Garden: New Set-up

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Before I get into the details of our garden set-up it is important to know what we are trying to accomplish. As you well-know, everything we build, buy, or develop has a specific mission. We define that mission so we know what success will look like.

For us we are not trying to be 100% self-sufficient with food production…not even close. We aren’t even trying to be big-time canning folks, although we do some canning. We also freeze some of our homegrown food. But, we also give away a bunch as well to those who can’t garden…for whatever reason. So our ‘mission’ for our garden is this…

To grow fresh food to enjoy throughout the gardening season, provide for others who are in need, and produce some extra to preserve.

Now, there is one minor catch to all of that…we do want to be prepared to produce large quantities of food if needed. Yeah, I mean ‘large’ quantities. How large? Large enough to provide most, if not all of our food, and more to share/trade with others. But, it goes further than that.

We have a…let’s call it a substantial food storage…and it is well-rounded; meaning, not just rice, beans, and wheat. In a grid-down situation anyone’s food storage will eventually run out. And, along the way you may get tired of just rice, beans, and wheat…food fatigue. That’s where a garden kicks in to add to food storage, extending it…and maybe being able to replace it…if done right. < click here to read about food fatigue >

So our mission priority list looks something like this:

  1. Enjoy fresh food on our own table.
  2. Providing fresh food to others who are in need.
  3. Grow enough food to preserve it for use outside of the growing season.
  4. Gain capacity to grow most/all of our own food in an extreme situation.

We also have a #1 Rule thanks to my wife…we only grow what we like to eat. We love tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, more tomatoes, onions, Anastasia beans, various peppers, garlic, more tomatoes, carrots, micro-greens, green beans, beets, squash, and tomatoes. And add to all of that…strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. We also do some herbs.

Due to space restrictions we don’t grow corn, potatoes, or any grains.

A little more background…

Our soil here is sandy with an underlying clay…and then sandstone a couple of feet down. The soil is void of organic matter and gets rock hard by early summer due to lack of rain. As for rain…we get no more than 13” of rain per year…tops. A lot of it hits during the monsoon season…yeah, kinda of an oxymoron. So we have to amend the soil and water…a lot. Why water and what a lot? Because it is normal for us to have 0% humidity along with breezes – winds.

Our first several years here we tried different gardening methods for in-ground…they all failed. Two years ago I tried container gardening with a ‘built’ soil…success! Last year I went with raised beds with really good built soil…amazing!! So everything we do now is raised bed gardening with the exception of the raspberries and blackberries; more on them later.

If you want to read about how I ‘build’ our soil and raised beds < click here >

We also have two different garden locations due to the intense sun here. The main garden is on the south side of the house. The secondary garden in on the north side of the house, shaded most of the day, and shaded almost all of the most intense sun times of the day.

So here is the main garden layout area south of the house (you can click on the pictures for the full view)…

click to enlarge

Here is the north side garden layout (you can click on the pictures for the full view)…

click to enlarge

You might notice that each garden area is fenced. Yeah, see we have a dog that thinks the organic fertilizer that I use is an appetizer. And she also thinks that the compost I use in the soil is the main course. I wrote about that before < click here to read about that >

Between the raised beds I put down landscape cloth and then rock material to keep down the grass/weeds. Why? Well, first off…the water from irrigation made the weeds and grass between the raised beds grow like crazy last year. And… last year we found a prairie rattlesnake hiding in the tall grass and weeds between two of the raised beds. Well, more specifically…my wife found it. She wouldn’t go into the garden area again until I did the weed-eater down to bare earth. < click here to read about that >

Couple added bits of information…

  1. I am planning to build a small greenhouse in February. We need the added time sprouting our plants due to freeze as late as June 1st and frost as early as mid-September. We also want to start our own plants to save the money from no longer buying plants from the store. Yup, I will do an article on that “cattle panel” greenhouse build. I might try doing a video on it.
  2. We are going to go vertical also. We are going to try our cucumbers trellised. Yup, an article on that as well, if I build the trellis.
  3. Here is the ‘big’ part…I am working on a 40’ x 60’ area of our yard as a 3rd garden area should the need arise. It is a fairly flat area close to the house, inside of the chain-link fence house area, and close enough to a water supply. For two years I have grown a cover crop of grass. I also amended the soil with some compost. This year I am disc’ing up that part of the yard and putting down a pretty good layer of compost, working it in, and then planting grass again. When the time comes and the need is there, I can disc up that area and plant more crops…probably corn, potatoes, squash, and beans.
  4. Our property is fairly large. I have a field, currently unused with grass growing, that is level enough. That field is about 6 – 7 acres total. I could disc it up, working in the grass for organic matter, and plant grains. It would be tough to water, but it could be done.

If you have any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, or questions…send me a note via the form below.

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