Snag wrote:
....
Only change I plant to make is to move the lower edge of the garden
down a few more feet and let the top edge nearest the woods go back to
nature since nothing did very well up there .

try a more shade tolerant plant up there like
rhubarb. you've already got it cleared so might
as well fill it with something instead of letting
it revert to potential weed troubles for the rest
of the garden. along with the rhubarb plant a
nice legume cover crop (clover, birdsfoot trefoil,
alfalfa, etc.) as that will also help keep the
weeds down and encourage the rhubarb. for free
fertilizer you can chop it once in a while and
spread it on the gardens.


I'll be increasing the size
too . I think next year I'll mulch more with hay/straw to keep weeds down
and enrich the soil more . My only concern there is that the grass hay will
contribute to the grasses growing in the garden , and grass hay is all we
get here.

a winter cover crop in some areas will help keep
the nutrients in place (instead of leaching away
with the winter or spring rains). also all that
green stuff growing through the winter is helping
keep your soil community well fed and active.

also keeping some green spaces going at all times
will provide harbors for the good bugs and give
the worms plenty to feast upon.


Oh yeah , and bees , we're gonna have bees next year too , since we're
here to care for them until they get established . There are lots of native
pollinators , but I haven't seen a single honey bee . And we really like
honey ...

any of your fields that you can include patches of
mint, oregano, thyme, clovers, alfafa, trefoil
(which for us is very consistently blooming most of
the summer), cosmos (annual, but the bees love 'em),
hollyhocks (plant in places you don't have to cut
back as they are picky/irritating to have to cut
back).

if you can put in early spring bloomers like
the crocus and daffodils that gets bees into
your gardens early to explore around. with
woodlands you might have to protect any bulb
plantings with a cover of wire mesh to keep
the squirrels from digging them all up.


songbird