Tools
Colinear hoe
Rake
Spade
Garden fork
Cultivator (depending on garden size, a walk behind for larger gardens)
Rental tiller for new gardens
Leaf shredder or a supply from landscaper
Bagging mower
Hose, sprinklers, sprinkler tripod
Hoops for low tunnels (bent 10' electrical conduit)
Plastic
Floating row cover
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Appendix A - Internet reading list
The following web links for my suggested garden reading site organized by subject.
Compost,Manure,Mulch
- Avant-Gardening Creative Organic Gardening - Composting, compost
- Biodynamic Farming & Compost Preparation
- Composting Methods to Try
- Composting
- Garden Terms Definition of manure tea
- How to Compost.org
- How to Make Compost Tea page 1
- Notes on Compost Teas
- Soil Foodweb Inc. about us
- The Composting Council 25 Questions and Answers about Composting
- The Sunny John Papers
- weblife.org Humanure Handbook Contents
Compst Tea
- Foliar Fertilization
Food storage
- 16 Oz. Smooth Sided Jars, 12-case, + Actual Freight
- African Vegetable Soup with Coconut - Soups and Starters - Recipes - Riverford Organic Vegetables
- Successful Home Canning - Home Cooking
- Gardening for Maximum Nutrition
- Gardening Without Irrigation
Grain and oil processing
- Growing Organic Vegetables - Cyberhelp for Organic Farmers
Food, Cooking
- A Guide to Growing, Storing and Preparing Vegetables - Watch Your Garden Grow
Dehydrators
- 100 Oxygen Absorbers for Freeze Dried, Dehydrated Foods
- Vacuum Sealed Oxygen Abdorbers
- Food Storage Buckets Pails Mylar Bags Oxygen Absorbers and other Supply @ FrontierSurvival.net Food Storage mylar bags and more.
- Buy Food Storage Buckets, Pails, Mylar Bags, Oxygen Absorbers and other Supply online at FrontierSurvival.net Food Storage mylar bags and more. . Your food storage is a precious investment in your family’s future. Mylar bags will add a second line of insurance so that you food will be there when you need it. Food grade metalized mylar bags add a layer of protection that will seal out light, insects, and oxygen better than just a bucket alone. What is a Mylar Bag? Mylar is just an industrial trademarked brand name, like Clorox is just a brand name of bleach. Mylar is actually the clear part of the bag made from polyester resin. The Mylar bags we use for long term food storage have a foil lining. When Mylar is laminated to aluminum foil it provides additional barrier that acts like a big flexible can! The best part about Mylar bags is how easy they are to seal at home, you can use anything from your food saver to a hair straighter iron! For a step by step guide on putting your food storage in mylar bags and buckets Click Here
- Oxygen Absorbers
- Oxygen Absorbers in 200 count package. S100 500cc Oxygen Absorbers.
- Byron's Dutch Oven Recipes
- Contains a collection of Dutch oven recipes, recipe abbreviations and measures, and useful recipe substitutions.
- Herb Recipes
- Freeze Dried Vegetable Combo
- Freeze Dried and Dehydrated Vegetable Combo Pak for Food Storage
- In a Vegetarian Kitchen: Healthy Cooking Tips
- Vegetarian cooking information, recipes, and tips by cookbook author Nava Atlas.
- Make Real Food: Expert Advice Articles, How-to Videos, Recipes and Tips for Making Homemade Yogurt, Sourdough, Kefir, Kombucha, Cheese and more
- Learn to make your favorite fermented and cultured foods at home with our wide selecton of Articles, Videos, Recipes and more. You can make many of your favorite foods at home and we'll help you do it!
- Hesperian Foundation
- Homesteading Today - powered by vBulletin
- Hometime - How-To - Project Help - landscape & Garden
Hose
Lasgna beds
- Mother Earth News Forum
- Path to Freedom
Permaculture
- Forest gardening - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Light Writings
- PAKISSAN.com; The Natural Way of Farming
- Plants For A Future - 7000 useful plants
- Small Farm Success Project
- Whole Systems Agriculture for the small-scale gardener
- The Palestinian's Permaculture Pointers
- Your complete permaculture resource page.
- Permaculture action learning uk online
- Permaculture Writings
- Permaculture Index
- Permaculture conference - Table Of Contents
- Creating The Forest Garden
- Submitted paper
- Australian Permaculture. More than just organic gardening
- Australian Permaculture Gardens. How you can create an oasis around your house with Permaculture.
- taylorist - Los AngelesPermaculture Guild Newsletter
- assessment of permaculture designs
- permaculture in brittany
- Permaculture, a Beginners Guide
- CREATING PERMANENT CULTURE > interview with DAVID HOLMGREN | Undergrowth
- The Basics Of Permaculture Design - Google Book Search
- Garden tour
- Permaculture Online, the home of alt.permaculture
- Permaculture Online, the home of the alt.permaculture newsgroup with a wealth of information on permaculture, self-sufficiency, organic farming and gardening, alternative energy.
- Earthwise Resources Development Australasia
- ERDA Permaculture Education, Garden and Ecovillage
- Earthwise Resources Development Australasia
- ERDA Permaculture Education, Garden and Ecovillage
- Everdale :: Organic Farm & Environmental Learning Centre
- Organic Farm & Environmental Learning Centre
- Permaculture Courses » Growing Vegetables Naturally
- Self sufficient 'ish', the urban guide to almost self sufficiency. Selfsufficientish.com by Dave and Andy Hamilton
Soil
- Amazon Stonehenge suggests advanced ancient rainforest culture
- http--www.css.cornell.edu-faculty-lehmann-biochar-WCSS2006-Marris 2006 Black is the new green Nature 442, 624-626.pdf
- http--www.energy.gatech.edu-presentations-dday.pdf
- Hypography Science Forums - Terra Preta
- NRCS Soil Quality
- Sustainable Soil Management
- Terra Preta
- The Rescue of an Old Indigenous Practice in the Tropics - Using Charcoal to Improve Soil Quality.
- TUTORIAL
- Soil and Health Library
- The Gardener's Forum Fruits and Vegetables Gardening
- The GardenWeb Forums - GardenWeb
- The Official Site of Square Foot Gardening and Mel Bartholomew, Originator and Author
- Victory Seeds -- Main Vegetable Seed Page
- VictorySeeds.com -- Supplying tools you need to help your 'Victory' garden succeed.
- Kitchen Garden Seeds
- The very finest selection of the world's best seed.
- Pepper Profile: Paprika
- Avoiding Tillage: Mulches
- A discussion of alternatives to destructive soil tillage.
8. Over wintering
Growing:
Winter greens in cold-frame, low tunnel, hoop house or greenhouse
Garden surface
Cover crop to protect soil microbes, retain nutrients, prevent erosion.
Winter greens in cold-frame, low tunnel, hoop house or greenhouse
Garden surface
Cover crop to protect soil microbes, retain nutrients, prevent erosion.
5. Watering
Strategy
Spring will bring a good soak to the soil
After soil is warm, use mulch
Check for dryness using hand trowel or moisture meter
Methods
Orbital sprinkler on tripod
Soaker hose
Flood irrigate - but protect tender plants, do not permit runoff by using soil coffer dam or cinder block
Spring will bring a good soak to the soil
After soil is warm, use mulch
Check for dryness using hand trowel or moisture meter
Methods
Orbital sprinkler on tripod
Soaker hose
Flood irrigate - but protect tender plants, do not permit runoff by using soil coffer dam or cinder block
4. Pest prevention, beneficials
Bugs:
Keep it weed free! Less habitats for bugs.
Floating row covers. Eg. eggplant. Note how 3 to 4 weeks under a row cover compares to uncovered plants being attacked by flea beetles.
Attract birds with a bird feeder. Let it run down every other day or so. Watch them eat butterflies before they laying eggs of damaging larva.
Smoldering fire upwind to confuse downwind insects.
Stir up the garden with wood ashes on a mop that is swiped down the row
Dometius Earth
Deer
Plastic deer fencing - minimum of 6 feet
Groundhog/rabbit
Keep a clear perimeter - they can be seen loitering near the garden before digging to get into the garden by a few days. Quickly set a have a heart trap with strawberries. If it fails, then use any other method permitted by law with kill traps or rifle.
Keep it weed free! Less habitats for bugs.
Floating row covers. Eg. eggplant. Note how 3 to 4 weeks under a row cover compares to uncovered plants being attacked by flea beetles.
Attract birds with a bird feeder. Let it run down every other day or so. Watch them eat butterflies before they laying eggs of damaging larva.
Smoldering fire upwind to confuse downwind insects.
Stir up the garden with wood ashes on a mop that is swiped down the row
Dometius Earth
Deer
Plastic deer fencing - minimum of 6 feet
Groundhog/rabbit
Keep a clear perimeter - they can be seen loitering near the garden before digging to get into the garden by a few days. Quickly set a have a heart trap with strawberries. If it fails, then use any other method permitted by law with kill traps or rifle.
3. Planting
Be sure the row width (check see packet) is not hard by checking with garden fork
Any area too hard should be loosened, organic material added, and tilled.
For the plant row, create a furrow, apply a light application of compost and transplant start such as High Octane, till with a mini-tiller or work it in by hand.
Tranplants:
Do the planting (up to the first set of leaves to prevent the plant for falling over and putting a permanent kink in the stalk).
Seeds:
Rake smooth the row
Using the rake handle create a depression
Seed
Cover with fine compost and some soil - per packet recommendations
All new plantings are to be treated like babies - constant attention and never let to go in need!!
Any area too hard should be loosened, organic material added, and tilled.
For the plant row, create a furrow, apply a light application of compost and transplant start such as High Octane, till with a mini-tiller or work it in by hand.
Tranplants:
Do the planting (up to the first set of leaves to prevent the plant for falling over and putting a permanent kink in the stalk).
Seeds:
Rake smooth the row
Using the rake handle create a depression
Seed
Cover with fine compost and some soil - per packet recommendations
All new plantings are to be treated like babies - constant attention and never let to go in need!!
2. Soil basics
Hard way:
Strip out grass (or can be dug in)
Loosen with spade
Till (picking out all the grass roots)
Do a soil test for Internation Ag Labs and get their recommendations
Buy and apply minerals and garden lime
Till in well composted manure to achieve organic matter target
You soil at this point is balanced by likely very dead as far as soil microbes.
So during planting you will enrich the row.
Then during the year as root system expand, you will apply compost tea that is rich is more microbes. The plants require the microbes who in turn require root systems.
Easy way:
Weedwack any grass to ground level.
Cover with newspaper (3 sheets thick) or cardboard
Layer of soil and Mittleider starter fertilizer mix. Then layer of organic materials (weed-free preferably such as well aged horse manure, level mold, staw).
Assuming this is a raised bed, you must always maintain moisture level and nutrient flow until soil tests prove adequate (refer Mittleider method).
Strip out grass (or can be dug in)
Loosen with spade
Till (picking out all the grass roots)
Do a soil test for Internation Ag Labs and get their recommendations
Buy and apply minerals and garden lime
Till in well composted manure to achieve organic matter target
You soil at this point is balanced by likely very dead as far as soil microbes.
So during planting you will enrich the row.
Then during the year as root system expand, you will apply compost tea that is rich is more microbes. The plants require the microbes who in turn require root systems.
Easy way:
Weedwack any grass to ground level.
Cover with newspaper (3 sheets thick) or cardboard
Layer of soil and Mittleider starter fertilizer mix. Then layer of organic materials (weed-free preferably such as well aged horse manure, level mold, staw).
Assuming this is a raised bed, you must always maintain moisture level and nutrient flow until soil tests prove adequate (refer Mittleider method).
1. Garden Location
- Sun -You will need full days of sunshine. Get out and observe your intended garden locations.
- Drainage - some wet areas can be used with raised beds or drain tiles.
- Micro-climates - anything to warm it upand avoid cold harsh winds early in the spring. So stone walls, fences (that do not block sunshine) tree line, etc.
- Accessibility - is it convenient or time consuming to get to. Can you get to it with a truck load of composted manure? Have 2 gardens, the large mega-producer with the space eating squashes and rows of corn, and a kitchen garden with the lettuce and a tomato plant or two.
Blog Objective
How to become a proficient gardener in as little time as possible.
I spent a lot of time reading a lot of books and feel like I can do a good digest - a kind of 'fast track'. Basically people start gardening to grow quality food, but there is a vast amount of knowlege needed usually acquired by experiencing failures. The objective of this web site is to skip the pain!
Outline
A. Internet reading
B. Tools
I spent a lot of time reading a lot of books and feel like I can do a good digest - a kind of 'fast track'. Basically people start gardening to grow quality food, but there is a vast amount of knowlege needed usually acquired by experiencing failures. The objective of this web site is to skip the pain!
Outline
- Garden location
- Soil basics
- Planting
- Pest prevention, beneficials
- Watering
- Harvest
- Storage
- Over wintering
A. Internet reading
B. Tools
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