So, as I promised, here are some pictures of the garden and ongoing activities. Things are progressing nicely. I think this might be the most I’ve gotten done this early. It helps having two people. Marion loves to be in the dirt, that’s the real reason thing are going as well as they have been. I’ve already mentioned what we have growing in the garden on the previous post. You can see that now.
Here is some of the lettuce; this seems to be doing the best of the lettuces thus far. We planted it a couple of weeks ago. I believe this is the Lolla Rossa. I like the color too. From this picture you can also see the middle of the row covered in newspaper and leaves. This will create permanent walk paths. The newspaper and leaves keep weeds and grass from growing and also works as a water conservation practice. By keeping it covered, not only does it limit the competition for water by suppressing the weeds but it slows down the rate of evaporation from the soil. Here in Alabama, our soils are quite clayey. This is a good and bad thing. Clay is good about holding moisture; in fact it’s too good at it. Clay consists of very tiny particles that stick together really well. This gives it a very high surface area and can hold water for a while. This is usually a bad thing because it also restricts oxygen flow. And once it dries out it’s basically brick, also not complementary to plant growth. All this to say, it’s not the best soil; but it could be worse. From the picture you can see it’s not totally red, so there is some organic matter as well.
Here is a better picture of the garden thus far. You can see the chicken tractor in the distance, but we’ll talk about that later. Let’s talk about the garden more. With permanent walkways, you can see we have also created permanent beds. This is again a practice to increase the health of the soil. By doing this we can plant in these beds as long as possible, and each year they simply increase in organic matter. Organic matter is the chief indicator of the health of the soil. It is perfect for holding water. Another problem with clay, while I think about it, is its capacity of holding on to the water. It holds on so tight that the plants themselves have a hard time extracting the water. This is called the wilting point. The clay is so tightly held together that the pressure (capillary pressure) is stronger than the plants ability to absorb water. Organic matter is not dense, and is full of healthy nutrients for your plants. So, this is the reason for our permanent beds. By having permanent beds, we can also scrap the tiller. Tilling the soil does some good by aerating the soil, however many of the micronutrients and earthworms and such are disturbed. Tilling also creates a boundary below the disturbed part that can be very hard and limit root penetration. Again, permanent beds will facilitate more organic matter allowing for much healthier soil without these problems.
If you look to the far upper right of the picture above you can see some carrots growing. Marion planted those last year and they are doing great. The only problem is that they are not very orange. They are quite pale. This must be a nutrient problem or maybe too much water. I guess we’ll wait and see what happens when they mature. Next picture.
This is how we are going to add organic material to the soil. Composting! We will see how well we can keep it going. The organisms that convert the complex nutrients in the plants and leaves and other things need the right environment. The leave pile is the food stock. They are full of carbon that will supply the energy. By keeping it watered and aerated this bins should heat up above 100 degrees. Worked just right we can recycle these things every 5-6weeks. It will probably take longer though.
Here are a few other pictures.
More lettuce starting up.
More compost bins.
Here is another picture showcasing the beds.
That’s about it for now. Things are still going good, and if everything works out right we’ll have chickens this weekend. Also I’ll get the chicken tractor pictures up soon so you can see that. I hope I didn’t rant too much.
Peace
