On 9/25/2017 10:35 AM, Derald wrote:
George Shirley wrote:

Looks like wife has mostly finished her fall garden. She pulled out and
potted the still growing plants, mostly tomatoes, then took out the old
man made soil, ie. mixture that is worn out. Added several bags of Black
Cow (composted cow manure), added more peat moss to hold the moisture
and mixed it all up again. Then she put back the plants that will still
produce, we hope, then put in the fall seeds
Lordy that woman does a lot of work. There must be an easier way.
BTW: Try mushroom compost next time and you'll throw rocks at that sandy
Black Cow. Most of the beds I'm using now were built by my wife in
1997. I've added a few, as well as a few containers. After a hiatus of
a few years, gardening resumed in 2008, or thereabouts (at least, that's
as far back as I have records and receipts) and led to quite a bit of
de-rooting and soil rejuvenation. Mushroom compost was a big help. Took
a while to re-establish relations with the present generation running
the drug-free dairy down the road a few miles (been getting cow pies
there, on-and-off, since late 1970s) and to find a new source for
drug-free, bedding-free road apples so I could stop _buying_ all of that
stuff and spend the money on a damnable Ford truck, instead.
No mushroom farms here that we can find, Black Cow is about the best we
can do and is reasonably cheap. We have no soil to speak of, a little
sand on top of five feet of gumbo clay. Raised bed seems to work okay
with the Black Cow, peat by the bale, lots of home compost including
grass clippings, shredded paper, etc. done in our composter.
On my own, I'd be so no-till that folks would think me a garden
ornament and Ruth Stout would be so very pleased but native tree roots
(pine, magnolia—and someone actually brought the damned magnolia _in_
here from a swamp in 1980, or thereabouts) keep me digging but, man, I
don't replace any dirt. Hell, I just keep building the sides of the
beds higher as I add good stuff to the mix and adjust pH from time to
time. If I live long enough, maybe one day I won't have to stoop, kneel
or bend ;-)
This garden is going in late this autumn. Actually, it was late in
the spring,too; just one of those things... Still have peas to glean
and pull sometime today, mature okra that needs pruning in an attempt at
revival as well as fall okra just coming into fruition. Several
varieties of peppers bearing full-bore and I'm going to keep them going
as far into cool weather as they'll cooperate. I'd like to make the
okra and peppers last as long as possible in order to re-stock the
freezer. Late eggplant is showing a few blossoms, but that doesn't mean
anything. Eggplants appear to bloom just for the helluvit—in my garden,
at least. I've even hand-pollinated with no verifiable success. Have
seedling mustard greens–the ones the 'coons got into on Irma Day–ready
to thin and distribute in their bed.
The Garden is very small (200 ft², if my 'rithmetic is correct)
and achieving consistent year-round production requires a bit of
planning around interplanting, succession, and rotation. And how I do
love plans; don't even have to be good plans. Of course, in-depth
planning requires ingestion of a right smart of single malt.
Damn: Miz Costello (Diana Krall) can _play_ a piano!

Our garden is two raised beds, 4X8, total garden 128 square feet, plus a
two foot wide section of "garden" around two thirds of the six foot
fence. You gotta do what you have to when you live in a small
subdivision. Left a home with a eighteen foot wide by 24 foot long
garden on real soil in Louisiana. We wanted to move where our children,
grands, and great grands were so we're stuck with what we have to work
with. We have a fig tree, a kumquat tree, and a pear tree also. It works
for two old people and one of whom is crippled, me, can't bend over,
barely can walk, can't dig, mow, or hardly anything else. Not from being
damaged in wrecks or anything, all of it is heart attacks, strokes, and
hard work. I used to be a chemical plant operator and had to climb
ladders up to 300 feet high but the heart problems, strokes,etc. came
much later. Runs in the family. Heck, as I've said, we used to farm ten
acres of rich Texas soil, had cows, goats, rabbits, chickens, ducks,
turkey's, etc. Now we have a Rat Terrier who terrifies the local rats
and other squirrels.