I am getting a really early start on prepping the garden this year, as there is so much work to be done and April will be sneaking up on us quickly!
We built a 40x30 ft crop cage last year - I like to call it the Crop FORTRESS - because it is impermeable to deer, coatamundi, javalina, birds, and even mice and packrats!
The entire thing is enclosed in chicken wire and the bottom is wrapped in painter's plastic, which has successfully kept out rodents.
Half of our garden was in-ground, and the other half is in 55 gallon drums cut in half.
We quickly realized that our plants grew much better in the barrels, because we can control the soil quality. Our soil in this particular spot is quite dense and poor, which required amending. We didn't amend it nearly enough and the in-ground crops showed signs of poor soil quality. Our poor potatoes couldn't even properly potato!
Even though our barrel garden side did very well, I need to really amend the soil in those big pots too. The top third I used potting soil, the middle third was soil from under the mesquite trees, and the bottom third is gravel.
So I am shoveling out all the materials from the barrel, and I am mixing them with our compost that we have been collecting all year.
I am also spreading out the barrels as we need more space in between them. There is decent walking room, but I have to be able to push the wheel barrow between all the barrels. When the plants get big, they close up the aisle space really fast. Another lesson learned.
I figured out a really good way to move these barrels. They are still quite heavy with only the gravel left in them!
We still have some over-wintering to do. Our strawberry plant is still putting on babies, and the artichokes need to be cut back. I think I am going to cut back the raspberry as well.
I am going to move the artichokes into barrels, as they are not too happy in the ground.
It feels good to get such a headstart on the garden. Last year, we had just moved onto the property and was barely able to get the crop fortress up in time for planting, so we had a proverbial garden shitshow going on. This time will be much more precise, and improved. I am really looking forward to the results!
I want to end this post with a thought about HIVE. It has been close to a week since my last post, and it reminds me of how much of a commitment blogging really is. I have been on here for a long time - since 2016 - and it's easy to fall off the posting, commenting, and socializing wagon. The days drift by at lightning speed, and it is too easy to put off the next post until tomorrow, which turns into a week, and then a month.
I am usurped by work and off-grid life, and I have brushed off posting this week. But, I don't want to fall off the Hive wagon AGAIN, as I always end up regretting it. I am trying to make a commitment to a once-a-day post. To do that, some posts probably won't be as long as others. But I think it is important to make that effort.
This upcoming week, with the holidays, I think making three posts is a good commitment. And from the new year on, I will work on keeping a one post a day commitment.
I have really been enjoying you all on here, so many of you have thoughtful comments that are really helpful and I have been pleasantly surprised by the rewards. So I want to keep it up!
Thanks for reading!
Sincerely, Regina Cal.
Spot on about falling off the Hive wagon. It happens to the best of us, even with a juicy price of $1.67 (am I still dreaming???) dangling in front of us. But it seems like you're not short on cool things to post about. As for me, I guess it must be a solstice hibernation thing...
Oh, the joys of an annual garden, with all its potential clients lurking out there...! But reading your lines, I can't help imaging venison, bacon, and diverse types of stew-meat running around out there, trying to come closer to you. So my question is: Do you eat meat? If so, do you hunt? And in that case, do you ever assist suicidal critters with humane euthanasia? (Okay, now I'm realizing how horrible this sounds if your first answer is a no! Sorry.)
We do have lots of meats running around here, we have javalina which is like a new world pig, quail, and deer. We've been working on getting a deer this year, but the weeds are tall, so far no luck.
The rewards are juicy, but it really does take commitment and engagement which is a form of work and also dedication. Luckily, I have no shortage of topics!
Ah, the garden. Its a labor of love, and we always end up with too much! Not to mention the canning, freezing, pickling, etc. I am excited about it. But the toil is REAL.
Thank you for sharing this amazing post on HIVE!
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Awesome, thanks! What is your pinterest URL?
Biggest amendment that I could possibly suggest would be silica!!!!!!!!!
With silica you get stronger more durable plants that are able to withstand stress and drought way easier.
If you ever have a plant that is totally dehydrated and flat you can always give it some b vitamins and silica in the water and the thing will perk right back up. In fact I've actually had quite a few cannabis plants that I nearly killed that came back perfectly with no lasting damage or even any slowdown of growth.
Next up biochar!!!!! Yep start saving all of the Dead material. All of your stacks leaves and so forth just start drying it out. I noticed that since you were clearing land and all the rest of it just keep doing exactly that and piling up all that organic matter.
Then use it to make biochar which you are only going to partially burn it.
After that adding in some bone meal. Oh yeah you've got a ton of those mice that would work really well.
I'm not sure if you want to get rabbits and chickens but all of the bones skin feathers and waste material can be dried and then ground and used e soil amendments. As well chicken s*** is really hot and needs to be composted quite a bit for at least one year I believe before it can be used. However rabbit poop is phenomenal and can easily be used the same day. We used to have rabbit hutches and the bottom of the cage was actually a collection feed straight into bags. The hutches were inside however the poop would roll down a funnel and then outside into a bag that happened to be sitting in the sun. Drying it out and when the bag was about half full we directly applied it to the garden!
Let alone getting others chelated micronutrients.
After that you should only have to really have to sit back and enjoy. Hopefully you are doing companion planting and starting to look into more ground cover because as that ground cover continues to put in Roots grow and die it helps to start fortifying and building the soil.
Absolutely phenomenal job. There is a massive amount of effort however there is always the opportunity of you having known individuals come out for specified amounts of time to work on certain projects helping you get ahead without costing you a huge amount of financing for labor.
Work trade is important!
Personally I can't wait for me and puppy dog to finally get land as well!!!!
WOW these are great ideas. I did not know about silica, I am going to look into that. Cody and I were just talking about what kind of animals to raise out here, and we have thought about rabbits before, but being able to use their sh*t straight out of their asses is seriously a huge win. Great idea!
Yes, biochar! I was actually going to make a ton of it last year, and it slipped my mind. It is so easy to make, so I am ON THAT.
Thanks for the ideas and yes it is seriously a ton of work, what I like to call a labor of love. One day, you will have land of your own.
Absolutely love to help inspire others! And as well help out people I know that are doing good things in a good way.
Funny how many opportunities you have around you. You truly are blessed.
And the more you start writing about this the more you have the rest of us to float ideas by and get some idea of which direction to go.
Big projects require a lot of people. And you have a huge project here.