Earlier this spring while dozing the fence line for the future pasture, Paul cleared a garden plot for me near the house, probably 45' x 100'. And as a bonus, the faucet is located on that side of the house.
I had grand ideas for this garden. A squash garden, a few rows of corn, tomatoes galore, some pumpkins, maybe even some of those birdhouse and loofa gourds just for fun. Days and weeks went by without me planting a darned thing. So my Spring garden became my Fall garden.
Then we needed someplace to plant the four apple trees, two mulberry trees and twelve hazelnut bushes. So in they went. Right in my was-supposta-be-a vegetable garden.
But all is for the best. The plot is really just bare clay & rock studded earth and it desperately needs some amendments. The holes for the trees & bushes were dug with the help of the auger on the tractor (can you say "crap-load-a-rocks"?) and then filled in with semi-composted mule poop, nice compost from the garden heap, and whatever "soil" that came out of the hole. The trees / bushes were then planted in those nutrient-filled holes.
So now I have a new plan, and one that doesn't involve me doing it right this second. Which is good because I'm lazy and tend to procrastinate. I plan on spreading the wasted hay and mule poop over the area, then I'm going to go to the feed store, buy some sort of green ground cover / green manure kind'a seeds, scatter it and water it. We'll have some vegetation to help with the soil erosion and then plow it in come spring, thus adding nutrients to the soil.
Since the trees and hazelnut bushes are already in, I'll work around them and make this my "Permaculture Garden". Actually, I'm not even exactly sure what a permaculture is supposed to be. I'm thinking a bunch of different plants all living in harmony as opposed to a patch of corn, a plot of squash & a section of peas.
Well, that's what I'm thinking today at least. Who knows what kind of ideas I'll have concocted come next Spring.....or tomorrow.
You sound soooo much like me! :)
ReplyDeleteI've studied permaculture quite a bit, and it's really easy to "get it" once you read about it. Bill Mollison is the great person behind some of the ideas. There's lots of books of his. "Permaculture In A Nutshell" is a great little starter book!
ReplyDeleteIt's important to have a good spot for your fruit and nut trees, too, so I think you've got a really good plan started for their area. Don't forget your trees are gonna grow and make shade on the ground around and under them . . . so sun lovin' plants wouldn't do well in there anyway. You know, corn, squash, etc. The soil should improve quickly with the plans you have. (Now go get busy planning that fall garden, you self-labeled procrastinator!)
ReplyDeleteAdd the goat poo too! It is like magic for soil recovery.
ReplyDeleteI agree, don't forget to add the goat poo.
ReplyDeleteWe have to be flexible......especially when our plans exceed our actions......ask me how I know. At least I do have the orchard planted in the orchard but still haven't moved any blackberries and this year I didn't even use any of it for gardening.
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