Dewdrop's Doings

[xdrix]

Hi Drewdrop,
The first year is rarely efficient with a new vegetable garden.
Do you have a clay or sand or calcit soil?

[flowerbug]

it is a big job to start a garden and takes a few years to get the weeds under control.

i like smothering the area for a few years before planting into it. layers of overlapping cardboard and woodchips with just a few selected plants going in holes which also helps keep the area shaded and that also discourages weeds from having an easy start.

good luck with the move and starting a garden up again!

[Dewdrop]

Thank-you everyone. Looking at an old map, it looks like a bit of shale loam soil, then down towards shale silt loam soil. I can try the jar test once I move in. I did notice moss and some noticeable rocks on the mowed hillside. There are a few mature hardwood trees on the property.

[xdrix]

It can be a good soil!
For us we have expand a mix with horse manure and compost on a parcell with the same soil.
Its a little draining but the vegetation is vigorous.
Do you wan't add a watered system?
I try at this moment the porous pipe under my tomato shelter.
For exemple:
I hesitate brtween two solutions.


A good watered can
considerately improve the yield.
I also use the drip.
It worth it when the summer is hot and dry.

Some plants very easy for started:
Oregano
Aragula (diplotaxis tenuifolia)
Minth



If you want i can take some photos of this parcelle!

[Dewdrop]

I'm not planning on adding a water system right now, since I'm content with dragging the garden hose out for the occasional use to water deeply. In an established garden at least, the rain does most of the watering, and the garden hose merely supplements water on the occasional as-needed basis.

I'll wish you good luck deciding between the irrigation systems, as I don't have experience with them.

[Dewdrop]

I am moved into my home. I will start the first garden near the home. The nearly flat ground is near the home, or down a slope to a mostly flat former horse paddock. I will try to do the soil test and the jar soils tests soon.

[Dewdrop]

I did a quick soil test for just beneath the grass roots behind the home. There were some orange spots in the single soil sample, so I will see if this continues deeper into the soil, and with any other soil samples. The results in the jar looks like about half sand, half silt, and a touch of settled clay (at 1/16th inch).

[Dewdrop]

A small update. I didn't get around to doing my own outdoor garden this year. I am still gathering information and trying to determine the most suitable location for the garden.

[xdrix]

Hi Drewdrop
From my own experience it don't have really better location.Each year can be very different.
I tryed each year the same thing at differents locations and sometime the placement who look the most bad is the better at the end of the season and conversely.
A location at shadow in clay soil under a tree can be better that a location a full sunny in draining soil a drought a hot year.The last year after a frost -10°C our mustard ( synapsis alba was again alive under ours trees but died at our location at full sunny however she was grow more fast.
At shadow and in clay soil it should also be not terrible if the weather is fresh and rainy but good in drainung soil at sunny.
Some grow are sometime more tolerants at the frost in full air than in greenhouse.

[flowerbug]

my answer has always been the entire lot if i can manage it.

good luck!

[Dewdrop]

Thank-you everyone.


I tried an indoor cantainer garden, but am having mixed results with it.  I didn't water the Tom Thumb peas enough later on, likely because I didn't see them often enough.  The peas plants grew ok initially, but I didn't water enough after they flowered and started to grow pea pods  .  I am using a large cardboard box as a makeshift 'cat-proof' barrier around it and the houseplants. 

I also have an extra Lincoln tomato plant in it someone gave me last year.  I got tired of watering it all winter too and attempted to let it dry up... only for my sister to water it because "It just looked SO sad!"  .  Interestingly, the flowers were twice as big as normal on the old tomato plant, but in hindsight I should have manually pollinated it, since it is indoors.  
 

My tiny outdoor garden this year is starting out in two filled shallow round tubs I was given, along the south-facing wall of a shed.  They each already had holes drilled into the bottom, and were filled with a combination of good garden soil, weed seeds and all, and some root media mix. I tied up a stick trellis behind them for the string beans to grow up on. In the back of both containers are 6 Painted Lady string bean seeds planted. The left one has some Globe Amaranth seeds I want to try growing . The right one has the 2ft tall light brown flax seeds sowed in it. This time I used a small plastic seed drill, which was a bit annoying to use, but it did provide better results to sow more evenly. To avoid 'burying' the tiny seeds too deep, I repeated the method I used to protect the carrot seeds. I reduced a Bounty paper towel down to 1 ply or layer thick, layed it down on top of the seeds, and weighed the paper towels down with handy rocks. I used 1.5 gallons of water to water both of the containers. I still need to secure a good fence around them to help protect them from rabbits and deer.

[Dewdrop]

Here is a very late update. I did put seeds into the outdoor tubs, and then became too busy to water them beyond the first day. Unsurprisingly, the planted seeds all died. Some lamb's quarter seeds in the gifted weedy garden soil mixed in the containers thrived despite the drought-like conditions though. The next growing season should be better than nothing, the most important yardwork is done now.

[flowerbug]

gardening is what keeps me moving. i hope next year is good to you.