- Apr 20, 2014
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I'm jealous huggstaff13!! It will be months before we have fresh tomatoes. We wont be able to plant our garden for a few more weeks. Hopefully it's done freezing here, but we like to play it safe.
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My bf and I live in an urban area of Southern California, just 5 minutes north if downtown Fullerton. Luckily we have a large backyard; however the dirt is rock hard clay and we have a bit of a hill. We (mostly he) built 6 raised veggie beds. To fill the beds and keep costs down, we went to a tree recycling place and bought several truckloads of soil. Each truckload was 1/2 cubic yard. Some of those kinds of soil (even though they labeled potting soil) can suck a bit, depending where you go, so I still amend them with my own compost, vermicompost and amendments from the garden center.
We grow lots of stuff, most of which are heirloom organic varieties, and got huge yields of kale, spinach, shingiku (Asian chrysanthemum green also called tong-oh), parsnips, carrots, lettuces, peas, fava beans, potatoes chard and beets from seeds we sowed back in November. However, since we got the chickens, they've been decimating my spring/summer plantings. After we finish the coop, we're going to figure out how to block of access to the beds. Right now, I'm also planting sweet potatoes and potatoes in a trench where the hill meets the retaining wall. We also have a landscaped bade along the fence which we've turned into an area where we've planted blackberries, raspberries and melons/ squashes.The property already had jujube and persimmon trees which both bear fruits prolifically. We picked at least 900 persimmons this past Fall!
I also planted several fruit trees on the hill and bf is building stairs out of pallets so it's easier and safer to access. My 2 large vermicomposting bins are also made of free pallets, as are coop/run in progress. I have a soilsaver composter for everything else.
The 6 beds taken from our hill sometime in November or December.
My 2 pallet worm bins:
The carrot/ beets/ parsnips bed taken earlier this spring:
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Thanks! My bf built them for me for Xmas.I love your pallet bins! I wanna do something like that!My bf and I live in an urban area of Southern California, just 5 minutes north if downtown Fullerton. Luckily we have a large backyard; however the dirt is rock hard clay and we have a bit of a hill. We (mostly he) built 6 raised veggie beds. To fill the beds and keep costs down, we went to a tree recycling place and bought several truckloads of soil. Each truckload was 1/2 cubic yard. Some of those kinds of soil (even though they labeled potting soil) can suck a bit, depending where you go, so I still amend them with my own compost, vermicompost and amendments from the garden center. We grow lots of stuff, most of which are heirloom organic varieties, and got huge yields of kale, spinach, shingiku (Asian chrysanthemum green also called tong-oh), parsnips, carrots, lettuces, peas, fava beans, potatoes chard and beets from seeds we sowed back in November. However, since we got the chickens, they've been decimating my spring/summer plantings. After we finish the coop, we're going to figure out how to block of access to the beds. Right now, I'm also planting sweet potatoes and potatoes in a trench where the hill meets the retaining wall. We also have a landscaped bade along the fence which we've turned into an area where we've planted blackberries, raspberries and melons/ squashes.The property already had jujube and persimmon trees which both bear fruits prolifically. We picked at least 900 persimmons this past Fall! I also planted several fruit trees on the hill and bf is building stairs out of pallets so it's easier and safer to access. My 2 large vermicomposting bins are also made of free pallets, as are coop/run in progress. I have a soilsaver composter for everything else. The 6 beds taken from our hill sometime in November or December.My 2 pallet worm bins:
The carrot/ beets/ parsnips bed taken earlier this spring:
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I used to be rural. Then at least county. The city built up around us, and now we were annexed into city.
But I have tons of fruit trees and 5 hens/1 rooster. I do garden when the gophers let me. I collect rainwater for the trees and garden.
It's the only way I can afford to be here now. I remember growing up, our water bill was OUTRAGEOUS if it was $5. That was only 20 years ago. Now we can't get it for less than $20 a month.
So anything I can do to be self sufficient, I do.