Okay, everybody has there own ideas, and I'd like to hear them, here's the setup:
SE WI
Growing Category 5
About 3degree slope, South to North
Faces North
Full Sun
Mainly Clay, but grass clippings will get added and tilled weekly, until congested with grown veggie plants.
100 feet by 100 feet, fenced with 6'x2"x4" wire.
Water source is well water a little high in iron.
Ph-??

This is the first year I'm gardening here, the usage history is:
2004,2005 light weeds, sparse grass, mowed.
2003, corn by neighbor, weed control=roundup.
2000-2002 weeds
many years-1999 soy/corn rotation.

This stuff gets so hard after the sun has been on it that I could make bricks with a little straw, no kidding, some fell out of a light duty fence stake and it baked for a day, about 3/4"diameter, it was all I could do to break it in half.

Feel free to suggest soil ammending comments, my occupation pays me in hugs/kisses, not dollars/cents so cheap/free is good, that this will take time is understood.

Food for thought; family of four, goal is to eat fresh and fresh frozen/canned/pickled year round.

If I missed any needed info, please let me know.

Thanks.

Did you mention compost Weezie?

For an area that size, and being low in organic matter, i'd concentrate on a very small area first, just to get the feel of the soil. Add lots of organic matter to this small area and build it up to good soil, rather than using the stuff on the whole area and it not being enough. Start small, gain knowledge and increase the area as you are able.

Use all your grass clippings to start a compost system, along with anything else you can come up with and use this on the small area as it becomes available. No need to spend any money on a compost system. Nature has composted for eons, we just try and emulate the conditions and it doesn't take any state of the art equipment, just a basic understanding.
(Though a strong back is a good start.)

For the remaining area, i'd strongly recommend a green manure crop. Say woolly pod vetch or similar with a grass type crop like oats mixed in. These are cool season crops, there are plenty for the hot months too if you want to start immediately.

The oats will give the vetch support and as oats have a deep root system, they will pull nutrient up from deep in the soil.

The vetch is a legume and will deposit nitrogen in the soil for free. You would do best to innoculate the vetch. Your supplier will explain how, it basically gaurantees the legume will put nitrogen into the soil. Anyway, i digress.

When the vetch is just about to flower, slash it down and rototill the lot back into the soil.
You will possibly need to apply dolomite or lime to your soil to grow legumes successfully. By all means invest in a Ph test kit. Very cheap and simple to use and they last for many years. I've found the liquid and powder types the most reliable.

Use green manure crops on any part of any garden which is idle and it will improve that garden.
If you're interested in this method of soil enrichment, there is plenty of info available.

So, you're so far looking at a few pounds of seed, a 50 lb bag of dolomite and a Ph test kit to make incredible improvements to your soil. That's less than $50. Bargain.

Have fun.

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The secret is the soil.

Did someone mention COMPOST yet?
Are you in a town with a trash dump? Or is there curbside pick up? Do people bag their leaves and garden waste?? Go around the neighborhood taking all the bags of FREE compost and make your own BIG pile of it. Our dumps have compost piles where homeowners can dump 'yard waste' FREE for the taking.If there are any horse or cow owners around they're usually happy for you to take their 'barn waste', FREE.
I have zone 5 CLAY soil too. Lots and lots of compost. I have done lasagna gardening too. The compost is your first layer the soil is your second (on top) that you plant in.
Read in Frugal Gardening. Lots of inexpensive ideas there.

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Summer Camp '07, July 14th weekend, won't you join us?
summer camp thread 1, 2, 3,4

What's a "plat" ?

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Longy,
Not from your post it was above yours.
ranger

I understand the clay issue, and I might have some ideas for you. First, soil ammend with compost. Or better yet, vermicompost (compost made by worms) and if you have kids

quote:

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my occupation pays me in hugs/kisses, not dollars/cents so cheap/free is good

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then they will enjoy helping with the vermicompost and learn a bit too. Of course, what ever compost you use, be sure to till it into the soil.

You said that you were tilling grass clippings into the soil, that's good. But some other things that you could till in would be coffee grounds, tea grounds, egg shells, vegetable peelings, leaves, dead plants, and shredded paper. (the same stuff you use to compost with) Why? Well, the coffee grounds will add nitrogen to the soil, as will the tea, the egg shells add calcium to the soil, and the paper will biodegrade and add to your soil eventually...but in the meantime it works well to help hold water into the soil.

As for plants...decide which fruits/veggies your family uses the most. These would be what I would consider to be the best pay off because you would be saving money at the grocery store. Some basic plants, and please check your zone to be sure these will grow (this is what we usually grow, but this year is an exception) is corn, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, squash, cucumbers, turnips, collards, peas, beans, carrots, watermellon, cantaloupe, and strawberries. When my FIL was using 1/4 acre of my property to grow veggies he had "sections" in his garden. To understand what I mean, picture your gardening space divided into 4,8, etc. sections depending on what fuits/veggies you want to grow. Now, plan for "paths" down the middle of the the garden space, and across between sections. In other words, when you draw out your space, where your lines are is where your paths will be. I would cover the "paths" with the gardening plastic that is used between rows of plants. This will help to hold moisture in that soil so that it doesn't keep pulling the moisture away from your sections with your plants. Now, start your plants in flats, I use egg cartons for mine (free, recycling, works). Once your plants are growing well, transplant them to the appropriate section in your garden. Once all plants are in, mulch it! Why? You need to hold moisture in your soil and the soil needs ammending which will take time. The mulch will break down and help your soil eventually. Of course, next year the mulch would need to be replaced, so what you do then is remove all your plastic, chop down any "dead plants" that died out over fall/winter. And till away thus tilling all this stuff into your soil along with new compost. Start again, only this time rotate your crops by plating them in diffrent sections than you did the previous year. Continue in this manner. Within a couple of years your soil should be MUCH better, as it will be improving each year. I hope this makes some sense and can help in some way.

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Can you resize the pic?

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Dave
Even my growlights are getting restless!

Peppereater- I will try, using imageshack and it doesn't seem to give me the option.

Did someone mention COMPOST yet? Ok first I want to say I have a 50'x50' fenced garden area, I am blessed with good soil and very few rocks of any size. I also have well water and use an impact sprinkler...placed above the plants which works very well. I did see something about what you plan for rows 16-18 cucumbers and melons, Even though I am growing these both in rows side by side and I am growing my cukes up on a wire fence in the middle of the garden. I have some concerns about doing this, And I did this last year in a different area of the garden. All those vines going every which way on the ground...Makes it so much fun to harvest that area and forget being able to walk down a row or even in a straight line....Major jungle Ok enough

Did someone mention COMPOST yet?

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Green manure is an excellent idea. You have room to let some lie fallow. (I wish I did. In fact I was drooling over this topic heading! I grew up on a vegetable farm with 200 acres to choose from.)
About the compost: check the local area for a compost facility for residents. Also check for free manure from farms (you can try stables too, they are usually nice). And then after you get some and till it in have some buckets reserved to put into each hole the seedlings will go in. This puts the best nutrients right where they are most needed.
My friend always makes me design her garden for her and then come over and lay out the areas. The things to remember for laying out veggies are: most importantly, keep legumes and onions separate. Plant peas and carrots together. Keep all the similar families as apart as you can. Put perennials on the edges where they can remain. So I don't like where you put the grapes or asparagus. Also I would put the things that get bugs more often in the middle (like potatoes). And edge everything in flowers that repel bugs and put onions on the edge too to prevent critters. And cucs can grow up sunflowers. they like that.
But there is always next year!!!

The rest of my ideas tend to be because my space has always been limited. Like to think about putting things that finish early by things that will sprawl into that area later. And to put tall things on the south side of stuff that likes shade. And well I am a cottage/potager gardener and so I don't like rows very much anyway.

Oh and aren't you going to grow herbs? If you came to MN I could give you chives and oregano.

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Pictures of compost? and garden may be viewed at www.msnusers.com/woodchuckers just click on PICTURES on the left menu then on the small picture for larger. This will have to do until I figure out the Imageshack program.

I had a little handbook some years ago that talked about companion planting. I remember the big one is peas and onions do not get along, but peas and carrots go together like peas and carrots! Then beyond that keeping the same families apart confuses bugs and discourages disease. Also putting things like lettuce in the shade of things like corn is a smart thing to do.

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One book I have says to put cucumbers near grapes if you can, because the cucumber beetles love grape leaves even more than cucumbers, but they don't hurt the grape plants as much.

I don't know much about WI, but if zucchini grows up there like it does in FL, you guys better batten down the hatches. My daily planner says there is actually a day called "Sneak-some-zucchini-on-your-neighbor's-porch-day", so if you get too many, maybe you could do that!

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Real women don't have hot flashes -- we have power surges!

HI Woodchuck,
How's your garden coming along? Have you gotten everything into the ground yet?

Hope you'll post an update on occasion!


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Real women don't have hot flashes -- we have power surges!

Woodchuck...You garden looks alot like mine, except yours is alot cleaner And that is some compost pile!!!!!!!

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Ha! Ha! Woodchuck! I'm not a rapper, but when I reread my post it does come out that way.

About the weeding - That is my natural tranquillizer. When I'm stressed or just want to be alone, I go outside and pull weeds - even in my grass. The neighbors think I'm nuts because I sit for hours and pull weeds in the grass.

I can't wait for your pics. I have to learn to do that too. I'm borrowing a camera tonight, so I can learn, and I'm buying a digital this weekend. I can't wait! However, I'm not very patient when it comes to new computer procedures, so I'll probably pull most of my hair out trying to figure out how to post a pic.

Maybe I should buy a wig first

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Stormy