I love your new channel. I also do a good bit of veggie growing. I have the opposite problem you have with your soil. The 'soil' in my Tampa, FL back yard is basically just sand. So I also have to mix a lot of compost into it to make it suitable for anything to grow. I also so raised beds and that helps a lot. I love your pooch. I also love working in the yard and my two four legged girls keep me company. Good luck with your garden and chickens and I am looking forward to more updates.
Hooray for gardening! I've got soil that is nearly that bad. 3 inches of actual soil, then 3 feet of hard black clay, then 10 feet of sand. Had to rent a gas powered auger to dig a hole to plant a couple of trees! Filled that hole with amendment soil + Perlite + fertilizer, then planted the trees. It is AMAZING how well that soil drains now!
When I had a TV back in the 1980/90s a gardening show had soil not as bad as yours but they did two fixes to improve it - one was to mix the compost they got with sand and put that on the soil as you done or mix the sand just in with the clay the other way they fixed the soil was in some areas digging out the clay and replacing it a mix of compost and sand.
Stone fruit comes all at once so plan for extra help in harvesting. Trees and shrubs require pruning and yes there is a book on that. A flat fine tooth file is used for sharpening shears. wash hand tools and keep them sharp (CAL FIRE) also a MADDOX that is sharp is better than pick ax(keep it sharp with a file.Yeas a little non detergent oil to stop rust is a must. Gloves help avoid injury. You get some pint size tools and gloves through Seeds of Change and propagators for young Daisy (Girl Scouts) to help start seeds.That is a merit badge also 4h Head-heart=Health-home.
I have planted cucumbers, yellow crook neck beets. Plant Garlic all around since varmints do like garlic. Put in at the bottom 2 centimeter chicken wire with layer of newspaper.Chicken wire stops moles.
Use watering spikes for Blue Berries and raspberries which grow in acid soil. Yes there is an acid soil compost. Dig holes 1 1/2 time the root, puta small layer of gravel at boot then fill after putting in plant with acid compost burry water spike around roots ( use green watering valve 1/2 gah in series. weed barrier cloth then sand on top. Watering spikes discourage weeds and only waters plants. Orchards here use the same system with fruit tees and almonds or nut trees. Grass is discouraged in a one meter circle (clean orchard) . Fertilizer ground fish meal 4-4-3 needs larger water pipe 111 mesh.
Should you find yourself with large plants that you want to 🐝 able to move around the garden with ease minus the hassle of busting a gut digging up well established root systems or grow something with specific pH requirements, here's something I've come up with. Nikki, you'll 🐝 very familiar with the plastic H20 tanks for central heating systems that get discarded when upgrading. I've acquired 5, removed all the old fittings & blocked up the holes, drilled holes in the bottom & planted trees, large shrubs, roses, clematis - they develop hefty root systems pretty quickly. Many would consider them ugly but you've a creative soul so you'd have no trouble washing, sanding, undercoating and designing a decorating scheme using 4 plastic paints. Alternatively & this is what I did, just grow trailing plants to hide & protect the plastic from degradation from the sun etc. Assuming of course that something similar is available in the USA. At a local carboot sale met a plumber & his wife who use these to grow everything from spuds to tomatoes in. Might be useful until you can wack your heavy soil into shape. They cost me nothing, are about £200 + when new not including VAT or delivery charges. Been lucky enough to also acquire the matching smaller header tanks along with them so I'm laughing. An awful lot of gardening for free - mainly used homemade compost. Word of caution. Takes an enormous amount of compost to fill these & ALWAYS mount on bricks or equivalent so that you can get strapping underneath for TWO people to be able to shift them. I use the same heavy duty strapping (buy it online) that's used on the sides of HGV lorries. LORRIES - boy oh boy, I'm definitely showing my age using that term. Made my own moving dolly using heavy duty plywood - varnished it, & heavy duty castors. From experience, can 💯% guarantee that it takes all of the effing heck out of moving whatever & is far cheaper than the bought equivalent. If available, try local plumbers - saves them time & money disposing at landfill or alternatively try the landfill sites that might offer reduce, reuse, recycle services as is now the case in UK. Happy gardening!!
hint buy a paper shredder and use the shredded paper esp newspaper in the garden as mulch worms love printers ink it helps retain moisture in the dry times too ... as for the lawn kill it and sow clover the bees will love you so too will veges love the bees etc and clover dosnt need nitrogen from the soil to grow it extracts it from the air and puts it into the soil, stays greener in dry periods and dosnt need weekly mowing
All that work to dig down has my brain screaming for potatoe tower risers to save the effort. Just plant the potatoes on the surface of the base section then add a six inch riser at a time as the plants grow. It also makes harvesting a breeze because you just pop a riser loose and take the soil to the side while to pick the potatoes from that level.
hmm good luck here. I been watching other homestead vids many of which have chickens a mobile chicken coop seems to be best have a fixed chicken run were you said for when you dont need the chickens for other things i.e. if the coop is wide enough for both raised beds with a temp fence so chickens can till and poo on it in winter and then you can use them to turn your compost over or spread on your beds, there is likely more they can do
Elishia attracts ladybugs and now is the time to get praying mantis pods.Each pod hatches 300 babies in four weeks of sustained 27 Celsius weather. Remember Biological means over chemical unless you are invaded. Leave ten per cent of the area wild to stop super bugs (San Joaquin agriculture 2005).
No Idea if available where you live, but ex battery hens make very good garden birds once they have been allowed to live a normal life and recovered from their first life. Good luck with the soil, if you can get lots of compost just spread it around and let the worms do their job!
I was late to the party last time, so my question got missed. What gardening equipment do you use? I have a full suite of EGo stuff ( self propelled push mower, string trimmer, hedge trimmer, chainsaw, and leaf blower) as well as a Ryobi Electric riding lawn mower. If you would like reviews, and my personal experiences with any of these items let me know 👍
Please use a tarp on your trailer so the compost does not fall out of the slots. for chickens see www.hobbyfarms.com/compost-chicken-manure-the-right-way/
wow. i thought my soil was bad! that's really clay. Um, love your Oregon accent. (lol) Former Eugene resident here, where everything grew so easily. I didn't appreciate it enough when I was there but I did eat loads of apples and grapes from the back yard. You're going to have a truly gorgeous yard/garden there with a bit more work on the lawn. You going to put in a hazelnut tree? So few people can grow them, and you can. I have a Sun Joe branch chipper, and it's terrific.
