alex bost

Thanks Annie!
We like quite the variety as we cook mostly from scratch with a few exceptions.
So for us, tomatoes, bell peppers, chillies, salads (varieties) cucumber, zuchinies, onion, potatoes, garlic - these are our main ingredients we tend to buy almost weekly. Some we grow but tiny patches so we don't harvest everything we need.
I think the weather is helping us a lot, we are in a 10a area, as we can garden all year round.

Fruits would we awesome, peaches, cherries, mangoes, apple, pears, fig - I will tackle these maybe later, not sure how eaasy/hard it is to plant young trees and grow them to bear fruit... I will leave this as a phase 2 so that I do not overwhelm us with too much from the beginning.  

Hey all,
I'm looking for some help, my family decided to remain for the next 5-6 years on the southern coast of Spain, Andalucia. We're in the process of purchasing a plot of 3-4K sqm with the intent of having a self sustaining garden.
I'm looking for help in planning what we need to self sustain our family of 4, looking to plant vegetables, fruit trees, having 5-6 chickens, 2-3 ducks. No goats or cow for the moment, I think the size of the plot would prohibit that too.
Water will be from a well, the water here is extremly hard (full of limestone) however the produce seems to be adapted to this water as everyone, including industrial agriculture, use the ground water. In our current house we have 2 small patches where we have a few tomato varieties, chillies, bell peppers, salad and they did well with the water.
Seeds - I"ve so far purchased and planted seeds from the gardening store, and small plants too, but they all seem to wither after year 1. They grow and produce but second year I need to start from scratch. What are the seeds I should look for to have plants that do not die after year 1?

Can someone share with me how many veggie patched (and size) we should have, how many fruit trees we could plant (and if around/ under the trees we could plant something to maximize the space)

Any other ideas or tips are super welcomed!
Thank you.

Many thanks!!! Already posted in the Composting forum.

How would i know it's ready and okay to use?
Should i add some soil and some leaves from the trees?

thanks!

S Bengi wrote:Zone 10b means that there is very little need for firewood or for a greenhouse. After buying a 2acre+ site. I would work on the house and then start a 4,000sqft garden. And also get some chickens and a bee hive. I would wait until after the orchard is bearing fruits before I get goat/cows.

Hi Bengi,
I created 4 patches in my garden
1 large (5ft by 10ft)
3 small (2ft by 6ft)

I really liked the screenshot you shared with me for spring and fall planting, although I have a question for patches where I can plant multiple veggies. What would be a respectable distance between them? Or is that intended for them to be around close by each other, rather than 30cm apart?

many thanks!

Hey everyone,
I bought a bin for compost and tried to compost about 3 weeks ago.

I added grass clippings(from cutting our lawn) about 50% of the bin, and then i added kitchen scraps (fruits, veggies etc) and have no idea if i did it well or ruined the first compost and need to throw everything to start over. All of these were added about 3 weeks ago and i have not touched it since(i did not turn it)

i came across this forum too late and just now reading through some post I see that I should have made layers, with leaves, soil etc.

Questions:
1. did i ruin the compost or is it salvageable?
2. If it's salvageable - what can i do to make sure it becomes a good compost to add to my patches of veggies?
3. If i need to start over, what are the best practices for a beginner?

many thanks in advance.

Thanks Benji, i do want to be close to a city where we have good access to hospital, school etc (we just welcomed our baby girl hence the absence).

A well is a must in south of Spain, it's so dry that it would run the water bill wild watering over the summer. The downside to it is water is veeery hard in the south although crops do well since they are used to the hardness of water.

At the moment we just rented a house in the northern Spain with a very small garden and I already built 4 patches, and got a small bin for compost(which i think i already messed up the first compost).

for the moment we will stay here and I'll try to use the 4 patches to build my skills to grow our own food, before we make a final decision of what we buy and where.

Perhaps one of you can help me with the compost, wondering if it's salvagable or I should throw everything and start over.
I added grass clippings for 3/4 of the bin, then added kitchen scraps (fruits/vegetables etc). It's been sitting there for 3weeks, I did not add anything else like soil or something. Is this usable? or if not, can it be salvaged?

Hi Benji,
Sorry for the late reply. Thank you for the idea on garden patches and fruit trees, this is exactly what I needed to get my head around for the beginning.

As we are currently looking for the house/land which suits us best I am keeping in mind the info you shared with me. We are also dabbling with the idea of Valencia proximity, which is can also be 10a/10b but has quite large areas of 9b as well. In any case, i believe the fruit/crops you shared are doable in both with no issues since winters around here are pretty mild.

Thank you again and hope I have good updates soon enough!

Hi Benji,
Many thanks for the detailed response and info, they are extremly useful.

I am not sure about the climate if it's that similar to Florida, by doing a quick search and read, i believe the temps here in Basque country are a bit higher than Zone 9 florida.
What is could find is that Donostia is Zone 10a 10b: 1.7°C to 4.4°C (https://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-spain-plant-hardiness-zone-map-celsius.php) -> that's if i was able to read this website correctly. Please correct me if wrong.

For the beginning I want to start small of course, a few patches, a few chickens and ducks. Goats in year 2-3 and not sure about cattle, they do need lots of space and pasture so probably this is for longer term thinking when we may potentially buy additional land for them.

Property wise, due to the prices here all cash is not doable however with mortgage we can manage it very easily. Your idea about calculations help a lot to take everything in consideration as total cost of investment/ownership.

Based on our area, what patches should i try first? something simple like lettuces, raddishes, tomatoes ofc.

Thanks a lot!

Which area have you found or have your eyes set on?