"simy1" wrote in message
om...
"Ray Drouillard" wrote in message
...

I'm wondering if I'm going to have to set aside another plot for
next
year's garden. If the stuff is still leaching chemicals that
suppress
germination, I may have to let it sit for a couple years before
planting
seeds again. I might end up using the entire plot for things like
tomatoes, peppers, watermelons, squash, and the like next year.

or chard or lettuce or beet or cabbage. I really only seed carrots,
arugula, spinach, tatsoi and mache. I do seed some lettuce in
midseason, but the early one is always from transplants. But what you
should do is test your pine needles towards the end of the season.
when the ground is still warm, plant a few seeds of what you plan to
seed, and see how it goes. I gave the two years number based on my
experience with light mulch (maybe one inch, partially composted
needles from previous year, seeding attempted in june and july).

News flash: I'm already committed, so I'm going to plant the garden
where I had originally planned this year. Next year, I might put some
ornimentals there, or maybe something that likes sand. Either that, or
I'll put a hoop house there.

You see, my wife had bought a plum tree, so we took it down to the area
that I had slated for pasture and orchard. It's a pain to get there
because of the forest that's between the house and the low area.

Anyhow, I started digging the hole and came up with the nicest black
dirt I have seen in this area. There were lots of earthworms, and the
soil is quite moist (not surprising, considering all the rain we have
been having).

So, I'm going to cut a path to the area, run some electric fence, and
turn a large chunk of it into garden. The chickens can have that little
clearing next to the pole barn, and the goats can have the clearing
between the middle and back woods. :-)

Ray



There
is some lovely ground in that area in front that looks like a flood
plane (but isn't -- or it would be flooded right now). The orchard
and
chicken range is going there, but a little chicken wire would be
sufficient for putting a garden there.


Ray