Garden Tech

kaiser715

kaiser715

Doing hard time
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Location
7, Pocket, NC
Thinking about *maybe* starting a garden next year. When we built the place, the grader guy cleared out a spot, said we needed a garden (we got an extra road leading to it, too, that we didn't know we wanted).

Clearing is around 50x125, aligned north to south. So good midday sun, shade in morning and late afternoon. 150' from the septic field, and 250' from the pond.

Of course, out here, deer will be a problem. I was mowing tonight at dusk, there was one eating grass about 75' away from me. He didn't care.

So...what do I need to know, other than "everything"?
 
This is what the USDA soils map says that section of my property is:

Lee County, North Carolina
PfB—Pinkston silt loam, 2 to 8 percent slopes
Map Unit Setting
  • National map unit symbol: 3t6c
  • Elevation: 200 to 1,400 feet
  • Mean annual precipitation: 37 to 60 inches
  • Mean annual air temperature: 59 to 66 degrees F
  • Frost-free period: 200 to 240 days
  • Farmland classification: Not prime farmland
Map Unit Composition
  • Pinkston and similar soils: 90 percent
  • Estimates are based on observations, descriptions, and transects of the mapunit.
Description of Pinkston
Setting
  • Landform: Interfluves
  • Landform position (two-dimensional): Summit
  • Landform position (three-dimensional): Interfluve
  • Down-slope shape: Convex
  • Across-slope shape: Convex
  • Parent material: Residuum weathered from mudstone and/or shale and siltstone and/or sandstone
Typical profile
  • A - 0 to 6 inches: silt loam
  • Bw - 6 to 16 inches: silt loam
  • C - 16 to 38 inches: silt loam
  • R - 38 to 80 inches: unweathered bedrock
Properties and qualities
  • Slope: 2 to 8 percent
  • Depth to restrictive feature: 20 to 40 inches to lithic bedrock
  • Drainage class: Well drained
  • Runoff class: High
  • Capacity of the most limiting layer to transmit water (Ksat): Very low to moderately low (0.00 to 0.06 in/hr)
  • Depth to water table: More than 80 inches
  • Frequency of flooding: None
  • Frequency of ponding: None
  • Sodium adsorption ratio, maximum: 13.0
  • Available water capacity: Low (about 4.5 inches)
Interpretive groups
  • Land capability classification (irrigated): None specified
  • Land capability classification (nonirrigated): 3e
  • Hydrologic Soil Group: C
  • Hydric soil rating: No
Click to expand...
 
Raised beds or til row gardening. The last name I made up to describe my highshool friends dads method.....it's borderline genius. Now he's a green thumb and can make anything grow.


His method. Till one width for planting, skip a row width exactly mower width. Repeat. Sounds odd. But your weeding less, no erosion, no mud to walk in. He goes out in his sun hat and flip fops and picks beans sitting in a chair!

My folks planted a whole hill side. Weeding with a hoe was playtime, but it lasted all damn summer. Usually the weeds outrun the family. All that space could be condensed into specific plots and growing areas.

Really cool methods involve layering heights and viny things in one raised bed.

Down side to raised beds is water retension without a plan.

Fewer more focused healthy plants always out yield weedy less hardy units. Watched many folk plant volume to combat loss and weeds.

Unless you really want to be out in it hours each day I would shy away from traditional til the back forty approach.
 
If your really gun ho. Plant starter seeds early and raise indoors. Also look up hardy late frost resistant crops and get them in when the soil temps are right. You can harvest early and raise a second crop. My grandparents where masters at this......against my prior statement the only way to garden with a full plowed sections do like my grandparents and my uncle's do.....


They use a ripper plow to put in rows. After getting established and early growth the same plow minus the point for rows plowed up the weeds. Even corn was weed plowed till it wouldn't fit under the frame.

My uncle has a sandy clay mix, the softest clod free garden I've ever walked.


A blender and hobinaro(spelling?) peppers make one heck of an organic bugspray!
 
Egg cartons make excellent starter trays. Or a small shallow box and bathroom paper cups.
 
Turn the dirt and til leaves in as soon as the last crop is out. Repeat minimum of once before prep. Turning plow only. Ripping and cultivating and or disc will render the ground solid and hard packed by spring. Turning only will negate run off and hold water better in the deeper rows. Seems to rot down any vegetation better staying ponded longer between rows and weather.
 
We're trying the Ruth Stout method for potatoes and it seems like a winner in terms of effort-saving on weeding and watering. We got a late start so I'm optimistic for fall prep and next spring.
 
50'x125' is huge! I would start with less, (maybe 50'x50' which isn't small) and work your way up. And yes weeding is a constant hassle. The soil testing is a must. When adding organic matter make sure it is already composted or it will fight the plants for nutrients. DO NOT add a load of cow manure unless you want constant nasty weeds. Go ahead and order your Park Seed catalogue now and others will soon follow. You might as well plan for a fence since the deer are already there and they wont be the only thing trying to ruin it.
Be ready for your taters and onions by early/mid February. Find an old general store or farm store for your seeds and starts, you'll get a wealth of info from them.
Good luck!
 
you have a tractor, find a 2 row bottom plow and turn it over in the fall, and in January. this will help with killing weeds and grass that are present. Id invest in a 3 point tiller as well. make a box to attach to tiller to make raised beds (youtube has videos of this) or add bedding disc to the tiller. set the widths of the rows the same width of the tractor, your rows will be spread out and you'll use a lot more room than a narrow row garden, but will be easier to work in and keep weeded. i also have a cultivator, you can use it till plants get tall enough to rub bottom of tractor if widths are setup right, with the right setup you do minim weeding early on and then plants will choke out new weeds. also the single row garden planter are well worth the 100-150 dollar investment, but you have to have pretty soft soil to use them correctly.
 
Stick to 25 or 50ft rows.

Get silage tarp to cover the plot or rows. Black side up will kill off all the vegatation currently in the soil, and encourage micro-organisms to work in the soil. White side up can help with germination of some direct seed crops.
 
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