What did you do in the garden today?

[pennyJo1960]

I have weed block under my tires .. The son has cleaned out the greenhouse so am able to pull it down on itself remove it and build a new one smaller but also add like 6 more tires to plant in

 

[cavemanrich]

Anybody else have (or going to have when the weather breaks) a garden that 1000+ sqft?

I used to have that much years ago. Still remember when I had over 60 tomato plants. Also had many pickle plant vines , and other things like lettuce, onions, and beets. Times and needs changed for us, and we converted garden into perennial flower beds now. Will grow about 8 or 10 tomato plants. Whatever extra tomato sprouts I have, will offer them to my neighbors. (free of course) The sorrel and dill, I container grow on patio. I think the parsley will go into container as well.
I use grass clipping as mulch in my flower garden. It does control the weeds sufficiently well for me. Also makes for mud free walking. It does look nice when green, and nice when green grass mulch turns yellow as well. I usually layer about 4 inches, and tuck the grass up to the flower stems.

 

[WthrLady]

I used to have that much years ago. Still remember when I had over 60 tomato plants. Also had many pickle plant vines , and other things like lettuce, onions, and beets. Times and needs changed for us, and we converted garden into perennial flower beds now. Will grow about 8 or 10 tomato plants. Whatever extra tomato sprouts I have, will offer them to my neighbors. (free of course) The sorrel and dill, I container grow on patio. I think the parsley will go into container as well.
I use grass clipping as mulch in my flower garden. It does control the weeds sufficiently well for me. Also makes for mud free walking. It does look nice when green, and nice when green grass mulch turns yellow as well. I usually layer about 4 inches, and tuck the grass up to the flower stems.

Yup. Mine is 1000 sq ft. I have 40+ tomato plants, corn, beans, peppers and berry plants.

Anybody else have (or going to have when the weather breaks) a garden that 1000+ sqft? I'm looking at the garden plan I've been working on and realizing it's going to be A LOT of work. I'm hoping we get A LOT of produce from it though. I will definitely have to mulch this year because there's no way I can maintain weeding the entire garden every weekend without mulch and even weed cloth assisting me in keeping the weeds in check.

Yup. Mine is 1000 sq ft. I have 40+ tomato plants, corn, beans, peppers and berry plants.
I have 6 inch deep mulch in the walking areas, and deep garden layer mulch in the growing rows; mulch, compost, grass clippings etc. Each plant has a drip line for water. It was 100$ well spent and easy to do.

 

[MROO]

View attachment 2023748
a little crocus was already up in my yard!

Ooooh! I'm gonna run out and check mine again! I have dozens of them spread out all over my front lawn. When they all pop, the yard looks like an Easter Basket! The next-best part (after the wonderful brush with Spring) is that, by the time the grass needs it's first mow, the flowers are spent and the leaves are browning ... perfect timing!

 

[BReeder!]

I used to have that much years ago. Still remember when I had over 60 tomato plants. Also had many pickle plant vines , and other things like lettuce, onions, and beets. Times and needs changed for us, and we converted garden into perennial flower beds now. Will grow about 8 or 10 tomato plants. Whatever extra tomato sprouts I have, will offer them to my neighbors. (free of course) The sorrel and dill, I container grow on patio. I think the parsley will go into container as well.
I use grass clipping as mulch in my flower garden. It does control the weeds sufficiently well for me. Also makes for mud free walking. It does look nice when green, and nice when green grass mulch turns yellow as well. I usually layer about 4 inches, and tuck the grass up to the flower stems.

Yea, I think I'm going to be using grass clippings, wood chippings from the apple tree (I have a small pile sitting by the compost right now) and other branches I pick up during Spring cleaning, and whatever else I can find for $0. i also have some weed fabric siting in the shed right now. I think I'm going to use it over the raised beds and cut holes for plants to grow through. I'll purchase some straw as needed. We at least have a lot of wood chips on the existing paths. There's going to be some more pathways that will need hardwood mulch so I'll likely have to buy some. I'm really trying to to spend too much on the garden as I already have to build ~80ft of new fence which is going to put me $200 in the hole based on my current estimate. I also will be about $50 in the hole on plants and seeds. $250 is a lot IMO to spend on gardening. Although, if the harvest is good we'll save several times that in groceries... We tend to spend about $100 a week at the store. I imagine we could cut that in half starting in July if the harvest is good. I also have a lot of canning supplies already, so we could stock up on canned goods to carry through the winter.

 

[WthrLady]

Anybody else have (or going to have when the weather breaks) a garden that 1000+ sqft? I'm looking at the garden plan I've been working on and realizing it's going to be A LOT of work. I'm hoping we get A LOT of produce from it though. I will definitely have to mulch this year because there's no way I can maintain weeding the entire garden every weekend without mulch and even weed cloth assisting me in keeping the weeds in check.

I HIGHLY recommend this book.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1...44942&linkId=f317bd74f9b54098ab502b2e4f70444b

 

[BReeder!]

I HIGHLY recommend this book.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1...44942&linkId=f317bd74f9b54098ab502b2e4f70444b

I haven't read this yet, but I've heard of it and the basics of the raised row method. It's pretty much how we grow all of our ground level plants (tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, and yellow squash). I already have 3 raised beds and materials for a 4th, so the 4 main beds in my design are nearly $0 cost this year. There's three smaller beds I'm planning on. I'll either use some scrap lumber I have to build those or I'll go with wide (2' wide) raised rows instead.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I think I may have 400 square feet of gardening area counting all the raised beds, herb gardens and the future 4 by 16 foot additional bed. This will be the last big garden expense this year going forward. I’m all set with canning and dehydrating supplies. I canned a lot of stuff last summer, so much that I’m trying to come up with a plan for the excess this year. It’s just me and the chickens I’m feeding. If I was “farming” 1000 ft I would have to set up a farm stand on the street. LOL! But in defense of the initial investment to establish the garden, each and everyone of us are minimizing our carbon footprint and eating very well.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I don't feed wild birds anymore. At our old house I thought it was nice to have a bird feeder in the tree in front of the house. Then corn started taking over my flower bed below the feeder. I didn't realize that bird seed was possibly fertile seed. I assumed it was aged or cracked or heated or something to prevent it from growing. I ended up telling DW that assumption made an ass(out of)u(and)me. Now I could hang feeders over our lower patio that is paved and surround a large maple tree, but I don't want to attract more birds than we already get since we TRY to grow a garden.

I feed the wild birds in the winter after yogi hibernates. I don’t feed in Spring and Summer so they come around and feed on the bugs. They have never bothered my vegetable garden. I also have bushes that attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. So pretty.

 

[WthrLady]

I haven't read this yet, but I've heard of it and the basics of the raised row method. It's pretty much how we grow all of our ground level plants (tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, and yellow squash). I already have 3 raised beds and materials for a 4th, so the 4 main beds in my design are nearly $0 cost this year. There's three smaller beds I'm planning on. I'll either use some scrap lumber I have to build those or I'll go with wide (2' wide) raised rows instead.

it's not raised and it's no till.