Property description: Rise 1 foot run 6. It is steep. The oak leaves form a mat that is difficult for plants to get through. Elevation about 2000'. 5' of orange grayish soil before bedrock. Little sunlight gets through. Some of the slope is 1:3. What is the best idea for cheaply growing high callorie food on this, my small lot. I can cut down the trees for more light and install terraces to prevent erosion. Plant apple and pear trees and edible bamboo. Candy roaster squash might be a lifesaver. . who has 2 years to wait for Apple trees to produce? Beans maybe? Cabbage? I can rip some lines two inch deep to get to the orange clay soil and insert baby food plants and see how they do but has anyone tried this before? Will the squash or beans climb up the oaks like trellisses? Will trellisses Eli.inate the disadvantage of the North facing slope? Won't the soil be too acidic? Is compost , manure... Required? The soil is so cold with clay... Perhaps a long shallow ditch for fish is better, but the soil isn't that impermiable and the floor has almost no plants to attract insects to the fish. Natively there are many big black ants, mosquitos from the creek, stinkbugs, and loads of snails. A few squirrels. Plenty of earthworms. So far I got acorn squash, watermellon, tiny potatoes, daikon, onions, garlic to grow but only a few daikon thrived. That was without any ammendments but old leaves mixed with red clay and some dark soil from tree stump roots. I put all the leaves in a pile like Redhawk said and now I'm experimrenting with not disturbing the soil but I still have to slice through that thick Mat of roots and old leaves.
Recently I put down 20# of lime and 3# of ca nitrate on some of the cleared land. It seems to have reduced the earthworm population there allot. I hope it wI'll be worth it cause nothing seems to have grown well yet. Out of 200? Daikon seeds maybe 6 grew big and 95 percent did t do anything but perhaps this time it will be better. I need a good way to get water from the creek up 35 feet or more. Maybe a hand pump rated for 10m. 32' approx. Is a good choice. Saw one cheap.
