Garden construction info wanted

[ebinmaine 67,671]

2 hours ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

Pine needles…

 

Just plow in all those deciduous leaves that fall everywhere and you will have plenty of compost…

 

White Pine needles won't be a concern. There are none near the front half of my property except across the street. That's a strong 250 feet from the new garden site. 

We pluck the sapling trees as we see them. No use for the long needle trees here so I've been eliminating them over the years.  

We do have a fair amount of hemlocks. Very few, maybe none, will be left near the garden. 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, ri702bill said:

Critter Control

 

The last several years the garden boxes have been in with the dog 🐕. That yard is surrounded by a 4 ft fence. 

 

Squirrels are asked to leave with flying metal. 

We have nearly zero rabbits in the area. Deer are a thing. We'll surround the garden area with more 4 ft fence or even go up to 6 ft tall.  

Birds have never been an issue here.  

 

[Yossarian 208]

9 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

Is there any particular thing that decomposes one should NOT use for compost?

 

Waste from humans or other predators like dogs and cats contain bacteria and possibly parasites that you don't want.  Walnut is allelopathic https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/info/allelopathic-plants.htm.  Woods like cedar and cypress don't compost well. If you put tomatoes in the compost, you'll have volunteer tomatoes everywhere.  This year we got more tomatoes off the volunteer plants than we did off the ones we grew on purpose.

[ebinmaine 67,671]

5 hours ago, Yossarian said:

 

Waste from humans or other predators like dogs and cats contain bacteria and possibly parasites that you don't want.  Walnut is allelopathic https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/info/allelopathic-plants.htm.  Woods like cedar and cypress don't compost well. If you put tomatoes in the compost, you'll have volunteer tomatoes everywhere.  This year we got more tomatoes off the volunteer plants than we did off the ones we grew on purpose.

 

No walnut, cedar or Cypress here we're good there. Article mentions maples possibly having allelopathic tendencies as well. I'll be sure to trim those back anyways for sun. 

 

"Volunteer" tomato. Interesting term. 

This year friends of ours had a fair pile of volunteer tomato plants come up in their own compost bin. They harvested quite a lot there. 

 

[Handy Don 12,237]

11 hours ago, Yossarian said:

This year we got more tomatoes off the volunteer plants than we did off the ones we grew on purpose

We got "volunteer" cucumbers! Who'da thunk?

Edited December 17, 2021 by Handy Don

[6wheeler 603]

Lasagna garden. Put down a layer of grass clippings. Then a layer of brown cardboard (not shiny). Sprinkle Blood meal and bone meal on it. Next. A layer of leaves. Another layer of cardboard. Sprinkle again with Blood Meal and Bone Meal. A layer of some sort of manure. I use composted cow manure. Another layer of cardboard. More BNB meal. Grass clippings and leaves on top. Sprinkle some more BNB meal and water it. The worms will do the rest. 

[JimSraj 430]

That lasagna method is great for flower and shrub garden bed as well. We’ve been using it for many beds for years. We don’t need the amendments but a layer of cardboard or thick layer of overlapped newspapers works really well to choke out grass and weeds. Mow short, spread cardboard or newspaper, wet it and mulch overtop. Done! No herbiced needed. 

[ebinmaine 67,671]

2 hours ago, 6wheeler said:

Lasagna garden. Put down a layer of grass clippings. Then a layer of brown cardboard (not shiny). Sprinkle Blood meal and bone meal on it. Next. A layer of leaves. Another layer of cardboard. Sprinkle again with Blood Meal and Bone Meal. A layer of some sort of manure. I use composted cow manure. Another layer of cardboard. More BNB meal. Grass clippings and leaves on top. Sprinkle some more BNB meal and water it. The worms will do the rest. 

 

2 hours ago, JimSraj said:

That lasagna method is great for flower and shrub garden bed as well. We’ve been using it for many beds for years. We don’t need the amendments but a layer of cardboard or thick layer of overlapped newspapers works really well to choke out grass and weeds. Mow short, spread cardboard or newspaper, wet it and mulch overtop. Done! No herbiced needed. 

 

 

 

Do you folks rototill those layers right into one another after a certain time or do you just plant at the top?

 

 

[Yossarian 208]

No need to till, in my experience.  It breaks down and blends together naturally pretty quickly.  Just keep adding layers every year.

 

[6wheeler 603]

17 hours ago, Yossarian said:

No need to till, in my experience.  It breaks down and blends together naturally pretty quickly.  Just keep adding layers every year.

 

No tilling needed. With the BNB Meal? It will draw worms pretty quickly. They chew up the cardboard and mulch fast. We did some large gardens like this. 1 is 30' X 40'. The second is 40' X 60'. It was tough getting enough cardboard to do them. News paper will do well also. Those 2 gardens have a lot of clay in them. Once you do this in the first year? You can just add compost. The second year? I till them and do a re-build again. After that? I find that the ground is good and just feed it. Another good trick? If the ground is clay? Once you have done the building? Plant a cover crop like Buckwheat, Winter Rye, Or? even Winter wheat. These are deep rooters. You can either mow it off? Or just till it in. The roots will have gone down a good 10 plus inches. Even in hard clay. This will give your Veggies a root track to follow. For Root crops? IE; carrots and such? I put fill sand in the area I plan for them and work it in to loosen the ground as much as possible. Remember. If you put wood shavings or mulch in and work it in? It will compost. But? Wood takes a lot of nitrogen to break down. 

[ebinmaine 67,671]

Started clearing up the pathway out to the garden area today. 

We'll need to take out a few trees to make a path 11 feet wide minimum for the excavator machine.  

 

 

[JimSraj 430]

Firewood for next year. 

[ebinmaine 67,671]

Just now, JimSraj said:

Firewood for next year. 

Yessir. The beech will be. 

Some maple in there will wait an extra season.  

 

[ebinmaine 67,671]

Worked on clearing the pathway and future garden area for about another hour last night.

Super impressive what a big difference it is already just knocking down the trees to open up the space.

We were originally going to have a smaller excavator come in which would have only needed a 7 or 8 ft wide path. After the construction company owner and I got to shooting the breeze the other day we decided that the larger machine would be much more efficient and cost effective. 

Clearing the extra trees to get the bigger path down through kind of works out for the future because we have had multiple discussions of putting up a pole barn down in that area, in the future.

 

I'll see if I can have my Photography Department take some pictures after the sun comes up. 

[ebinmaine 67,671]

Here's a few pics. 

One showing the area as it sits. 

 

 

And one showing the trees (marked in red) that I have still to fell.  

 

 

The large oak in the center is staying. We may clear more at the forest line depending on how the sun spreads in June, July and August. 

 

This shot shows the drainage (in blue) and the proposed first year garden area behind the existing fence (in red). 

 

 

It's really tough to see at this angle. The first year garden should end up around 20 to 30 wide by 50 to 60 long. 

 

We'll go a little larger if anything. More room for maneuvering the tractor with tiller. 

 

@JCM @AHS @Oldskool 

[AHS 1,440]

Nice! My Farmall Cub is licking its chops at the size of your garden!! 😀 You have a well planned out garden!!

[Oldskool 6,644]

That looks like a good spot for it. Much problem with wildlife around there? 

Gonna need a tiller for one of the horses now.

[ebinmaine 67,671]

1 minute ago, Oldskool said:

That looks like a good spot for it. Much problem with wildlife around there? 

Gonna need a tiller for one of the horses now.

 

Two biggest problems with wildlife in my area is the constant war with rodents of the mouse and squirrel variety.... And whitetail deer.

We have a lot of deer. Like without exaggeration, petting zoo type a lot of deer.

 

To Counteract the rodents we have traps and we participate in regular target practice. 

To Counteract the deer we are going to put up another fence similar to the one that wraps the backyard right now. Possibly even a little taller.

 

Definitely have a rototiller in my sights. One of our own awesome members as one that I'm looking to rehome.

 

 

[Oldskool 6,644]

22 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

Two biggest problems with wildlife in my area is the constant war with rodents of the mouse and squirrel variety.... And whitetail deer.

We have a lot of deer. Like without exaggeration, petting zoo type a lot of deer.

 

To Counteract the rodents we have traps and we participate in regular target practice. 

To Counteract the deer we are going to put up another fence similar to the one that wraps the backyard right now. Possibly even a little taller.

 

Definitely have a rototiller in my sights. One of our own awesome members as one that I'm looking to rehome.

 

 

Well, target practice is always good. You never know when that may come in handy.

 

We had deer problems at one point. 

 

Believe it or not someone told me to unwind an old VCR tape and run it around the garden fairly taught stake to stake. I thought he was full of bull. It actually worked. No deer. Go figure.

I do not believe it makes any difference of which movie you use😁.

 

Great to hear you have a tiller all lined up. I love mine. Best thing I ever did.

[ebinmaine 67,671]

18 minutes ago, Oldskool said:

Believe it or not someone told me to unwind an old VCR tape and run it around the garden fairly taught stake to stake. I thought he was full of bull. It actually worked. No deer. Go figure

 

I've never one time in my entire life seen a deer watch a movie so I can absolutely understand the logic behind this.

[ebinmaine 67,671]

Trina and I spent a couple hours clearing the pathway out to the garden area. 

Shaved off a few stumps. Trimmed a bunch of saplings. I laid down the tree in the pic. 

40+ foot hemlock that had broken in the past so it was 60, 70 ft or more at one point. Stump is at least 24" across. 

Blue is the stump. Red is the top. 

 

 

 

Same pic, no lines.  

 

 

 

Path is now done enough for the excavator machine to get down through.  

 

 

 

[Oldskool 6,644]

Get 'er done. Spring is on its way. 

[ebinmaine 67,671]

2 minutes ago, Oldskool said:

Get 'er done. Spring is on its way. 

Yepp. 

Just need a machine now.  

[Oldskool 6,644]

43 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Yepp. 

Just need a machine now.  

Rent one?   Have some fun....😁😁?

[SylvanLakeWH 25,604]

1 hour ago, Oldskool said:

Rent one?   Have some fun....😁😁?

@ebinmaine…

Have @Pullstart build you one… old school bus, a few old Chevy pick ups, some WH parts and a winch or two… what else do you need and what could possibly go wrong…?

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by SylvanLakeWH

[ebinmaine 67,671]

1 hour ago, Oldskool said:

Rent one?   Have some fun....😁😁?

 

As much as I'd enjoy that... 

It'll be a better investment in time and money for us to hire a pro.... And the cost is about the same.