Despite all the best intentions, the early focus on the chickens, pigs, rabbits, and most recently ducks, meant the garden took a back seat. Based on my reading, other people transitioning to a similar lifestyle have fallen into the same trap (so much for learning!). That being said, the garden did get a good start last winter with the chickens and pigs helping out with some tilling and some garlic, onions, leeks and shallots were planted. Since last winter a four foot tall 4x2 wire fence was put around the garden along with some barbed wire at the top and an electric wire approx. 6 inches off the ground. When deer become a problem the electric fence can be extended up to 8 foot high.
As winter transitioned to summer (there wasn’t really a spring) the brown turned to green and everything started growing (well, the grass and the weeds mainly). So, the last month was a hive of activity in the garden in an attempt to play catch up. So far, no major disasters and currently growing are sweet corn, field corn, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes turnips, pumpkins, squash, peas, beans, lettuce, sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, stacks of tomatoes, peppers and a small patch of strawberries. Some inherited asparagus already growing was rescued and the crowns transplanted. Sunflowers are growing nicely too. There is also a small herb garden near the kitchen full of the typical kitchen herbs.
The herb garden
Feeling reasonably satisfied with the progress (even if a little late getting started); so far the learning has been as follows:
As stated on an earlier post – you can never have enough compost
The areas that were tilled and built into raised beds are now full of grass and weeds requiring intense weeding. The areas where the pigs were kept and then made into raised beds have no weeds – the pigs ate everything. The pigs will play a greater role in the garden.
The following picture shows the extent of the weeds and grass growing in and around the cultivated areas where the preparation involved only tilling a few times.
The garden helpers. This is a mobile pen comprised of four 16 foot cattle panels held in place by T-posts and karabiners. This is located inside the garden. The small pigs are kept here and the pen is moved around. The pigs have been in their current location for less than two weeks and already nothing much is growing. BTW, these pigs are for hire in case anyone has an inconvenient corpse to dispose of (please remove teeth first).
Rabbit manure is a wonderful addition to the soil but the rabbits are kept a decent distance from the garden. This requires wheel-barrowing rabbit manure across the property – a less than pleasurable experience, especially if the wind is blowing from the wrong direction.
The mulching of the winter garlic helped. Very little weeds compared to some of the onions that were not mulched.
Copious amounts of water are needed for the garden. Fortunately there is a faucet in the field adjacent to the garden. Without commercially available water it could be pumped from the creek and/or pond but this would be a much more complicated and time-consuming task.
With the ultra-mild winter ticks are already a major problem. Thirty guinea fowl are arriving the week after next. Guinea fowl eat ticks but are supposed to leave your plants alone. More on that in a future post.
A lot of planning went into the garden – what was growing there before, rotation, slope, sunlight, companion planting, etc. However, little thought went into the walkways. As a consequence there are some areas quite narrow and difficult to access with the right equipment. Broken down cardboard boxes work well as a pathway and keep the grass/weeds from coming through.More updates on the garden later.
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