Homesteaders

[rancher hicks]

Jumping on the homestead wagon! I've been raising and processing our ducks here and hoping to get into gardening. This will be our 2nd summer here and I've got about an acre to work with for a garden.
This is a scream for help!!! How do I even start?!?! I need the basics. Prepping the soil, best hearty growers....
As you can guess, I'll take any help!!

Ohhh Maine. I just came across a book I've had "Maine Farm, a year of country life" by Stanley Joseph and Lynn Karlin. Do you have paypal? It's yours for the price of shipping. If you want it of course.

 

[Loc20chick]

for your corn find an abundance of old manure (horse and chicken mix works best). Layer it 4-6 inches deep in the area you plan to grow corn. Poke a kernel in every 12 inches , lins needent be fancy, water and watch. You will get 1- 3 ears per stalk depending on variety so plant accordingly. No need to weed as the corn get tall enough to find any how. We eat a ton of corn. Oh and no need to till the area, the poo works its self into the ground very well. Just avoid walking on it as much as possible. Maybe do 1 foot wide rows of poo and 2 ft wide walk ways in between. Then add a few 1×6 boards to border your poo and you have a no fuss corn garden. The not walking on it gives the roots good lose soil.

That's a neat easy way to do it!

 

[KlopKlop]

for your corn find an abundance of old manure (horse and chicken mix works best). Layer it 4-6 inches deep in the area you plan to grow corn. Poke a kernel in every 12 inches , lins needent be fancy, water and watch. You will get 1- 3 ears per stalk depending on variety so plant accordingly. No need to weed as the corn get tall enough to find any how. We eat a ton of corn. Oh and no need to till the area, the poo works its self into the ground very well. Just avoid walking on it as much as possible. Maybe do 1 foot wide rows of poo and 2 ft wide walk ways in between. Then add a few 1×6 boards to border your poo and you have a no fuss corn garden. The not walking on it gives the roots good lose soil.

I am going to try doing similar to this for my corn this year. It did so so last year but now I have a nice large pile of composting chicken bedding to use! That should make some good corn!

 

[Chicken girl 15]

That's a neat easy way to do it! 

super easy.I'm a mother of 5 with 9 acres so easy is the name of the game. No time wasted on tilling or weeding means extra time harvesting, eating, and playing. Get manure from horse farmers who hate paying to get rid of it and toss your animal (other than dog and human) in with it. Let it get good and mix it with the compost from the year.

 

[KlopKlop]

super easy.I'm a mother of 5 with 9 acres so easy is the name of the game. No time wasted on tilling or weeding means extra time harvesting, eating, and playing. Get manure from horse farmers who hate paying to get rid of it and toss your animal (other than dog and human) in with it. Let it get good and mix it with the compost from the year.

I have been curious about asking my neighbor about poo from his horses. Half the time they are out in the pasture half the time not. I'm assuming the 'not' half they are in the stable which means he is probably shoveling that poo, right?
I'm not going to go out and pick up poo from the pasture.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

I have been curious about asking my neighbor about poo from his horses. Half the time they are out in the pasture half the time not. I'm assuming the 'not' half they are in the stable which means he is probably shoveling that poo, right?
I'm not going to go out and pick up poo from the pasture.

correct. However if you get fresh you want it to sit for a year or 2. The pasture poo is best because it has generally had a bit of time to cook and not be so strong. My first year we added fresh and everything tasted like poo.

 

[Loc20chick]

Will be looking for horse manure, sometimes i see on craig list for free .

 

[rancher hicks]

I posted to CL for manure and got a few offers but went with the place that was closest and traded some eggs. I used feed bags and filled those.

As for soil prep. I suggest the lasagna method it's easy and can be done a little at a time. I used cardboard to kill grass and weeds, laying it down anytime but winters are best as the snow weighs it down and come spring it's soft and easy to break through if you need to.

There is also the hay bale method. You can google this and there are a bazzillon pics on how to do it. You could do this the first year and then just till all the hay under if you have a mind to, or use the old hay as mulch between the new bales.

Wood shavings make great mulch and go far. Even if you decide to till it works the same with the cardboard. Check furniture stores, grocery stores or anywhere they might have it. I collect it at the school I volunteer at and lay it down as I get it.

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[Raech]

Has anyone grown kidney or black beans? Dad just topped the pear tree and has some that were 20 feet long, figured that might work for trellises for beans and peas. I haven't made a trellis before but the pictures don't look that hard, and pear is a little flexible I think. Might see if Grandpa will let me do a row of 1/3 kidney, 1/3 black and 1/3 peas between the tomatoes and squash. Can I plant them close like that or will they cross pollinate?

 

[caesargirl]

Lots of great ideas. I'm in farm country, so manure, not a problem! I'm wondering if peppers would be better out of buckets? Water will come from the duck pond.... I'm not toooooo worried about coons, my dogs and geese take care of them. That cardboard lasagna method, I like. I do have an abundance of it. When the duck house gets emptied after summer, all that will get mixed into the rabbit shavings and pigeon paper, and turned.