chime in.

I want to plant a small orchard and keep the trees relatively small. I also want the chickens to be able to run the orchard area and plan on them being the pest patrol.

However, I want to plant some lower "shrub type" items throughout that can act as hawk cover so they're not just out in the open if they're in the orchard area.

Any ideas for what those low-growers could be?

I know a person here on byc that planted cherry shrubs that are producing fantastically for her that I also want to plant. From her photo, I think that they would be one good choice that would provide cover.

This photo is NOT MY PHOTO, but the photo from a fellow byc'er showing their dwarf cherry bush.

They got it here: https://www.gurneys.com/product/carmine_jewel_dwarf_cherry

 

[pennyJo1960]

I'm looking for some ideas and hope you will all chime in.

I want to plant a small orchard and keep the trees relatively small. I also want the chickens to be able to run the orchard area and plan on them being the pest patrol.

However, I want to plant some lower "shrub type" items throughout that can act as hawk cover so they're not just out in the open if they're in the orchard area.

Any ideas for what those low-growers could be?

I know a person here on byc that planted cherry shrubs that are producing fantastically for her that I also want to plant. From her photo, I think that they would be one good choice that would provide cover.

This photo is NOT MY PHOTO, but the photo from a fellow byc'er showing their dwarf cherry bush.

They got it here: https://www.gurneys.com/product/carmine_jewel_dwarf_cherry

Your right in the heart of the country have you gotten spring

 

[Back to Eden Chickens]

Well if the orchard trees are a at least a few feet tall they will be providing some cover themselves.

I'm not sure I'll ever be comfortable letting my chickens roam around my garden or orchard just b/c of how destructive they are. Plus, no matter how many trees or shrubs you put out there they would still be at risk of hawk attacks.

I'm looking for some ideas and hope you will all chime in.

I want to plant a small orchard and keep the trees relatively small. I also want the chickens to be able to run the orchard area and plan on them being the pest patrol.

However, I want to plant some lower "shrub type" items throughout that can act as hawk cover so they're not just out in the open if they're in the orchard area.

Any ideas for what those low-growers could be?

I know a person here on byc that planted cherry shrubs that are producing fantastically for her that I also want to plant. From her photo, I think that they would be one good choice that would provide cover.

This photo is NOT MY PHOTO, but the photo from a fellow byc'er showing their dwarf cherry bush.

They got it here: https://www.gurneys.com/product/carmine_jewel_dwarf_cherry

 

[pennyJo1960]

Well if the orchard trees are a at least a few feet tall they will be providing some cover themselves.

I'm not sure I'll ever be comfortable letting my chickens roam around my garden or orchard just b/c of how destructive they are. Plus, no matter how many trees or shrubs you put out there they would still be at risk of hawk attacks.

My girls have a yard that is huge fenced because of our own dogs but no aerial attacks because of those dogs and birds run free behind the fence

 

[Leahs Mom]

My birds are already free ranging, but I electronet off an area for them that has a little forest and lots of low growing cover. I just don't like them out on wide-open spaces where it's too far to run somewhere for cover. Thus wanting a few low-growers here and there.

We've had unusually warm weather here, but winter's not over. Often until mid-May.

 

[lazy gardener]

@lazy gardener I'm transplanting some bushes to an area that we have tilled and I want to suppress weeds and grass there with cardboard. Would you leave some space between the base of the plant and the cardboard? Or put the cardboard right around the base? Going to cover with a layer of woodchips as well.

TIA.

I would bring the cardboard up to within 6" of the base of the shrubs. Then add your wood chips.

@Leahs Mom , I have planted some June Berries, High bush cranberries, strawberries, cranberries, Lingonberries, Hazelbert. 2 Standard Apple, 2 American seedling plum, 2 Manchurian apricot (different cultivars), a Peach, Cornelian cherries, lilac. I also put garlic and nasturtiums around the base of all the trees, and interplant squash, bush beans and any other garden plant that strikes my fancy. Until your orchard trees get full size, feel free to plant any thing and everything in the area. Perhaps some pole bean tee-pees? I don't trust free ranging for my birds b/c of heavy hawk pressure. But, oh the birds do love scratching around in the BTE wood chips!!!

 

[HoopyFrood]

My birds are already free ranging, but I electronet off an area for them that has a little forest and lots of low growing cover. I just don't like them out on wide-open spaces where it's too far to run somewhere for cover. Thus wanting a few low-growers here and there.

We've had unusually warm weather here, but winter's not over. Often until mid-May.

I'm going to try using silverberry and Siberian peashrub as "undergrowth" in my upcoming apple (and if I'm lucky pear) orchard. They are both very hardy, nitrogen fixers, and produce nutritious food (for wildlife, chickens, and people!). The peashrub is fast growing and it's considered an invasive species in some places.

However I'm planning on standard sized fruit trees, so those shrubs might be a bit on the big side if you are planning on dwarf fruit trees