Eric The Red

To be honest that looks like a decently healthy bean plant with very little leaf damage. Ants do not usually eat/destroy leaves, but rather "farm" aphids that certainly do eat/destroy leaves. I see some dry leaves on the ground near your beans which may be the ones that were lost and also your plants are sprouting new leaves nicely which can be a natural part of the process for the plant. If you are producing beans and the plant remains as healthy as it looks now then I wouldn't worry too much.

Alex Ames wrote:Tyler I was looking at the photos of your property and the things you are working on and it looks like your
soil is more brown than mine is. I dug a lot of this out in the winter so I could get a shovel in it. It comes out
in solid blocks like hoop cheese. After I packed the holes with wood and leaves and anything I could find I
a few days would pass and the blocks could be broken up some and put together with compost, manure and
so forth. I have seen giant pine trees grow out of this stuff or else I would have never put it back in the beds.
As I said earlier the clay eats the amendments rubs it's belly and burps.

Alex, you should think about putting away the shovel and investing in a digging fork. Before you go about your preferred mulching method go through the area and loosen it well with the digging fork. In my experience gardening in the grey, silty clay of coastal, CA a lot of the nutrient loss you are describing comes from runoff because the good stuff can't penetrate the compacted clay. Once clay does get a hold of nutrients and amendments it won't let go, which is a good thing, and as long as you give the good stuff a pathway into the soil you can make that happen.

In smaller, more intensive plots I (when the soil is dry) have had success doing a one time tilling in of some texture improving amendment like finely chopped straw, lava rock, really really coarse sand, cotton seed/rice hulls, etc. and then going ahead with the sheet mulch. I usually do this in the fall and let it rest for the winter so its ready to plant in spring. Good luck with your clay adventures y'all, definitely a challenge

What I grow here in California is probably different from what can be grown in Toronto, but one of my favorite chicken grains is amaranth. If you have the space there are huge varieties available or if you're like me and you don't there are ones in more manageable sizes. Our chickens love to eat the thinnings in the spring then at harvest you get a ton of small grain from each plant and alot of good compost fodder.

Lori's choices of Chamomile and clover are pretty fail safe, but you need to chose the right varieties. For a ground cover only Roman Chamomile will do as German Chamomile turn into a perennial bush in Fla, Roman Chamomile also doesn't mind being walked on and smells great when you do. Some species of clover can also get pretty darn huge so a low growing variety like Dutch White Clover stays small and of course fixes nitrogen. Olanga Jay's advice also holds true, If you're gonna make a useful/edible lawn it's easier and more beneficial to plant a lot of different species so all root zones are taken up by your plants and not grass and noxious weeds. You could think about planting some beneficial "weeds" though like dandelion and plantain which are both medicinal and great for the soil. Cheers

In my opinion you should start all of the perennial plants( berries, bush cherry,currant, kiwi, strawberry) in flats or plug trays along with any hot season vegis like your tomatoes and cucumbers, although you could get away with direct sowing the cukes in Texas I bet. With the toms and cukes you will get a lot more harvest if you start them early and tomato seed has tended to wash out when I water them, if planted in raised rows, or get forced too deep in the soil to germinate properly, in lighter soils, when I direct sow. You can remedy your lack of space by making a cheap "hoop house" outside where your cats wont destroy them. I have built them out of pvc pipe and/or willow branches bent into arches, make a row of them and then drape clear plastic over the arches anchoring it with rocks or stakes at the bottom, this makes a nice little hot house where your plants can germinate well. The hoop houses are at least cheaper than trying to germinate seeds under grow lights which suck up a LOT of electricity.

I agree with the sod flip if you can manage it or there is a tool I believe is called a "ripper?" that just gouges air pockets in the soil and is less invasive/detrimental to soil life yet lets your cover crop germinate. Are you going to swale or terrace any of it? It's good to get earthworks done first if you can so you don't have to sheet mulch twice because I hate that "man, I'm an idiot" feeling when you do a job only to realize you gotta do it again. Where are you living by the way?

I know that there are many bulbs that repel grass, daffodils come to mind, and diversifying the cover crop you use to include some deep rooted plants,herbs,flowers, and such would be a good idea so all root zones are occupied by the plants you want. You could also try scrounging around the neighborhood for organic matter to get the process going, I find that people are more than willing to part with their grass clippings and yard waste if you ask. That is assuming that you live close to some other folks of course. Besides some details I think your plan looks solid and is certainly not ridiculous by any means. Cheers

Its a small world, my Dad lives in Pasco and it does get mighty windy there blowing through and around the gorge doesn't it. You say Washington and everyone thinks "big green trees and rain", So I was surprised to drive into high desert the first time I went to visit.

I agree with Hannah that you should probably keep it simple to start because you do come home with a brain raging with ideas and inspiration after any sort of pdc. You could probably start with grading that grass off and turning it upside down to rot then mulching over the top of that so as not to expose the helpful critters. Toss your cover crop seed right on top of the mulch and they will find their way into a crevice and grow then at least you will be starting the process and can design whatcha want while mama does the work for ya. best of luck

Thanks for all of the links Simon and Ludi, some really neat stuff. Some of those NYC farms looked to be a little flat, straight, and tidy for my liking, but any agriculture in the city is good agriculture right. Other places that seem to be embracing urban gardening are Chicago and Detroit, after the end of Americas industrial "golden" age a lot of land was abandoned, recolonized by nature, then turned into gardens.

I duly apologize for the state of our website as we have our hands full with the garden and are not web designers, but here is the website for our urban garden/nursery.
The pics are extremely outdated, only show the very beginning of its life and are mostly broken and can't be expanded

Spiral Gardens: Community Food Security Project

I'll get around to taking some current pics one of these days.

As mentioned above White Willow is what aspirin was synthesized from and contains salicytic acid (sp?). It works really well for short term, mild headaches, but the only catch is that it tastes like you are chewing or drinking aspirin which isn't pleasant to say the least. Giving up coffee(or other dietary stuff) would be a less bitter pill to swallow which is saying something coming from a coffee lover. My headaches have been sinus related in the past which i dont think was mentioned before as a possibility. Wish you all the best. cheers

If you have the time and the gumption I think you should do some small swales. Thy don't have to be picture perfect, deep ditch swales just a little help in trapping moisture because after all berries are naturally found near water. It would be a good idea to fill the swale with wood chips and mulch heavily as I've found berries grow better with good mulch cover also this will build some nice topsoil over time. Mr. Polk brings up a good point about trellising the black/boysen berries although raspberries are usually self supporting and need little help that way.

out of curiosity where are you located? sounds a lot like my situation here in the bay area, CA. heavy clay, marginal topsoil