Boo's attempt

Start a thread for your 'stead!

Moderator: matt walker

Boo's attempt

Postby boo » Fri Aug 03, 2012 5:52 am

I'm almost embarrassed to be posting my attempts at "micro/mini backyard farming"....but I figure that things can only improve once people have seen my efforts and can let me know where I've gone wrong (once they stop rolling on the floor laughing). But (gritting teeth) here goes:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/84125270@N ... hotostream (11 photo's....to prolong the suffering)

I have no idea why the photo's won't come up.( I even read the instructions but all I get is the word "image")
User avatar
boo
 
Posts: 182
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2012 5:56 am
Location: Central Victoria, Australia

Re: Boo's attempt

Postby boo » Fri Aug 03, 2012 9:51 am

So.......now that everyone has had a jolly good laugh......is there hope? :roll:

I've just spent some time going through the luscious photo's of other members 'steads and I'm inspired to lay out my paths this weekend and start organising the garden beds in my food forest area (after drawing several rough plans and deciding on what I really want it to look like). I'll need to save up a bit for my new dwarf trees (quite expensive compared to standard trees) but I can get my vegetable seeds started after cleaning out all my old pots this morning. Maybe I won't be so embarrassed next time I post some pictures :oops:
User avatar
boo
 
Posts: 182
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2012 5:56 am
Location: Central Victoria, Australia

Re: Boo's attempt

Postby matt walker » Fri Aug 03, 2012 4:55 pm

Weird Boo, I can't make the image work from Flickr either. I put in a request for some help from some nerds I know, so I'll try to solve that for you.

It's great to see your place and your trees. I told myself "Of course we won't laugh" and then I saw your banana "learning experience." Sorry, I laughed. LOL. Seriously though, you have done a lot already, and I'm jealous of your citrus! You've got a ton of potential there, I can't wait to see what you do with it.
User avatar
matt walker
Site Admin
 
Posts: 1806
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2012 5:50 pm
Location: North Olympic Peninsula

Re: Boo's attempt

Postby matt walker » Fri Aug 03, 2012 5:43 pm

Image
User avatar
matt walker
Site Admin
 
Posts: 1806
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2012 5:50 pm
Location: North Olympic Peninsula

Re: Boo's attempt

Postby matt walker » Fri Aug 03, 2012 5:45 pm

Okay, nerds to the rescue!

It's weird with Flickr Boo. On Flickr, looking at the image, go to the "actions" tab, click "view all sizes" then when that shows the image, right click on the image and select "copy image location" or "copy image address." Paste that between the [img] codes here and Bob's yer uncle.
User avatar
matt walker
Site Admin
 
Posts: 1806
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2012 5:50 pm
Location: North Olympic Peninsula

Re: Boo's attempt

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Fri Aug 03, 2012 6:29 pm

pictures looked nice Boo, I assume that you took the one dog picture to show us the dirt, ;) looks pretty dry and very light brown. Organic matter of any and all types will do you a world of good there. The grass looked green, so I am guessing that you have some top soil there to work with. Many developments around here strip the top soil and sell it leaving just enough to grow grass. I hope you are in a little better shape, but as you work and improve the soil you will find that it does not matter, you will make your own growing soil there in your beds. Think this way, if it came out of the soil, it can go back into the soil. So Leaves, grass clippings, news paper, wood chips, poop of any kind, veggie plants and stocks, limbs, wood, what ever you have that will rot will work. You will be amazed what things look like in a very short time. Don't be afraid of the work of double digging, it has paid off big for me over the years. Even if all you do is remove one spade deep and loosen the sub-soil with a digging fork it gives the roots someplace to go. If you add organic matter and logs down deep all the better. Don't try to build everything all at once. If you can only improve 1 bed a year with the time you have thats OK. If you want to put in all of the beds and then work to improve them over time, thats OK too. There is really no right or wrong way, only the Boo way at your place, so go ahead and get your hands dirty. :D
Never doubt that a small group of dedicated people can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.
User avatar
pa_friendly_guy
 
Posts: 1502
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2012 9:24 pm
Location: SW Pa They changed me to zone 6a what ever that is. I still figure zone 5

Re: Boo's attempt

Postby boo » Sat Aug 04, 2012 1:29 am

Thanks for the help with the photo's Matt. The citrus are doing well as are the "sticks" that are starting to bud already (1 double grafted apple, 1 heritage snow apple, 1 peach, & 2 different plums - all standards).

Pa_friendly_guy you are right about the soil. My soil is pure clay....rock hard in summer and usually slippery in winter when we have rain (old gold mining area - but I haven't found any gold yet). Where the plants are growing now was exactly the same as what you saw......however, a single guinea pig can only fertilise so much per year :oops: as well as having added some sheep manure and chopping up any organic waste to go back into the soil (in the garden beds, apart from the clover & weeds, the soil is actually darker and has worms in it...yay). I've been growing my veggies in between the fruit trees and other plants, right up the length of the fenceline because that is the only decent soil I have at the moment. I'm mulching the soil with fallen oak leaves and "goodies" from the guinea pig on area's that I'm going to work next and I just let the weeds grow until its time to dig (where the weeds are growing really well is where the GP poo has been deposited and when I dig over the area the soil looks better so I plant what I want there).

My banana does look sad doesn't it! But when it gets it's little awning next autumn/winter it will be much happier - it usually sprouts from the bottom of the clump once the warmer weather arrives...so I don't think it's actually dead (yet) but I could be wrong!It's OK that you laughed......."learning experiences"......sigh!
User avatar
boo
 
Posts: 182
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2012 5:56 am
Location: Central Victoria, Australia

Re: Boo's attempt

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Sat Aug 04, 2012 2:16 am

Boo, does your town have a Municipal mulch pile? Alot of the towns around here collect leaves from peoples yards in the fall and compost them, they also take grass clipping tree trimming etc. They chip it all up and let it rot. There is normally a goodly supply for the taking. You might ask any neighbors that catch their grass clippings to save them for you. Is there any places along the open hyways that they mow down the weeds in summer, maybe you could gather them up for mulch. Mulch and adding organic matter is the Key. I am not very smart, I learn slowly, but mulch is the key. You will see major improvements if you can mulch heavily. Do they trim the trees along the power lines out your way? Wood chips make Great Mulch.
Last edited by pa_friendly_guy on Thu Aug 09, 2012 1:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
Never doubt that a small group of dedicated people can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.
User avatar
pa_friendly_guy
 
Posts: 1502
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2012 9:24 pm
Location: SW Pa They changed me to zone 6a what ever that is. I still figure zone 5

Re: Boo's attempt

Postby boo » Sat Aug 04, 2012 3:33 am

Pa_friendly_guy.....we don't get anything for free here, the local council operate the land fill station and yes they do sell chipped green waste but it's full of weeds and things that I don't want in the garden. I just need to keep my eyes open for bags of sheep poo at farm gates for a couple of dollars per bag, and spoiled hay or straw if/when I can get it. I could collect the slashed grass from roadsides (I just have to watch out for snakes in the summer) but I could use my rake to poke around in it first so I don't bring any snakes home in the car :shock: Thanks for the idea.
User avatar
boo
 
Posts: 182
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2012 5:56 am
Location: Central Victoria, Australia

Re: Boo's attempt

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Sat Aug 04, 2012 2:28 pm

There was an article I read in Organic Gardening years ago, back when Bob Rodale ran the show, it was called Mulching with Weeds. The couple went out and collected weeds from along the road sides, cut them with a syth. They tried to get them befor they set any seeds, but if they were late in getting them and they had gone to seed the woman said, Oh Well, we will just have more mulch growing in our garden next year. They composted some, but some they just put down directly on their garden paths and let them compost in place. Now that I have learned about permaculture it puts me in mind of the chop and drop program many people use. Since you need organic matter, get it as cheap as you can, where ever you can. It will all rot in time. ;)
Never doubt that a small group of dedicated people can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.
User avatar
pa_friendly_guy
 
Posts: 1502
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2012 9:24 pm
Location: SW Pa They changed me to zone 6a what ever that is. I still figure zone 5

Next

Return to Members' 'steads

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests

cron