Crochet "Chat"

[FrChuckW]

Jen, I am sorry for your loss. I wish I had gotten to know my grandparents, but my Mom's folks were dead before I was born and my father's folks had moved to Arizona . Enjoy the memories of the good times you had with her.

Tiki, you can do the raised beds in the front yard just mix flowers in with the veggies. Marigolds and Nasturiums also have the added benefit of being natural bug repellants for the veggies.

As to whether to buy topsoil by the truckload or buy the bag depends on how big an area of raised beds you make. One of the things to remember when setting up your beds to till the ground under them first and add whatever admendments to it to make it easier for the seeds to send deep roots. When you build your frames do not use pressure treated wood, as the chemicals may leach out and into your veggies. You can use cedar, or if you use any other wood, paint the inside sections with a good marine paint to preserve the wood.

Once you have the frames built you can roughly estimate how much topsoil, peat moss, and compost to fill the frames.

 

[karanleaf]

Jen I am so very sorry for the loss of your Grandma

Okie I am sure if ya ask around you will find a farmer some where that has a pile of broken or breaking down manure that you can proubly get for little of nothing (just for getting it hauled away, then mix it with some soil. That would be your best bet ,, in my opinion for filling a raised bed. We filled ours with the Broken down horsecrap and pine needles mixed with soil.

where's the dirt? I need a dirty thumb.

Karan

 

[lutheranchick]

Jen, I'm so sorry for your loss. My grandma's been gone for 12+ years, and some days I still dial her phone number before I remember that she's in heaven! That would be some long-distance charge, huh?

 

[FrChuckW]

Gardening tips part two!

If you have rather tuff soil to work with, such as mostly clay, then you will need to till in sand, peatmoss and vermiculite to loosen and aerate the soil to improve drainage as well as improve the quality.

If you plant vining plants such as beans, squash, pumpkins, melons, gourds, then build a frame for them and take weather proof string and tie it between the top and bottom boards and train them to grow up the strings. Or if you plant them near a fence then train them to grow up the fence. Once they have reached the top of the frame or fence, prune any bits that grow beyond the top. This will encourage the plant to put the necessary growth into the fruit.

Also you can use succession planting rather than planting all your seeds at one time, especially if you are using the square foot method. That way you will have a continous supply throughout the season without being overloaded all at once.

 

[okiemommy]

This sounds like more than I can handle all of a sudden

Seriously.








I can't use pressure treated wood? And then I have to paint whatever other wood I do use?

I do have clay soil...seriously...

I was going to put hardware cloth on the bottom of the beds so as to deter the gophers.


How does one go about asking someone if I can have their horse crap?

ETA Obviously I know what super fresh horse crap looks like, but how do I know what broken down horse crap looks like?

 

[FrChuckW]

Okie, you don't have to paint the wood on the inside if you don't want to. It was just a suggestion to help save the wood so you don't have to replace it every couple of years is all.

No, pressure treated wood is treated with chemicals to discourage insects, mold, and mildew. There is a possiblity of those chemicals leaching out into the ground and being absorbed by the growing plants. However you can use the pressure treated wood for fence posts, or uprights.

As to how to tell the difference between fresh and "matured" horse manure is that it will be very dry and crumbly and have a very or almost no odor. If you have the room you can make a compost bin using 4 wooden pallets nailed together. Or you can also make one using stakes or poles and attaching chicken wire around them to make an enclosure. Take your old bedding from the chicken coop and put it in there, add your lawn clippings, tree leaves, other clippings and let it build up to fill your bin. You may have to water it down once a week during extremely hot dry weather. Next year you will have your own compost ready to add to your garden beds.

 

[karanleaf]

Quote:



Okie you can put the hard ware cloth down that's agreat idea, you can also put weed barrer down too then put your garden soil in.

Brokendown horse crap looks like nice rich dirt . at least mine does the top of the pile (if they have raked it or scooped it into a pile) maybe be lighter colored but put a shovel in it and turn it see how it looks. You maybe even find some great helpers (earthworms)

Hey if ya drive by a farm and see a large pile in the area of the barn or lot just go up and ask if they have any they could spare. I have folks ask me if they can come over and get a few buckets of the stuff to add to their gardens all the time. Ya know BYC has a sister site called easygardens

I haven't been on it for a while but there are lots of good folks over there that know or can point out to where ya find the answer.

And here is a link to one of my favorite sites and my home page http://www.almanac.com/ and another of my favorites http://www.motherearthnews.com/

any ways there ya have it

Karan

 

[chicks rule]

Quote:
Hmmm, very interesting. As soon as I here from FrChuckW

, I am going to have to give that a go, Thx

I have a few plants that have grown ok on a rocky hillside, will definately have to get them a raised bed to live in.

 

[ozark hen]

Quote:
wow, Jen, quite a legacy your grandmother left. I know you all will miss her very much. so sorry.

 

[Jen4]

ozark hen - lol... she sure did! We are going to have a reunion this summer, dont think everyone will make it but even if half of us make it, it will be huge.

Thanks for the kind words everyone....
I ♥ all this garden talk

cant wait to start planting, growing, picking and canning!

Have a nice day.

Havent sent my swap squares out yet, but they are in a box sitting on my counter just waiting.