What can we do on a small urban property? **WARNING*** this is a really long post!

[mickey328]

Wow, so exciting Sumi! I'll bet it's just lovely there, congrats! I'm already off dreaming in my head of all the fun things to do with a place like that

Are you a member at The Easy Garden? If I'm not mistaken, there are members from Ireland there who likely have experience with the soil and climate there. Your neighbors would be wonderful sources of information as well. Since most veggies are annuals, the optimal growing conditions would be the same regardless of where you live; you just need to start with things that would do well in your climate, given rain and the number of frost free days.

One thing I would recommend is raised beds. You can make them as long as you like, but if you keep them to a maximum of 4 feet wide then you can reach to the center from each side. That way you never have to walk on the soil which helps to keep it from compacting and getting hard. You'll probably also want to start some amendments...it's a rare thing to find soil that's perfect as it is, LOL. Your composting will go a long way toward that. Have you started with some compost piles yet? Along with the comfrey and leaves, you can likely scrounge some manure from neighbors; cow, rabbit, horse...all would contribute "green" to mix with your "brown" to make a great mix!

Are you considering other livestock besides the chicken and pig? A milking goat or two might be really handy...you can use the milk yourselves both for drinking and making cheese and yogurt. Any excess can go to the pig and chickens.

I'm envious best of luck to you! Can't wait to hear the ongoing story.

 

[sumi]

Thank you, I've looked at The Easy Garden a few times, think it's time to join

I'll get some pics of the garden bed I've got here and the area I'm thinking of using so you can see and make suggestions. It's just in a slightly awkward place between the driveway and the house and it is raised. The house sits about 3 feet lower, so I at least don't have to bend when I'm weeding LOL I haven't measured it, but I'm guessing it's 4-5 feet wide and I've not idea how long, but it's a nice space. I need to clear the weeds and figure out which aren't still. The bed also slopes a bit... I'll go take some pics and upload it.
I would love to keep a goat, but I don't want to mess the yard up completely! So I was thinking the room at the back of the barn for a pig. It used to be a stable, our landlord kept a pony in there. But it's absolutely freezing in there already, so I'm waiting for spring before we get a piglet. Don't want the poor thing to freeze in there (before it goes to freezer camp anyway

)
The neighbours actually has a few cows. And I've already dropped a hint regarding cow poo, which is wonderful for compost. They also have some beautiful horses, who are so curious about my chickens. They stand at the fence all day, staring at them LOL
We started a compost heap, but it's only in the beginning stages. We need to get busy with all the leaves and stuff laying around and make a proper one.

Here's what we've got for a garden:

 

[AlivianAcres]

Everyone has such great ideas!!! I will be watching for new posts. We just moved into our house in August. We have 20 acres. Most is fenced pasture but we are planning to prefab a turn out into something else...either gardening space or as part of the chicken coop. I did get a bed built and strawberries in as well as some raspberries, mulberries and blackberries...I am sure its going to be a project over the next few years....I like to say I came from 'farm stock'. My grandfather was a farmer and hunter and my grandmother was a big canner which was all passed down to my mom and then to me. Its in my blood I suppose...I have big plans for our space! Dairy goats...maybe a couple dexter cows . It will happen eventually...I'm starting to see it!!!

 

[mickey328]

Sumi, is it just the photo, or is the area really sloped downward? It looks like quite a drop. It's a nice shape though and you should be able to grow lots in it without having to trample the soil since you could reach it all from the driveway. Now is a great time to start getting it into shape for spring planting. The easiest way would be to cover it all with either cardboard from boxes or several thicknesses of newspaper, then cover all that with soil or compost and/or soiled bedding from the chickens and then mulch of whatever you happen to have. That will kill the grass and enrich the soil as it decomposes. In spring you should be able to turn it all over and level it out nicely.

Hi AA...glad to have you along! 20 acres? and right here in CO? I'm jealous! LOL I can only dream about all the fun stuff I'd do with that kind of space...absolutely some dairy goats and cows for both meat and milk, a pig, lots of rabbits, more chickens, fields for free ranging and growing some fodder for all the critters, a huge garden, room for a work shop and such...gosh, I'd only have to hit the stores for coffee, LOL.

 

[sumi]

It is quite a slope, but I think we can level it a fraction. I want to get rid of those brambles! Those things are not nice. I just look at them and my hands are full of thorns! LOL And we got a few to spare here. Thanks for the tip. We bought some gardening tools last week, but I didn't get round to it yet. We also found a poly tunnel at the garden centre. Good size and good price. We're thinking about it. We bought some berry bushes at the market that I want to plant somewhere. They're quite happy in their pots at the moment, so I'll leave them there for now, but it's a start.
Our landlord said we must get some sheep now. And keep them where? The lawn's a bit small...

 

[mickey328]

A good sturdy lawn mower will help with the brambles if you have or can borrow one. It's not perfect but it will save you a lot of punctures! Once they're to a reasonable level, you should be able to dig them out. They tend to sucker underground, so it may be an ongoing job. Once dug, it might be a good spot for some of your berries. With the brambles in a weakened position, the new plants will help to crowd them out.

LOL @ the sheep. Have you considered rabbits instead? They produce the very best fertilizer, are quiet and don't take much room. You can breed them for meat and fill your freezer.

 

[sumi]

That doesn't sound promising, about the brambles. They're bad enough above the ground! LOL My right hand's got countless little bramble thorns in it and I'm battling to get them out, they're tiny! I went and bought a nice pair of "thorn proof" gardening gloves today. We don't have a lawnmower, but I'll see if I can get one. At the moment we're letting the chickens trim the lawn for us

I thought of rabbits, but then my DH started with the "cute little bunny" routine. I think he's worried I'll get attached to them like I did with the chickens and refuse to eat them. I do have my eye on a pasture behind our house that I'm pretty sure belongs to our landlord. He has a big farm with quite a few pastures and I know he's renting some to our neighbour...

 

[mickey328]

Once you get the majority of the brambles out and you see new suckers, you can just chop them with the edge of a good shovel and toss 'em in the compost heap. It's the initial removal that will be a bear! I've yet to find a pair of really, really thorn-proof gloves, except for the heavy leather ones that are so thick you're all bumble fingered in 'em, LOL Still, when you're working in that sort of stuff, they're great protection. If your landlord farms, you might ask if he has any machinery that will take out those brambles. If he has anything that will cut from the side at near ground level, it would be more efficient and a lot more quick to get the branches off. Then you just have to deal with the roots...and that'll be plenty of work in itself.

I've decided that with the rabbits, I'll let myself get attached to the breeding stock, because we'll be keeping them. The kits will be butchered at about 2 months, so I'll just have to be stern and think of them as food rather than bunnies, LOL. I won't name them unless it's names like "Stew" and "Casserole" I'll save all the loving and cuddling for the mamas and daddies.

 

[sumi]

LOL We had a pig called "Bacon" once. Gosh, our friends were horrified!

So we asked them "Where do you think bacon comes from?"

I'm going to tackle that garden soon(ish). Just up to my ears in wood now. There's still a lot laying around, waiting to get fragged off to the barn to dry out and get chopped up. I'm enjoying it, but my muscles are aching! I'm still unsure about when would be a good time to start with seeds and what we can grow here, but the general opinion here is that right now nothing happens, we wait. So I guess no rush then. In SA I would've had a summer garden planted now. This feels strange! But we got our chickens and the eggs are coming, slowly, but surely. Next the garden and in spring we'll see about a pig. We need something to help eat the leftovers. The seagulls are getting fat! And the swans. We have swans in the bay here. I counted 11 this afternoon. And I thought swans were fresh water birds?

 

[mickey328]

Having lived all my life in the northern hemisphere, I can hardly comprehend the idea of winter in the middle of the year, or Christmas in the middle of summer, LOL. I suspect that where you're located you can start your planting a bit earlier than we can. Most seed packets will tell you to start seeds X number of days before the last frost. You should be able to estimate that date by talking to neighbors. Then you'll know when to start your seeds indoors, or to plant your starts. Here, it's generally the end of May. We have a lot of nice weather before that, but mountain weather is highly unpredictable and it's quite possible for us to get a hard frost just about any time. I should think you have at least 3 or 4 months yet to get the garden ready, so you can get a lot of the other things done that need it right away.

If we had the space, I'd get a pig as well. Hubby is dreadfully allergic to pork so we couldn't eat it, but it would make so much sense to have something to eat all the extra stuff, like you said.