freaky cheap gardening movie project - 200 square feet on YOUR property

paul wheaton wrote:

Ulla Bisgaard wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:i made a gamcod forum where we can start to create official threads for details

https://permies.com/f/508/

I can’t get access. If it’s on purpose it’s okay, if not, now you know

i think i fixed it. please try again.

Timothy Norton wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:I want this to be a movie that people will watch and then try growing their first garden.  A little effort, about $20 in seeds and then they might end up saving $1000 in food.  And they did it without buying toxic gick, and without accidentally adding toxic gick.  It is highly probable that the food they grew is of a higher quality than the very best food they could buy within a hundred miles.

Working Requirements Summary
- Zone 5B Or Colder
- 200 square foot of dirt/lawn (No prior garden or soil improvement) *Does shape matter, circles? Long and thin?*
- At least 5 recognizable crops grown (No Soy) (Polyculture encouraged) (Most calories produced encouraged)
- Non-GMO Seeds/Starts only. (Purchasing organic certified starts is frowned upon, non-organic out of the question)
- No outside soil/mulch/fertilizer inputs. (Can use ghost acre where mulch/fertilizers are grown outside the 200 square feet)
- No manure unless the animal AND animal feed come from on site
- Ash and biochar are okay if from on-site.
- Above organic standard practices
- Minimal mechanized tools (Chainsaw okay)


How to increase chances your garden is featured?
  - little to zero cost
  - very little effort
  - grow your garden in a unique way (Hügelkultur would be A+)
  - show that you are REALLY starting from dirt not soil. Comparison?

Optional bonus points - Grow another 200 square foot patch with only perennials as comparison. (Estimate where it could be in 5 to 10 years)

Estimate footage to submit - 8 hours (Can be more or less. Focus on quality)

Last updated - 2/7/24

Ra Kenworth wrote:
Perhaps just

Victory Dirt

Mike Haasl wrote:Make a Garden for Cheap

Thekla McDaniels wrote:How about personal urine and or menstrual blood?

How about organic kitchen waste?  Tea leaves and coffee grounds…

Hair from my hair cut?  Dog and cat hair from spring shedding, and horses shed a lot too, not that I have any, but someone might.

Insects (crushed and soaked in water)?  If anyone is lucky enough to have a grasshopper plague during the contest or wants to trap wasps or moths or whatever is flying around that is easily trapped?

Ulla Bisgaard wrote:Why do it only in zone 5d or colder? I don’t understand that.

Kim Goodwin wrote:Are people allowed to buy soil for starting seeds in pots? That might be necessary to allow. I make my own from native soil, but even so I have to buy a couple ingredients to do so. Such as coco coir.

paul wheaton wrote:This idea comes from the gamcod project idea.  If it works well, I like the idea that we come up with lots of variations of this in the future.

This thread is for brainstorming and polishing this idea.  Hopefully, in four to seven days, we will create the official thread and get started.


Mark out 200 square feet of dirt (or maybe lawn).  There needs to be some way to demonstrate that it is dirt and NOT soil.  This has to be raw, unused land of some sort.  Definitely not something that has been used as a garden before.


For this first attempt at a movie project, zone 5 or colder. (if this works, later projects might be for warmer climates)

At least five crops that are generally known as food (you can find the foods in the organic grocery). No soy.  And the focus remains as "highest calories per acre". Polyculture is strongly encouraged.

Optional: an additional 200 square foot plot that is planted with perennials. A summary in late summer about what the productivity might be like in five years and ten years.  



monies

- for a kickstarter movie that brings in more than $50,000 (the "goal" will be $50,000)

 o $100 per minute if the kickstarter brings in $50k to $99K
 o $200 per minute if the kickstarter brings in $100k to $199K
 o $400 per minute if the kickstarter brings in more than $200K

- prorated, so if we use 22 seconds you get 22/60 of a minute of this dealio

If we use 30 minutes of video in the final movie, and the kickstarter brings in $100,000, that would be $6000.  


I am willing to sweeten the offer for "big names".



I know there will be people in warmer climates that wanna play.  Maybe that could be a thing we try next year.  But for this to work, I need to draw some lines for the first try.



The primary focus will be on highest calories harvested.  But air time will also go to projects that were almost as high in calories, but:

   - little to zero cost
   - very litte effort

So, keep track of

    - total time put in (try to keep this low)
    - total money spent (try to keep this low)
    - total money saved in groceries (try to keep this high)

Participants are encouraged to use a "ghost acre":  a place where mulches and fertilizers are grown, outside of the 200 square feet.  

I want to see practices far above organic.  

I want to see this done with zero imports from off-site.  I wish for the final movie to advocate NOT buying stuff, and NOT risking the import of things that could be toxic.


Most of all: I want people that watch this movie to KNOW to their core that gardening is:

   - easy
   - delightful
   - productive
   - thrifty
   - yummy

A lot world problems are solved in the garden.  And the #1 thing keeping a billion people from dabbling in gardening is knowledge.



What do we need to do to polish this?

Who will be submitting video for this?  

Hans said, Teaching that gardening is about growing soil and soil is what grows food.

Shannon Sell wrote:Can I use saved seeds or should I start new?

Do I factor in the cost of supplies I already have? (Seeds, containers, tools, fence posts, etc...)

Any restrictions on fencing? Can I use an existing fence?

Do I factor in the time of any additional helpers?

Can I transplant perennials from my old place? Or from other places on my property?

Can I take divisions from friends?

I’m thinking I can do a Hugelkultur bed

paul wheaton wrote:Slug control:

there tends to not be that much of a slug problem in these cold areas.  But they can still be an issue.  I think it could be wise to create several large brush piles outside of the 200 square feet.  Maybe a couple of rock piles too.  And then see if your slug problem (and several other insect problems) go away.

I far prefer stuff like this over the use of plastics or sluggo.  Even copper tape stuff or beer traps ... while certainly novel and effective ...  are things that also seem expensive and or time consuming.  

Another good one:  let the chickens in an hour before dusk.  They gobble up the slugs and then return to their roost.

paul wheaton wrote:
Containers:  tell me more about what you have in mind?

Tell me more about your fencing stuff.

I think if three people do 1 hour of stuff on the garden, you do need to count that as 3 hours.

Tell me more.

My helpers are my kids so I might track but tally it separate.. they are 11 and younger.

(About Divisions) plants from neighbors garden, raspberry, blackberry, waking onion. Also   from my own property its in an unmanaged forest. I have wild aronia, elderberry, black raspberry, mayapple, possibly hazelnut. I’d like to transplant that stuff from the dense wildwoods onthe back of my property to my garden near my house. It’s locally grown and naturally occurring. Bonus it can bring awareness to wild edibles freely available.

Krysta Glovasky-Ridsdale wrote:But is it wrong that my first thought was 2 x 100 .  A stripe, right along the yard LOL.