What did you do in the garden today?

[BReeder!]

Yes and no... The side-by-side bins (each side measure 30" square) are piled about 3 ft high. But the big compost in the corner of the pasture is more spread out. There are areas in this 15' x 15' pile that are 12" deep and areas that are 4-6" deep. Every week when I clean out the coops and barn, this is where I've started dumping everything so some areas are deeper than others. It just depends on where I pull the cart in. Every time I dump a cart load (typically once a week), it adds 4" of material in a 2 ft square area.

I've left some areas around the edges a little "thinner" (4-6") because the chickens like to go in there and scratch for bugs. This is the area that I used the pitch fork to see how well the material was composting and what the soil looked like beneath.

I'll have to take a picture the next time I go out there....

Makes sense. It's labor intensive, but piling it all up and turning occasionally speeds up the process. That said, if it's organic it will rot and result in a form of compost eventually. If your compost is cold, you may end up with high N from all the manure though. Getting it hot (pile, turn, and keep it moist) is a result of bacterial activity that feeds on N, burning off the excess.

 

[igorsMistress]

Have you considered a raised bed type of pool? Basically a raised garden bed with a liner. Being above ground it would be easy to drain if you attach a valve with a bulkhead at the bottom of one side.

We are using a 4’ round pond liner that’s a foot deep. It will need a ramp and platform plus I want to have some plants in there.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Makes sense. It's labor intensive, but piling it all up and turning occasionally speeds up the process. That said, if it's organic it will rot and result in a form of compost eventually. If your compost is cold, you may end up with high N from all the manure though. Getting it hot (pile, turn, and keep it moist) is a result of bacterial activity that feeds on N, burning off the excess.

I have at least two dozen oak trees around my house and barn, not counting all the trees along the property line. Needless to say, I have a dump truck load or two of leaves.... I'm trying to get hubby to buy an attachment for our Cub Cadet that will sweep up the leaves and mulch them for us. I'd love to add them to the compost and/or as mulch around the dozen new trees I just planted. I'm actually a little bit concerned about all the chicken poop in the compost pile.... There's A LOT of it. Horse poop mellows out and breaks down pretty quickly. Chicken poop, on the other hand, really takes time. I'm not that concerned about the heat or moisture. I live in Central Arkansas. Winter and spring is usually very wet.... Avg daytime temperatures pretty much stay in the 40s and 50s. Mid-60s or even 70s by March. I'll be planting at the end of March or early April.

 

[BReeder!]

I have at least two dozen oak trees around my house and barn, not counting all the trees along the property line. Needless to say, I have a dump truck load or two of leaves.... I'm trying to get hubby to buy an attachment for our Cub Cadet that will sweep up the leaves and mulch them for us. I'd love to add them to the compost and/or as mulch around the dozen new trees I just planted. I'm actually a little bit concerned about all the chicken poop in the compost pile.... There's A LOT of it. Horse poop mellows out and breaks down pretty quickly. Chicken poop, on the other hand, really takes time. I'm not that concerned about the heat or moisture. I live in Central Arkansas. Winter and spring is usually very wet.... Avg daytime temperatures pretty much stay in the 40s and 50s. Mid-60s or even 70s by March. I'll be planting at the end of March or early April.

Do you have a bagger for the cub cadet? Instead of buying a sweeper attachment, you might be able to just mow and bag. It actually helps if the leaves get chopped up before going into the compost pile.
As for the chicken poop breaking down, my piles break it down within a few months. If I'm diligent about turning twice a week, the chicken poop breaks down in less than month. The pile gets REALLY HOT when I do that though. I actually felt like I burnt my foot when turning one day when some hot compost landed on my bare foot while wearing flip flops. I kicked it off right away and there was no harm, but I bet I could have cooked in that pile.

 

[BReeder!]

My seeds from Little Shop of Seeds arrived today and sparked my garden planning nerve. I got into MS Excel and mapped it out just like I did last year. I'm hoping for more success this year though in fighting off and preventing weeds. I'll be working from home until at least July. That should give me a bit more time to weed the garden in May and June. I'm using landscape fabric and straw mulch this year also.

Anyway, here's a look at my 2021 garden design:

The black area is planted in the ground while the six rectangles to the left are raised beds. The brown is already mulched and bordered walking paths. The plant list is (suggestions welcome for one more plant type to go in with the zucchini at the top left in the white boxes. I thought about yellow squash, but don't really need that and zucchini in the garden):

Carrot, Nantes
Celery, Utah
Corn, Bodacious
Corn, Early Sunglow
Cucumber, Boston Pickling
Cucumber, Straight Eight
Garlic (going to try with grocery store garlic)
Kale, Blue Curled Scotch
Lettuce, Big Boston Bibb
Lettuce, Green Leaf
Onion (type not determined yet)
Pepper, Banana
Pepper, California Wonder
Pepper, Habanero
Pepper, Jalapeno
Potatoes (type not determined yet)
Potatoes 2 (type not determined yet)
Pumpkin (likely a small pie type)
Radish, French Breakfast
Squash, Butternut
Tomato, Brandywine
Tomato, Ponderosa Beefsteak
Tomato, Rutgers
Zucchini, Black Beauty

I'm being experimental in the top right. There's going to be 6 mounds surrounding by deer fencing. The mounds will be planting with winter squash and pumpkins. I'm hoping the deer fencing will help contain the vines. I won't mind if the vines climb it. In fact, 4ft deer fencing means 8ft of vines going vertical (up and down the fence) instead of horizontal into other planting areas and pathways).

Lastly, sorry this post is so long.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

@BReeder! That's exactly how I lay out my garden plans, but I do mine in a paint program! I like making charts of everything at the right sizes.

I like your winter squash idea. I might try that out. I've been thinking of trellising mine this year.

What a great post.

 

[BReeder!]

@BReeder! That's exactly how I lay out my garden plans, but I do mine in a paint program! I like making charts of everything at the right sizes.

I like your winter squash idea. I might try that out. I've been thinking of trellising mine this year.

What a great post.

I thought about doing a formal trellis, but I was concerned with the length of trellis that would be needed for squash and pumpkin. Some of my vines last year were 10-12ft... I will be trellising the cucumbers and tomatoes though. I'm thinking of just using string from the base of each plant to a wooden support beam about 6ft up and training each plant to the string. I researched this method last year but never got around to actually doing it.

 

[WthrLady]

I have at least two dozen oak trees around my house and barn, not counting all the trees along the property line. Needless to say, I have a dump truck load or two of leaves.... I'm trying to get hubby to buy an attachment for our Cub Cadet that will sweep up the leaves and mulch them for us. I'd love to add them to the compost and/or as mulch around the dozen new trees I just planted. I'm actually a little bit concerned about all the chicken poop in the compost pile.... There's A LOT of it. Horse poop mellows out and breaks down pretty quickly. Chicken poop, on the other hand, really takes time. I'm not that concerned about the heat or moisture. I live in Central Arkansas. Winter and spring is usually very wet.... Avg daytime temperatures pretty much stay in the 40s and 50s. Mid-60s or even 70s by March. I'll be planting at the end of March or early April.

Hit the leaves with the mower and then buy an inexpensive lawn sweep to pull and sweep the yard. WORKS GREAT. and you can use it in the summer and collect grass clippings for the garden and the compost.

 

[WthrLady]

some little gem of ideas in this..

 

[TJAnonymous]

Hit the leaves with the mower and then buy an inexpensive lawn sweep to pull and sweep the yard. WORKS GREAT. and you can use it in the summer and collect grass clippings for the garden and the compost.

Bingo! That's exactly what my husband and I have been talking about.....