My 2014 projects

So far this year I have built a fruit garden, a herb spiral, and a asparagus patch. I have not planted any herbs yet; I am waiting for the final frost. My fruit garden on the other hard has beach plums, bush cherries, 4 varieties of strawberries, lingon berries, and some tophat blueberries. I was able to place them near the front of my house in an aesthetic garden design. I planted them in some composted wood chips that I was able to get for free. I am so excited to see the growth that is happening every day in this garden.

My next project is a chicken coop and run down the wooded and steep north facing hill (about 40 feet in length) on my property. On the south side of my chicken coop I will have a green house. I plan to make the run about 1/10th of an acre down the hill with the coop at the top. On the hill there is a wash out from the rain that I plan to slow down so more vegetation can grow and so the chickens can get some water. In another unwashed saddle I plan on adding compost material. This will give my chicken something to scratch through to get bugs. I am hoping that by the time the material is scratched to the bottom that it will have composted without any or at least very little human labor.

I am interested in your comments and questions. Thanks!

-tfrankeberger

How about some pictures Terry!

Pictures would definitely help visualize this.

Well its 2015 and here is an update on last year. I built the chicken coop and have been composting my fall leaves there. This is working great. I used last years composted leaves on my garden with great results. I was able to improve my existing dirt(a red brown clay sand mixture) into a softer black brown soil that is about 2 to 3 inches deep. Sadly, I did not get the green house built. Maybe this summer.

My children were given a couple pot bellied pigs. So I have been using them to clear more land for my garden. The little rooter-tillers are doing a great job rooting up the existing grass roots and fertilizing the dirt. I'll be adding compost soon and mixing some in with a garden weasel. I expect even better results than last year.

Plans this year include garden boxes for potatoes and peanuts(experimenting), water holding tanks shaped as a benches to de-chlorinate my tap water(later rain collection), green house, and I have already began a large project to turn at-least an acre into a perennial food plot/food forest. I have begun site preparations. My goal is to be planted by the end of April.

I will also be experimenting with peanuts by starting them in airpots. I'll start some soon just to determine how much grow time(days) that I want them in the airpots. After a week I'll wash the roots off of one plant each day and compare with previous roots to pick the best timing. Then when the season starts I'll direct sow some in special grow boxes and propagate some in airpots the same day and in similar soil. Then transplant the airpotted plants when time is right into grow boxes also. At harvest I will weigh the yields of each group of plants and compare the results. About 25 plants in each group would be best for a statistical analysis but I will not have enough soil. I would need at-least 450 cubic feet for that. So I'll have to make due with 5 or 10 each group.