the plan, the plot

Circles are pleasing.  Good thing, too, because I've been known to go round and round in them often enough.  I wanted to build something with circular paths and plots of plants between, and then I convinced myself that not only was this pleasing, it was a good way to have at least some of all the plants catch some of all the sun all the time.  Don't worry, that makes sense to me at least.  So here was my first paper plan:

Nope.  I'm lying.  That was my second year plan.  I have no idea what became of my first one, but that portion to the left was not included.  (Update:  I'm going to take back that bit about lying.  I do believe that is my first year plan.  This is why I have to keep records - and even then, I have problems.  Sigh.)  I expanded after the first year, because I got so ambitious.  The melons I planted in that expansion were a bust.  The next year, I tried to plant watermelons in an area outside my garden, and that was a bust as well.  There is a mimosa tree that sits in the upper left hand corner of that plot, and I think it casts too much shade for melons.  Also, I think you may need a large plot of land to get enough melons to make it worth growing them.  Who wants to do all that work for one or two measly melons?  Not me.  But I could be wrong.  At any rate, after two bust years, I decided I just am not a melon grower.

Every year, I rotate plots so I'm not growing the same plants in the same area, according to good IPM standards, but honestly, in a garden of this design, where I really pack in the plants densely, I'm not sure that it makes that much difference.

So, here's my plan for 2017.  You may notice that I've cut down the number of variety of plants.  That's because:  I don't like to work that hard.  So, I've been finding the types and varieties I like best and limiting my plantings.  There's a grocery store ten or twelve miles from here.  I'm not killing myself to grow food.

For my records, I'm using the free open source version of Microsoft's office package: OpenOffice.  They've been around for a very long time and have built a suite of programs that not only compare very well, but they can be read by and can read Office files.  And free. Entirely.  No ads.  Hooray for open source!

To prepare the plots, a neighbor who does construction work stripped off the sod from a plot of ground that had never been in anything but grass.  He made a huge mountain - okay, not exactly, but a huge mound from it, which I have been using for a compost pile, digging holes to bury kitchen scraps and tossing on the remains of my plants in the fall, and any plant material I pull up during the season that doesn't have any disease.  I don't turn the pile - that would be a monumental undertaking, but as I circle around with the garbage holes, by the time I make full circle, it's been nicely composted, and this provides some soil replacement for the plots.  To prepare the original beds, I got some composted manure from another neighbor (good neighbors are good to have) - my Chevy S10 pickup load - and worked it into the ground.  Now that was a lot of work.  So much so, that when I wanted to expand the size of the garden, I just shovel dug the sod off top and planted right into it.  Hey, it will build up nicely in a few years.  I don't till.  I plant, grow, pull out, throw down some compost if it looks like it could use some, and plant again.  And I plant densely - denser than square foot gardening even.  It works just fine.

I also don't use any pesticides.  What insects I can't pick off get to eat.  What weeds I don't pull up get to live.  I don't have much trouble with either.  Larger critters have the run of the place.  There are a few bunnies, but they seem to prefer the clover that's growing all over the yard.  There are raccoons, but they prefer the treasure trove of bird seed in the feeders up by the house - and the cat food.  The ones that annoy me to cursing are the moles.  I know there's no point wasting time and money trying to do anything about them, so I just go around stomping down what they rut up.  I have it in my mind that within a few years, there won't be anything exciting for them in the garden and they'll stay in the acres and acres of ground around that has lots of grubs.  And this is what I yell at them while I'm stomping down their runs:  "There are acres and acres of good grubs for you out in the yard - get out of my garden!"  They don't hear well.

Okay, truth?  I did till in the composted manure, using a big-ass tiller with low tire pressure I borrowed from the same neighbor who gave me the compost.  He showed me how to use it and left.  I could barely turn the thing, and I had a system worked out so that I could cross the plot, turn the thing around and cross back.  Just as I was making my last pass, I hit a rock that was buried under the surface, which jerked the darn thing, causing me to lose my grip with one hand and bump the throttle up to high speed.  The machine and I tore across about six feet of lawn and crashed into a metal-clad building.  I had a heck of a time getting it shut down and backed away.  It was kind of caught on a pole that was holding up an aerial.

When I told the neighbor he could come and get his machine, which hadn't been damaged - it was way too tough for that - but did get a little white striping from the building siding - and told him what had happened, he laughed.  Well, sure.  "You told me you weren't concerned with saving any money by having a garden, but by the time you add in emergency room costs and building repairs, this is going to be an expensive undertaking indeed."

I wanted my paths to be semi-permanent only, because I know myself very well, and I expect I will want to change them at some point.  (Although, that would be a lot of work.)  After I laid out the plot, my sister helped me put down hardwood mulch.  I think it took about 12 big bags for just the one east end, but it looked really pretty.

The mulch does break down rather quickly in this warm, humid climate, so I wasn't going to be able to justify buying nice mulch every year.  The Missouri highway tree trimmers happened to be going by that first fall, so I asked for them to dump their shredded/chipped trimmings in an out-of-the-way place, and I've been using that to mulch my paths.  It's not as good, and it breaks down faster, but it's free.

I have a water hydrant within fifteen feet or so of the corner of the plot, so with a long length of pocket hose, I can water during dry spells.  I use grass clippings from the yard mowing to mulch the plant plots.  The only problem with that is the yard is weedy, so I'm probably planting as many weeds as I am suppressing, but I still get the benefit of moisture retention (which I don't need this year).  Mostly this year, it delineates my paths, because I did not replenish them last fall, or this spring, and so the mulch is about gone.  Also, there's a huge wildflower garden, about three times the size of my garden, right up against it that has to be kept from encroaching.

I start my own seedlings of several crops in the cellar where I have a little set up using shop lights, and I collect seed from some of my crops if I like them and it's easy.  

This isn't supposed to be work.  I'm retired.

The beast 

(and that's the sod pile where I compost kitchen scraps & stuff in the background)

Have a look at this wonderful documentary about Ruth Stout, a woman after my own heart, and see how you feel about her gardening techniques.  You may be surprised.  You'll definitely be entertained.