Garden!

[ljgeoff]

As kightp said, it's time to start thinking about my summer garden. I have a small yard, and because I think that a lawn is a complete waste of resources, this year I'd like to make most of my yard into a garden.

The house faces south, but there are big oak trees on the street, so the front of the house is persistently shaded through the summer. I have a strip along the west side of the house that receives good sun. It's about 15 feet wide by maybe 40-50 feet long. (I'm really lousy at looking at a space and guessing the dimensions, so I may be off) Hmm. I have a small garden plot that is about 5X10, and I could fit another three or plots of those size along the side of the house.

On the other side of the house, I'm going to put up a bee hive. And I'm planting red clover [#HR 71 - RED CLOVER (Trifolium pretense)].

So, I want to put up some berry bushes - raspberry and blackberry, and maybe some Yooper grapes (I'm not sure what they are, but they grow wild here, now - black currants brought by the Italians, I think)(and they make a fantastic jam)

As far as roots and veggies, I'm thinking:

lettuce
bush beans and dry beans
beets, carrots, rutabaga
cabbage
melons
corn
peas
pumpkins
tomatoes

Since the last frost has been earlier, and the first frost later, I'm going to just plant in the ground instead of starting inside.

germination soil temps:

65F/19C: turnip, rutabaga, radish, onion, peas, lettuce (mid April)
70F/21C: chard, cucumber, kale, parsnip, spinach (beginning of May)
75F/24C: watermelon, tomato, winter/summer squash, corn, carrots, beans (mid May)

I'm thinking of a water barrel type irrigation system - rigged to catch rain. I will need at least a week that I can devote to preparing the ground. I need to borrow or rent a tiller. I will need to commit to at least 90 min/day to the garden.

I tend to get rather all or nothing about things. I didn't grow anything last year because the year before that was so dry that the cost of irrigation was huge. ($75/mo) So I've been thinking about this for the last two years; it's not something that I've just decided on a whim. The time commitment is daunting, but I think that once the soil is prepared, the time that I spend day to day with my hands in the soil will have benefits beyond food production.

Comments

[viper-486.livejournal.com]

Just don't forget the lime. ;)
A hundred pound bag mixed in really good in your old plot would make a world of difference.

*smooch*