http://lovelivegrow.com/2009/09/gardening-options/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:34:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://lovelivegrow.com/2009/09/gardening-options/comment-page-1/#comment-709 Leah Sun, 15 Aug 2010 15:55:18 +0000 http://lovelivegrow.com/?p=437#comment-709 Hi! I'm another avid gardener, living in Washington, DC. I put together a similar date-specific planting guide a few years ago, which I've been wanting to tweak a bit. I like what you've done with yours! Regarding setting up raised beds, I had a few comments for you. I was fortunate enough to move into my parents' old home, where my mom built ample raised beds for my home gardening efforts. I'm following her example, using a modified version of square foot gardening - an intensive gardening technique that uses nutrient-rich soil and dense planting spacing to optimize yields and minimize weeds in smaller gardens (FYI if your beds are more than about 8' long it starts to become inconvenient to get around/between your beds for maintenance). It would be very expensive to set up for your garden space, but I'd think you could probably find free manure and/or leaf mulch in your area, which makes a great foundation for fortifying existing soil. From your photograph it looks like you have a lot of clay, like we do here, so adding any kind of organic matter will be a huge help. I know people who regularly collect bags of coffee grounds from coffee shops, produce waste from grocery stores, usually to add to their compost piles, though you can put the coffee grounds directly on your garden beds. You might read about "lasagna gardening" also; it's not fast, but it is easy; if you started that process in the next month or two you could probably plant in that area next spring. Happy gardening, and I'll look forward to following how things go with your homesteading enterprise! Hi! I’m another avid gardener, living in Washington, DC. I put together a similar date-specific planting guide a few years ago, which I’ve been wanting to tweak a bit. I like what you’ve done with yours! Regarding setting up raised beds, I had a few comments for you. I was fortunate enough to move into my parents’ old home, where my mom built ample raised beds for my home gardening efforts. I’m following her example, using a modified version of square foot gardening – an intensive gardening technique that uses nutrient-rich soil and dense planting spacing to optimize yields and minimize weeds in smaller gardens (FYI if your beds are more than about 8′ long it starts to become inconvenient to get around/between your beds for maintenance). It would be very expensive to set up for your garden space, but I’d think you could probably find free manure and/or leaf mulch in your area, which makes a great foundation for fortifying existing soil. From your photograph it looks like you have a lot of clay, like we do here, so adding any kind of organic matter will be a huge help. I know people who regularly collect bags of coffee grounds from coffee shops, produce waste from grocery stores, usually to add to their compost piles, though you can put the coffee grounds directly on your garden beds. You might read about “lasagna gardening” also; it’s not fast, but it is easy; if you started that process in the next month or two you could probably plant in that area next spring. Happy gardening, and I’ll look forward to following how things go with your homesteading enterprise!

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