Gardening for Old Folks (Adaptative)

[nminusyplusm]

Well, I have like an inch or two of top soil, then rock and then red clay. So trying to make a soil that will work well and is easy to weed. I've probably got a hundred garden books, but still just don't really get the whole soil farming thing. So I read and look for things I have or can get a hold of and go from there. Here's a look at my garden that went in late spring.
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Tomatoes and peppers are hydroponic.

Wow, very impressive! Great job!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Your beds are beautiful! And as a not tall person, I'm a big fan of how you used the cattle panels. I did a similar thing with tomatoes. I fenced the yard with it too as a grape/kiwi/cucumber trellis.
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Those are cool. I have a raised pond too. Any fish in yours? Mine holds some of my goldfish for the summer.

 

[nminusyplusm]

For raised beds and containers I'm mixing 1/3 organic compost, 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 coconut fiber with additional azomite sprinkled in and organic fertilizer. The soil around here is very sandy and has almost no organic matter and it's triple digits in the summer. The bed mix keeps things from drying out and cuts down on watering. Also planting things really crowded together helps with water use too. So counter intuitive!

 

[nminusyplusm]

Those are cool. I have a raised pond too. Any fish in yours? Mine holds some of my goldfish for the summer.

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Oooh, pretty! It looks like a grotto in the Italian country side!
Yes, I have 3 goldfish and around a billion mosquitofish year round.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Well, I have like an inch or two of top soil, then rock and then red clay. So trying to make a soil that will work well and is easy to weed. I've probably got a hundred garden books, but still just don't really get the whole soil farming thing. So I read and look for things I have or can get a hold of and go from there. Here's a look at my garden that went in late spring.
View attachment 1208093
Tomatoes and peppers are hydroponic.

Love seeing all that green!

 

[rjohns39]

So basically you are creating an organically enhanced soil. Sweeeeeet.

Made me remember about 30 years ago enhancing poor soil by doing an old native American thing. We would go fishing in the IL river for carp, catch as many as we could. The small ones we would freeze whole. The big ones we would cut in half and freeze. Come planting time we would drag out bags of frozen carp and one would get tossed into holes waiting for young tomato plants for an instant nitrogen boost. The soil was very poor quality. It took about three years until we started seeing rich black soil.

Years ago I took a shot at aquaponics and my mentor was a PhD student at UWV. He was given 50 acres of dead soil for his PhD project. He setup a 100'X400' barn with cement tanks and tapped an underground mountain river (with a 15" pipe) for his water refresh. He raised trout in the tanks, greens in the green houses and had two huge spin down tanks to capture waste. He spread that waste over the "dead" land along with any carbon he could find. Inside of two years, it was loaded with earth worms, and the whole micro culture and he was growing 14' corn stalks. Yes he also used waste water from the fish to water the plants.

When I started I had bad clay soil that turned into a rock by the summer. My answer was to add organic matter on top to feed my worms which in turn make more soil for me.

In spring and summer we put grass clipping on the beds as mulch. In the fall we pile our leaves on top after chopping them up a bit. Top with aged manure to hold those leaves down.

I never till my soil. It destroys it. My soil is biologically active, I have tons of works and my gardens grow without any extra fertiliser.

It takes time, but eventually you will get a rich loan. Your worms will work the stuff into the soil. It's so easy. I am big on not working too hard in the gardens. It takes the pleasure out of it.

Very nice looking garden.

I built my planned orchard site using lasagna gardening method. February 2016 it was still steaming. Since, I've put my greenhouse and winter housing for the birds over the same site. Every time I throw out a new layer of bedding in I add shelled corn. Hopefully, next spring I can re-purpose it to the orchard it was supposed to be. My plan is to buy (or grow my own) hogs and put them in there until everything is nicely mixed up. Last spring, I tried to plant it but the wheat and straw was just too abrasive to get anything growing. Rather than using a til, I'd like to use pigs as they are better at removing invasive roots and mixing everything up.

As for adding organic matter, that is a constant activity. I've been patiently growing my own compost for two years now... I was going to use it in some herb beds, but the girls discovered it a few weeks ago and my 5' pile is now well, pretty level. Maybe I'll plant there and find a different place for compost?

 

[CapricornFarm]

Oooh, pretty! It looks like a grotto in the Italian country side!
Yes, I have 3 goldfish and around a billion mosquitofish year round.

I dug a 14x14 in ground pond in FL, used an EDPM liner. I poured a concrete base, then made a 3 foot tall raised area with concrete blocks which had a preformed pond shell in the top. The water was pumped into that pond, spilled over the front and down the waterfall and part of it went down a little side stream and spilled into the pond. It was so tranquil there. I used to go out and sit and listen to the water falling for hours. I had huge koi after a while, like 2 feet long! Grew them from babies in a fish tank.
I had water hyacinth, papyrus, and iris plus palm trees . I love the jungle look. Oh and water lillies, pink and yellow ones.

 

[nminusyplusm]

I dug a 14x14 in ground pond in FL, used an EDPM liner. I poured a concrete base, then made a 3 foot tall raised area with concrete blocks which had a preformed pond shell in the top. The water was pumped into that pond, spilled over the front and down the waterfall and part of it went down a little side stream and spilled into the pond. It was so tranquil there. I used to go out and sit and listen to the water falling for hours. I had huge koi after a while, like 2 feet long! Grew them from babies in a fish tank.
I had water hyacinth, papyrus, and iris plus palm trees . I love the jungle look. Oh and water lillies, pink and yellow ones.

Heavenly! That would be my dream. I love tropical lushness... the most I can do is an ice cream banana and some citrus on the cat porch where the humidity is a little higher.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

For the tropical look in Wisconsin I plant Canna bulbs. They reproduce like rabbit. I have to dig them up in the fall and store them in my basement. That's about all the tropical I can pull off.

 

[nminusyplusm]

For the tropical look in Wisconsin I plant Canna bulbs. They reproduce like rabbit. I have to dig them up in the fall and store them in my basement. That's about all the tropical I can pull off.

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Beautiful! I'd love to hang out on your patio!