We moved to our BOL about a year and a half ago and for various and sundry reasons I didn't put in a garden last year. But there were no excuses this year. We've had gardens in the past, but always started with seedlings and starts. This year we're going from all heirloom seeds. One of our neighbors raises rabbits and quail and he gave us a bunch of their poop. The rabbit poop had some straw in it as well. I still want to add some Happy Frog soil conditioner which has bat guano and worm casings, etc. We're going to start the seeds this weekend and I'll get the conditioner in the ground as soon as I pick up a few more bags. Then we'll cover the garden with black plastic and let it cook for a while. I'm delighted to be among similar minded folks and will be mining this site for the wealth of information it holds. I took a canning class a couple of years back at the local Ag. Extension and hopefully we'll be doing some canning at some point.
We have about 3.5 acres in the woods, so we've mostly been composting oak leaves. We're not going to use it until we can add other amendments. What do you think we could add that will neutralize it into a more usable product?
@GOG, what makes it not a usable product? Since you are just composting leaves you need a nitrogen source. Kitchen scraps and lawn cuttings work great. With just leaves, it will take a while to break down. Put manure from your neighbor in the compost as well, that should give it a good boost.
If you burn Firewood, what go you do with the Ashes? Understand, that the ashes have the EXACT Mineral Content needed by TREES, for proper Growth. All my winter Ashes go on the snow, on the Ground, around my Fruit Trees.... As the snow melts, it leaches the Minerals directly into the Ground, for the Fruit Trees to take up, as Spring arrives, and they start to Grow again...... ......
YW. Hopefully that will help balance the PH levels. Don't forget to scrape under the fallen leaves, there should be some mighty nice leaf mold under them from the past years. While not an heirloom variety I have been pleased with the jubilee tomato for the past few years. Large, yellow and non acidic. Good luck with your garden.
I would think you would only have an acid problem if you were working with pine needles. A quick test would be to get a Ph test kit, that would give you the best answer. @BTPost that's what I did growing up in MN. Our primary heat source was wood, and we would just dump the ashes in the garden.
Cool.Don't forget eggshells. You can crumble and ass to the soil or just crumble and feed back to your chickens if you have any.
Last winter we didn't have the wood stove, so we had to use electric heat. It's some kind of heat coils in the ceiling. Why heat coils are in the ceiling when even an idiot knows that heat rises is beyond me. But apparently it was all the rage when our place was built. Anyway, last February our power bill was over four hundred dollars. This year it's $84. Even paying a premium $220. a cord for silver madrone it's a whole bunch cheaper. Next year we'll be able to use wood from the trees we felled here. We've got some nice oak drying out right now. We don't have chickens. I'm still thinking about it.
That is radiant heat. What is effective is that the heat is directed down and is absorbed by whatever is under the ceiling, which heats the surroundings. Very effective if done right. (If you sit on the couch with your feet under the coffee table, your feet will get cold. Yes, I know this.)
i was told in holland these are very common but they are only made to focus on one spot so the guy i know has some facing his couch and other various places were people sit !!!
I planted the seeds in the starter trays, got them watered in and placed on heating mats. Hopefully they'll sprout well and soon. I'm also going to make a Hugelkultur setup in the next few days for the potatos. The idea seems to have merit, so we'll see how it works for spuds.