Start Your Own Garden! It is Spring Time! >>Pics of Last Sping's Garden inside!<<

How adorable !! You have to be a "sweet soul" to take such good care of those little creatures.

Google Back to Eden gardening and Square foot gardening for small gardens.

I'll come back to this thread later, I have too much work with my raspberry field right now.

I'm a newbye in that kind of "free time work" but curiosity pushed me to try...Is that difficult or is my laziness the next friend again?

Lovely garden OP, I like the big beautiful trees as well.

I planted some Rutabagas, turnips, red potatoes, beets, radishes, onions, varying squashes, cucumbers, beans, Peppers (both chili & bell, The chilies taste delicious roasted on the grill, then I make them into chili rellenos), corn (non gmo), Cabbage, Kale, and melons about three weeks ago. everything is coming up and looking great so far. I've only been doing heavy gardening for the last three and a half years but I learn something new every time. Last year I was practicing seed harvesting. This year I'm focusing on growing more root veggies, as I have to put a lot of work into it being in west Texas where it's very hot, the soils is very clay rich, and the area is basically a desert. Having trees around is very helpful in providing some shade and protecting most of the plants from the unforgiving sun during the summer months. I've dug little trenches around the plants so when I water the garden only what I want to get water does, not the rest of the yard.

Last Edited by Bizarre Verewolf on 04/03/2014 04:32 PM

I really didn't know that hedgehogs eat snails. I use to poison the (or pick them up, for food, if I have the time). How do you keep hedgehogs from eating your plants? I've read that they also eat veggies.

Hedgehogs don't eat veg they are feeding on insects and snails. Hegehogs would be near veg or apples which fall down from the trees to get the insects which are feeding on the fruit and veg.

Hedgehogs love snails and worms, veg or fruit they usually give a miss, unless they are really desperate and can't find no insects (which is hardly the case)

Just heard that holographic, sequined fabric, cut in strips (3 inches wide/30 inches long, for example, can vary widely)
tie so hanging from fence or row posts, deters many critters.

Fabric would be quiet and can be pretty to look at since it can come in any color, or mix/match.

Images of holographic sequin fabric...

[link to www.bing.com]

A bit like the good old scare crow :) Thats actually a good idea I might do with the kids, make a nice looking scarecrow

Using that nice fabric, it might looks like a fairy tho

Last Edited by °Lucy° on 04/03/2014 04:57 PM

Wonderful garden OP!
Started the garden here too, well, started vegetable seeds indoors, it can still freeze here at times in March so didn't want to plant them yet,
Bought a cheap non gmo apple tree i just planted in the back yard, back is mostly decorative mixed with herbs.
Plus a strawberry/rasperry/redcurrant section.
In the front garden i have had a veggie patch for a few year now, but I am going to have to put my tomatoes and peppers in the back this year because im running out of space in the front hehe.
Thinking about planting my salad greens in the back too, because the back is where we get a hedgehog visiting us regularly, and it would be nice if he eats the snails.

Thanks, Yes I love the trees! If you look in the far upper left you can see my chicken coop too :) My property is divided into the garden area which is what you see and the "small farm" area behind that treeline on the upper left. The trees are fantastic, there is miles and miles of nothing but trees and forest here :) Benefits of living in the sticks :) All the Lawn area you see was once very thick tall weeds when I first moved here (some about 7 feet high), I cleared it all and put down grass seed, it turned out great.

You have a great job done there OP.
Allow me to throw a couple of ideas that might help, according to your list.

1. You are absolutely right on this one.

2. If you go at 20-30 cm deep then you will do the optimum job. Remember, never till it only once. I till the soil once (at the above depth), let it rest for a day, and then till it again 2-3 times until it gets "as soft as powder". This will allow the soil to get as much air as possible. Let it rest for a day and then plant.

3. I need an advice on this. What do you do with the ants carrying away the small seeds?

4. Water regurarly, according to the soils needs. I bought a cheap moisture meter that gives me an idea. Use a drip irrigation. Just buy the hose and make it yourself. It's cheap and saves you money on water bills. Water the plants at the same hour every day, or every other day, according to their needs. Avoid watering when it's to hot or too cold on the day. When the temperature is cold, water will freeze. When it's too hot, water will evaporate on to the leaves and make the perfect bed for bacteria. And don't forget to collect the rain water if you can.

5. Keep it as organic as you can. It is better to spend an extra hour removing the weeds by hand or a hoe. Also, use the hoe to soften the soil a bit, every now and then. Don't overdo it though as you might cut roots. You can also cut black bags, for example a garbage bag, lay it on the ground, make a hole in the middle and plant. You plant will grow through, but weeds will not. Not good for seeds but for small plants that will grow.

7. I wish I had more of them.

8. Thank God we don't need a fence because the only critters we have is beech marten which prefers our chickens.

I am sorry for the wall of text, but sharing the knowledge is the best we can do as humans.

p.s. I also need an advice on how to build a small green house from cheap materials. May be a 3 by 4 meters. 2 meters high.

Thank you

Wow, Kamindaki! Your garden is beautiful! Seeing your pics makes me want to give gardening a try!

So far, I've only grown tomatoes...



Gotta have something to bring in, if the SHTF. ;-) You have inspired me to go a little further with my garden this year. Thank you!



Last Edited by Southern Lighthouse on 04/03/2014 05:19 PM

Hot pepper wax works for aphids, scale, mites, probably other chewing and sucking insects. You need one of those backpack type sprayers with a wand, some have a canister with a handle on top you can carry around, you pump it up by hand, they used to cost about 20.00, worked great for getting the underside of the leaves.

Thanks buddy :) I apologize but I would not be the one to ask about ants, we do not have an ant problem where I live. So I would not be much help on that. And I do not have a greenhouse, so I can;t help you there either. I think someone else on this thread posted about a greenhouse, he or she might know.

sorry OP - I still have 2 feet of snow on the ground.


repost in about a month...

Haha I still have quite a bit here myself, I am going to start in about two weeks, I am itching to start!

Awsome thread - makes gardening sound easier than I thought - but still not easy. thanks

It is easy once you get the hang of it. Your first couple of seasons will be learning by trial and error. I have been doing it for about 5 seasons now. It gets easier every year. Still a challenge though, there is alot to keep up with. That's why I advise you start small and get bigger. Plus gardening is a very useful trade skill to learn.

Props OP, gorgeous garden and great thread. It inspired me. I have a little hill on the side of my property, I might try to terrace a bit and plant something.

Thanks! and I encourage you to do so! Just remember since you are planting on a sloped area that you dig a water trench for your garden and up the ground a lil bit.

I had a huge crop of grapes and chipmunks ate every last one, all in one day, took them down into their burrows to store them. They waited til they were perfectly ripe, then harvested them all in one day.

if you have compacted soil you might not have a lot of worms.

If you go out into a field of grass, after a heavy rain and night, the ground is usually covered with nightcrawlers, big worms.

It is an art to catch them, but if you get good at it you can catch a bucketfull in an hour.

As soon as they hear your foot step they will shoot down their holes. worms are fast as hell. If you shine the light on them you have to move fast,if they see the light they will shoot down their holes.

You have to shine the light then jump on them fast.

They are usually leaving a little of their tail in their hole to grab onto so they can zip down the holes, but some venture all the way out, so you can grab those.

Sometimes there are so many you can grab a big handful in one swipe but the are slippery.

You can put your ear to ground and listen, and hear them moving in the ground, that is how you know where there are a lot of them.

i have used Sweet'N Low for ants for years. that stuff takes out the whole pile of them. just sprinkle a packet where you see them or directly on the mound in the case of patios. i do not know if they leave or die. the best part is, they give the stuff away at most coffee shops.

great idea about the worms, myself i dig them up and put in my compost heap.

ive been using this guys ideas for 2 years now, amazing results with less work.

[link to www.backtoedenfilm.com]

cheers

rain I think works better than groundwater for irrigation.

groundwater is usually saturated with gunk from the ground, not always useful, like lime. Makes it have high Ph.

rain water is distilled water, and is slightly acidic(absorbed carbon dioxide). It will dissolve the fertilizer and things for the plant roots to use.

If the Ph is too alkaline nothing will grow very well.

acidifying the soil can make a big difference, you can buy a bag of sulfur pretty cheap.

worms turn organic matter into usable fertilizer, worm poop. Otherwise they plants cannot use it. Same idea as the bacteria.

Nice Garden,

The thing I like best where I live is I can keep the garden growing year around. Darn Bugs however are a PITA here but I'm keeping them in check and doing it with Organic pesticides.

Hydroponic and container gardening helps keeps the ants at bay. I use natural soaps, spinosad and neem oil for the bugs.

here is a picture of my strawberry tables, I'm located 14 deg south of the Equator (Tropical Climate).

What can I use to keep the tomato hornworms away?? Every year, they decimate my plants, an the organic stuff doesn't do a darn thing to keep them away. I'll try anything this year! HELP!!