Homesteaders

[rancher hicks]

I have read differing op's on using tires. One that there are chemicals that can leach into the soil. Though I did read about using them for potatoes in Mother Earth News back in the 70's.

Bos, have you tried heavy "cattle panel" hoops covered with poultry wire. I've no doubt it takes quite a bit to out smart a deer.

I had intended to use my chicken run double duty as a green house hanging planters to start seeds but it got so warm and humid I had to tear some plastic off the front. Controlling the temp in a greenhouse is not as easy as I thought too. It can get very hot in there.

 

[rancher hicks]

Why did you lay the black plastic down? Was it to keep the moisture in or keep the roots from growing down? I have never had a garden and only just bought my first tomato plant last weekend-along with 2 dwarf fruit trees and some flowers. I have always killed my plants from not enough water or too much water. My raised bed will be a beginners bed. If I kill something I will just keep trying. Any and all tips will help me

I think I misunderstood your question. There were some areas where there was tarvia and I could not dig it out. Tarvia has oil and other chemicals in it that would leach into the soil. So I laid black plastic down and then put my raised bed on top and filled it in with good soil.

Lord have mercy , when i dug to set some posts for gates I had huge chunks of concrete. It took two or three days for me to do it. I had to rest from swinging a pick axe. My yard was filled in with "hard fill" which has bricks, concrete and other junk in it. This before we bought the house and knew it.

 

[newbie32]

I live in the desert so my soil sucks. Basically my backyard is sand. HARD sand, it compacts. I know of a tire ditched not far from my house. But it is small-for a car not a tractor. I will check into it. Can I buy a big pot for the tomatoes or would that prevent them from growing? I would like to eventually grow cucumbers, bell peppers and onions. We have 2 growing seasons here, both fall and spring.

 

[rancher hicks]

I live in the desert so my soil sucks. Basically my backyard is sand. HARD sand, it compacts. I know of a tire ditched not far from my house. But it is small-for a car not a tractor. I will check into it. Can I buy a big pot for the tomatoes or would that prevent them from growing? I would like to eventually grow cucumbers, bell peppers and onions. We have 2 growing seasons here, both fall and spring.

Here are a few ideas that might help. Of course you could use tires.

I plant my Egg plants in 10" pots and also did my hot pepper plant this year. Just remember to water often. I put mine in the drive as they like it hot.

I have seen where someone took a kiddie pools and used that for a flower bed. This could be set in the ground and filled. Holes in the bottom to help drainage.

Lots of things can be used for filling your beds. You can just compost things directly in the beds themselves, which is what I've done in the past. Just fill them with horse manure, leaves, plant cuttings, even shredded newspaper provided the ink is soy. I buy bales of peat moss to help with water retention. Just mix it all up and you should be good to go. Cardboard makes a great mulch and breaks down nice too.

When I first started with raised beds I filled the bed with straw and then put bags of top soil on top, planted my tomatoes and they were fine. Straw and hay break down nicely.

Next year I have a bench I plan to set various tea pots I can find and plant herbs in them. Flea markets make a great place to find things to plant in. Old cooking pots and other large things work great.

You could also look for houses that are being torn down to savage bricks or lumber. I once made a stop at a building that was coming down and loaded up with the bricks each day on the way home from work. Got enough for a nice patio and walk way. Old bricks last much longer than the new ones they make today.

If you can build a raised bed 12" deep you should be good to go. The roots of most vegetable plants do not go much deeper than that.

 

[newbie32]

Last night I stayed up until midnight researching the tire method and other ways to plant raised beds. I think I am going to ditch the tire method and build raised beds out of rocks. We have an abundance of rocks here and although it would be labor intensive, it would also be free!

I saw some great ones made from bricks just like you were saying. Also, the cinderblock beds looked easy too. We don't use brick out here though. Our houses would crumble every time we had an earthquake because under the sand is clay. But I could walk outside right now and collect a bunch of 20-40 pound rocks with no problem-except maybe rattlers. The rattlers hide under the rocks.

The house next door has a needle kind of tree-not sure what it is. The needles get in my yard all the time. If I put them in a garbage can with chicken poo and chicken shavings how long would it be before I could put it in the soil in my bed? I saw a woman once put the shells of her eggs and left over food in her tomato beds, is that safe to do? Or would that cause salmonella?

Thanks a bunch for allowing me, a newbie, to ask so many questions!!!

 

[rancher hicks]

Last night I stayed up until midnight researching the tire method and other ways to plant raised beds. I think I am going to ditch the tire method and build raised beds out of rocks. We have an abundance of rocks here and although it would be labor intensive, it would also be free!

I saw some great ones made from bricks just like you were saying. Also, the cinderblock beds looked easy too. We don't use brick out here though. Our houses would crumble every time we had an earthquake because under the sand is clay. But I could walk outside right now and collect a bunch of 20-40 pound rocks with no problem-except maybe rattlers. The rattlers hide under the rocks.

The house next door has a needle kind of tree-not sure what it is. The needles get in my yard all the time. If I put them in a garbage can with chicken poo and chicken shavings how long would it be before I could put it in the soil in my bed? I saw a woman once put the shells of her eggs and left over food in her tomato beds, is that safe to do? Or would that cause salmonella?

Thanks a bunch for allowing me, a newbie, to ask so many questions!!!

I suspect as hot as it gets there Salmonella would not be a problem. As for how long it takes for things to break down that too might be faster with the heat. If you don't have horses you might be able to get free manure or trade for it like I do. Folks will bring me manure already bagged which is good since I have a hard time shoveling. Another reason for my raised beds. I never have to dig a hole.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Newbie32 - From my experiance, I think one of the problems you are going to have growing stuff in the dessert is the low humidity. If you can make a low tunnel over your planting beds it will make a huge difference to your garden by holding in the moisture better. You want some ventilation or it will over heat and steam cook your plants, but the covering will reduce the evaporation rate allowing you to apply less water and allow the moisture to stay in the soil longer for the plants to take it in. The hoops for the tunnel can also hold shade cloth for those plants that will burn up in your intense sun later in the spring or early fall.

I live in what is called high mountain desert and we get about 12" rain annually. Our soil is extreamly rocky, very low in organics, and packs hard as concrete. The bedrock here is granite, and when it breaks down it forms sand and clay. I decided to make a raised bed garden so I didn't have to try to dig into the ground to plant stuff. Then the wind started to blow all the good topsoil out of the raised bed, so hubby built a 4x4 framed structure with plastic covering to protect the plants from the wind. The unexpected benefit was the high humidity in the growhouse. I have to make sure that I keep it well ventilated in the summer or I steam cook the plants, but I use alot less water than my neighbor down the street who doesn't have any covers over her plants. When I open it in January on a sunny day steam will roll out and fog my glasses pretty good.

 

[ElleLovesDucks]

I use these cloth pots called smart pots. They do amazing here. We had a 2 foot long zucchini just the other day from out "potted" garden.. I know there are other issues in the desert like keeping things the right temperature and the lack of humidity, but if you're looking for pots I love my smart pots

 

[Raech]

Thanks - I'm at the point of trying anything to deter them, Sue

It sounds really odd, but something that might help with your deer problem is wolf urine. My husband's family swears buy it. An Uncle used to own some and it deterred everything, from coyotes who were eating out of the pond and the neighbors cats, to deer in the garden and a cougar that came into the neighborhood. Hubby says you can probably buy off of the internet. You just sprinkle it on the posts around your garden or hang it on a string, and when the deer smell it they figure you own a wolf now, so to speak. It's sold as "Predator Pee" just type it in the search bar and you should be able to find it. Any questions you can message me.

Come to think of it we never had problems at the house garden until we stopped keeping them, its been about 9 years since our last one. Had our first deer in the garden this spring, she brought her baby, she jumped over the 6 foot fence and the baby crawled under the gate that is raised about a foot so the dogs could always get in there if need be.

 

[newbie32]

Newbie32 - From my experiance, I think one of the problems you are going to have growing stuff in the dessert is the low humidity. If you can make a low tunnel over your planting beds it will make a huge difference to your garden by holding in the moisture better. You want some ventilation or it will over heat and steam cook your plants, but the covering will reduce the evaporation rate allowing you to apply less water and allow the moisture to stay in the soil longer for the plants to take it in. The hoops for the tunnel can also hold shade cloth for those plants that will burn up in your intense sun later in the spring or early fall.

I live in what is called high mountain desert and we get about 12" rain annually. Our soil is extreamly rocky, very low in organics, and packs hard as concrete. The bedrock here is granite, and when it breaks down it forms sand and clay. I decided to make a raised bed garden so I didn't have to try to dig into the ground to plant stuff. Then the wind started to blow all the good topsoil out of the raised bed, so hubby built a 4x4 framed structure with plastic covering to protect the plants from the wind. The unexpected benefit was the high humidity in the growhouse. I have to make sure that I keep it well ventilated in the summer or I steam cook the plants, but I use alot less water than my neighbor down the street who doesn't have any covers over her plants. When I open it in January on a sunny day steam will roll out and fog my glasses pretty good.

We have commercial vineyards and crops all around me so I don't think they would scorch unless I was trying to grow them in summer. Grapes, lettuce, peppers, cabbage, carrots are the crops I know of for sure that grows here, oh and alfalfa.