Emily Smith

Trace Oswald wrote:Common comfrey spreads.  Bocking 4 and 14, which are the ones you most often see for sale, don't spread.  The seeds are sterile so they get bigger around and you can propagate them easily by taking a cutting of a root and planting it somewhere else.  I personally wouldn't plant common comfrey because it's too hard to contain, but I have hundreds of bocking 4 comfrey plants.  Comfrey is certainly one of the best plants if it grows well in your area.  I have sent plants to people nearly everywhere and the only people that  seem to have any issues with it growing are in very hot, dry climates.  I don't know if that would apply to you or not.

Hot and humid.  Real temperature tops out in upper 90s, but heat index can be in low 100s.  Nearly daily pop up storms then random drought.

I've been afraid of it because I've heard it spreads like crazy.  But then skimming here it seems like it might not be suited to Georgia (zone 7b).  I have a couple of apple trees I think might need something.  I've only mulched around it, and keeping that up is getting annoying.  Is comfrey even the best plant?  

If so... where would I find it?  If not, what should go under my trees instead?

After laying out beds and paths and measuring both those and my existing beds, the actual growing area is more like 1,874, with a potential for 2,235 after extending a few beds and creating a few new ones.  That's 24 beds varying from 13' to 43' long and either 30" or 48" and 18" paths for the most part, with a few 4' paths for better access.  Over half of these beds are new, though, and I'm still wrestling with breaking ground and forming the beds/paths.

I rented a rear tine tiller from Sunbelt.  They didn't have the beefy 13hp hydraulic tiller.  Instead, I got one with something between 8-10hp.  I'd heard magical stories about rear tines and how they would break sod and till the dirt at the same time without a ton of muscle from the operator.  This did not do that.  So whether because it didn't have enough power to do it or because those stories are lies, I currently have a relatively shallow till job that will require my dad's front tine to complete (hopefully!).  

I'm left wondering if I could possibly invest in a BCS and then rent it out to area homesteaders (there is no place around here that rents two-wheel tractors) to justify the one-time use of the tiller and/or plough attachments (the tiller seems to disturb the soil less than a plough).  The plan was to get it tilled the first time, then use something less invasive to incorporate amendments (harrow? rake? tilther?).  I can't do it with a broadfork/shovel; it's too much for me.

Eric Hanson wrote:Emily,
1/10 acre is about 4000 sqft.  That’s like a garden 20x200’!  That’s a lot of garden.  Kudos for you for being ambitious.
Eric

I feel crazy rather than ambitious, but I like the positive spin!  That area includes paths, for what it's worth.  My backyard is 1/2 acre fenced, but between a strip that washes out with hard rains (it's like a mini river that floods my neighbor's yard), the chicken run, the drain field, and leaving grass for our dogs to run around on, 1/10 is about all I can easily do.  There's a little hill I could terrace at some point.  And maybe my front yard...  The idea is to sell at least some of what I grow at a local market.  But starting gradually might be a good idea.

Patrick Rahilly wrote:
In that case, a bag of lime from your local nursery wouldn't be bad. $20 (?). be sure to incorporate it (follow the directions on the package). Then get some bulk Whole seeds from your grocery and plant a dense cover crop... I'd look at doing this now in GA. Pick some cool weather plants and help get life back into the soil. Some cool weather plants; mustards, maybe radish, some peas (or sweet peas), brown lentils, wheat, barley, oats... see what is available. You can test germination rate of the seeds you buy in wet paper towels and put them in a jar, check them in a week.  Plant dense and expect to turn it all in in about 2-3 months which should be good timing for your summer transplant crops (which you should probably be starting now).
Hope this helps.
P.

I can get 40 lb. from the feed store for $5.50 and would need 3 of those; I have two plots, one's about 1,000 sq.ft. and doesn't need the lime.  The other is about 3,000 sq.ft.  I'm happy to save money on amendments, so I'll try just the lime and cover cropping.  We'll see what happens after that!

Patrick Rahilly wrote:Edit: how much land are you dealing with? a backyard plot or a huge field? what are you goals? these few questions can help with what to do and how to do it.

This is a backyard.  I have two separate plots in it, but still a relatively small area.  I might end up with 1/10 acre cultivated this year.

Thank you for the advice!!  What if I went with dolomitic lime, and then equal parts peat moss and compost (2" each)?  Would that be a sufficient jolt for the one plot?  It would be a bit spendy, but theoretically, I wouldn't need to do that every single year, correct?  

What would I do to address phosphorus or potassium deficiencies?  Calcium is fine, but pH is low on one plot (5.4, I think).  I had a basic soil analysis done.  I may ask for a fancy in-depth one in the future, but I'm starting small and basic.  I plan on a minimal till (mainly to break ground in clay soil), so I'd like something that only needs to be mixed into the top few inches or can be watered in.  The analysis of course suggests 10-10-10.

natasha todd wrote:
If he treats people badly when they can offer him nothing it's a firm no.

That one right there.

Mike Haasl wrote:One detail to consider is how much money you'll actually make.  After expanding the gardens, buying all the stuff, putting your time in, buying a new place, etc.  Will you be making $100 a market or $500?  If it's $100 would your time have been better spent at a workee job?

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that market farming isn't a quick/easy buck.  It's lots of hard work.  Even after putting in the hard work it might just not be worth the money earned.

Sorry to be the devil's advocate or a downer but it's worth doing the math...

No, I appreciate that.  The goal isn't to be rich, for sure.  My current situation is that I work two part-time jobs (both usually about 12 hours/week each) and am a single parent with kids learning at home (they're older, thankfully).  I want something I can do at home or from home, that doesn't require computer work (at least not 100%), and that I could potentially bring my kids into or at least pause without guilt, instead of feeling like each moment I'm choosing between work and kids.  And also if I'm turning my brain to mush, I want it to be for something that's mine.  One job I'm ok with and would keep, but there will never be more work there and it's 100% internet dependent).  The other job is mentally taxing, I'm occasionally on call without pay, and replacing its income is my floor for net profit from a market garden... so for my current property, about $6k/year from 12 beds ranging from 25' to 50' long (so $600/growing month).  If I could manage that, maybe scaling up would be easier.  That was the idea.  Now, idk.

Other options might be oyster mushrooms or honey, but again, if the 10-acre requirement applies to those, I'm back to square one.  I did ask in a local FB group, but I'll see if I can find people who are actually selling at markets or to restaurants.

Thanks, Scott!

So the newest development is the business licensing people require a license to sell to the permies, and they won't give me one unless I'm operating on at least 10 acres... which in my area could go for $75k-$150k.  Yet the nonprofit farmer's market lady said I didn't need one, so I'm confused.  I'm looking at the next county over (15-20 minute drive for me), but overall, my options are:
a) give up and keep mowing my yard/find a real day job
b) focus on a kitchen garden
c) sell without a permit at that one nonprofit farmer's market (at what risk, I'm not sure)
d) (somehow) buy land in the next county and farm it remotely
e) sell my house and move... somewhere.  Land values are high all around, and I can't pick up and go just anywhere.
f) something I'm too blind to see??


Before all of that went down, I was leaning toward focusing on salad greens, carrots, and maybe one or two other crops (oyster mushrooms?!), and selling to local restaurants as well the markets.

Not for the first time, I'm wondering if this just a crazy pipe dream I can't pull off.  It's not like I have a beautiful garden right now.