• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • Jay Angler
  • paul wheaton
  • r ranson
stewards:
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Leigh Tate
  • Liv Smith
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • Matt McSpadden
  • thomas rubino

New forest garden plot in mid missouri

 
Posts: 77
Location: Columbia MO
30
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
My thoughts are somewhere between building great topsoil, having a huge pollinator and bug load (I got tons of assassins this year), and also having the deep roots that pull water down farther than turfgrass could ever dream of.  

if its not broke, I guess I wont fix it!
 
john holmes
Posts: 77
Location: Columbia MO
30
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Start to year 4!  

Garlic, onions, leeks, and comfry are becoming my edge plants. It keeps grass back and is either edible or nitrogen fixer. I let much of it set seed and bulbs unused stay in the ground to multiply.  I also hand toss onion, radish, turnip, carrot, and other annuals wherever soil gets exposed.

The native Prarie flowers are really taking hold and topsoil is building generously.  It works as great deer detterant. The remaining 3 apple and pear have all set fruit. I do not spray, they got a touch of rust last year and about 7 granny Smith apples.  

Hazelnut is leafing out well, but still must be protected from deer at this location.

Honeyberry that gets afternoon shade is happy and growing, a bit more deer resistant.

Blackberries might get out of control, time to start managing it.

Black raspberries might finally produce if it rains enough.

Gold raspberries are preffered by deer , need to hide it better.

I have a mystery raspberry plant in the thicket... it's 2nd year stem is brownish orange and the leaves are like blackberry... it set flower and now we wait to see if it also sets fruit.

All in all, seems that nature is working with minimal care and plenty of casual strolling!



20230512_200050.jpg
[Thumbnail for 20230512_200050.jpg]
20230512_195717.jpg
[Thumbnail for 20230512_195717.jpg]
 
john holmes
Posts: 77
Location: Columbia MO
30
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Front yard Uphill garden is chugging along. I'm going full neglect this year and watering none. The trees have been handling it well and aren't showing much leaf rust. But fruit set was low this year on apple and pear due to a late frost. Didn't kill all the buds though .

Watering the native blackberry and raspberry messed up the fruiting last year. All or none with watering.   It's none this year and they look great despite drought.

I planted this tiger eye sumac for some fall time colors and the deer just won't stop scrubbing it down. It's shooting up new sprouts about 3ft away, gonna be a thicket in 3 to5 years!  It wont give up! While not a native sumac, sometimes we can take pleasure in the unique and exotic variety on the planet.  It wants to be close to the Jefferson hazelnut and garlic, I shall let it.
20230602_175147.jpg
[Thumbnail for 20230602_175147.jpg]
 
john holmes
Posts: 77
Location: Columbia MO
30
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
This is a neat corner that's given me trouble for almost decades but turning around.  Full sun bordered by concrete and high spot, always dry.

Coreopsis flower for the win to fill in and cover.  I got strawberries from this spot this year.  Well,  the deer did at least 😆

There's comfrey, goji,  strawberry, oregano, onions, garlic, aster, coneflower, radish, and beets tucked in there!

20230602_181817.jpg
[Thumbnail for 20230602_181817.jpg]
 
john holmes
Posts: 77
Location: Columbia MO
30
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I've learned a lot about life while tending this clay yard.  Living things are mostly made of water, so soil that is full of life should hold more moisture. Thus, my goal is to grow worms and bugs to turn this clay into rich soil!

Where convenient, Ive started Roly poly (pill bug) farms with logs and food scraps surrounded by leaf mulch. I have watered the logs some this year to establish the bug population.  This spot is located slightly Uphill from some strawberries, so the bug castings should trickle down and fertilize the strawberries.   It yielded this year and I did not fertilize. I should consider watering the log as watering the strawberries, an exception to the no watering of the rest of the garden.

If I pulled back the leaves, there are thousands. Tens of thousands. Just in this one spot.  It's insane how fast they make scraps dissappear.
20230602_192259.jpg
Roly poly (pill bug) farm with logs
20230602_191952.jpg
[Thumbnail for 20230602_191952.jpg]
 
Posts: 2
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
John - thank you for this wonderful thread! We're getting ready to move to Missouri and I've been worried about how to deal with the hardpan soil in my future forest garden. Your project info has been both informative and inspiring. I'll be adopting many of your techniques for my upcoming projects. Many thanks! 👍
 
john holmes
Posts: 77
Location: Columbia MO
30
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Stacie Callahan wrote:John - thank you for this wonderful thread! We're getting ready to move to Missouri and I've been worried about how to deal with the hardpan soil in my future forest garden. Your project info has been both informative and inspiring. I'll be adopting many of your techniques for my upcoming projects. Many thanks! 👍



Between rotting logs and native flowers, it can be dealt with, without equipment or added labor!  

Also, don't kill the moles. They break up hardpan like a champ.  I had some tree work done and it had severely compacted the soil around the old tree. The next week a mole broke up the crust for us and now it's all loamy soil again!
 
pollinator
Posts: 369
Location: Appalachian Mountains
177
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Anne Pratt wrote:So irritating about your neighbor!  I never heard of anyone feeding the deer except hunters, and that's illegal in many places.  It's a bad idea anyway, it brings them into proximity with humans and creates highway hazards, not to mention the damage to your food production or even just landscaping.

There is deer repellent on the market - it smells of garlic and (to deer) dead meat.  To me it smells vaguely of garlic, and not unpleasant. Maybe it needs to be applied to the deer food under cover of darkness.  Also sprinklers and other sorts of alarms that go off with motion detectors, but those usually scare them at first and then they grow accustomed to it.  Poor fat deer.



The CWD is getting so bad in many states, including in N.C. where I am, that feeding stations for deer are banned.  Not  only that, but many holistic vets are saying the corn people use is causing the CWD.  It weakens the immune system and causes leaky gut, leading to the body not being able to deal with prion exposure.  
 
dear haters, I'm glad to see that I'm the most important thing to you right now --tiny ad
Back the BEL - Invest in the Permaculture Bootcamp
https://permies.com/w/bel-fundraiser
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic