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Post by MountainRose Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:46 am

Does anyone out there have any ideas about starting a garden in a small backyard? We only have .25 acre and it is not laid out well! We live in NC so we have red clay soil. Do we have any choice but to use raised beds? When is the best time to start?

Thanks in advance for any replies!
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Post by 12acrehome Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:20 am

Well, raised beds are the quickest and easiest to start, but tilling the clay will eventually get it into good shape with composting and mulching. A raised bed does not always need walls built, but structure of some kind will make it easier to maintain, and make it look better
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Post by Sonshine Fri Feb 24, 2012 6:46 am

I never had much luck with raised beds, but it's probably because I'm so use to row gardening. Here in Georgia we have a lot of clay too. There's a lot you can grow in clay type soils, but the more you ammend it the better the crops. I've raised okra, tomatoe, cucumber, peppers, squash,potatoes and various beans and peas in clay. We've finally worked in enough compost and fertilizer the past few years that we're starting to have some success with corn. We haven't had much luck with root vegetables in the clay and are hoping this year we finally have a decent root vegetable crop.

As for a small amount of land, one thing I do is edible landscaping. There's so many plants that produce food and are nice looking that they'll work in flower beds.

Here's a link from a family that homesteads on a small lot of land:

http://urbanhomestead.org/
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Post by 12acrehome Sat Feb 25, 2012 10:13 am

Sorry for the generic answer above (mine) but my phone will not allow me to post links, and I was not near my collection of books.

I have this book, and even though we are sitting on a 12 acre plot of land, most of it is woodland, all of it is hillside, and rough ground in general, I am using alot of what is recommended in it.

http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Farming-Self-Sufficiency-Brett-Markham/dp/1602399840/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330135673&sr=1-1

In my not very humble opinion Neutral it is one of the best books on the subject of small area gardening.
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Post by Sonshine Sat Feb 25, 2012 12:01 pm

Thanks for the link on the book. I'm going to have Joe check it out. I love getting books on homesteading and the old timey skills.
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Post by 12acrehome Sat Feb 25, 2012 12:08 pm

That one is more modern, but I have been thinking of sharing a list of books in my library (eclectic collection of books gathered in my gun room) I have copies of books dating from the 1930's
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Post by Sonshine Sat Feb 25, 2012 12:11 pm

WOW! I don't have a very big collection yet of homesteading oriented books, but am constantly adding to it. My favorite part of my collection are my Fox Fire books. I find them very entertaining as well as educational. Right now I'm reading a book on homesteading in the suburbs. Not sure I agree with all the author suggests, but it's still an interesting read.
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Post by 12acrehome Sun Feb 26, 2012 12:23 am

would that be intensive gardening practices to sell veggies at market??

One book I bought actually had an entire chapter on growing and selling mushrooms to the gourmet chefs at the resturants that are within walking distance. Hmm, is 18 miles walking distance, the chef is they guy asking about the fries right?? We and most people I know do not live anywhere even kinda close to a resturant.
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Post by Sonshine Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:07 am

The Fox Fire books started out as a school project. The teacher took kids to the mountain people in the Carolina's and interveiwed them on how things were in the old days. The books themselves were written in the late 60's and early 70's. They cover everything from hunting to gardening, to cabin building, ect. Just about any old timey crafts that are being lost to us today.
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Post by 12acrehome Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:30 am

...making black powder, simple gun repairs, making and sharpening knives...

13 books if I remember in the original set, and many more written as addendums to the original series. Dad has several, somewhere. I hope to get my hands on them one day Smile

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Post by Sonshine Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:32 am

Joe's been buying them for me as gifts. This past Christmas I got 3 of them to add to my collection. I love them!
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Post by MountainRose Sun Feb 26, 2012 10:43 am

Very Happy @12acrehome ~ LOL! Thank you for your "not very humble" opinion! I will definitely be checking that out.

You are blessed to have a wooded lot. I love the "woods". It makes me so sad to see "progress" take out so many trees. It seems that any construction that happens they just take them all out without trying to save any.

@Sonshine ~ That is a really great idea! I have always commented on the beauty of the different edible plants that are I see in landscaping, I just never thought of doing it in my own yard!
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Post by Sonshine Sun Feb 26, 2012 11:29 am

MountainRose, we started doing some edible landscaping in our front yard. A few years ago we put in an herb garden, complete with a water fountain and some stepping stones. I'm hoping to enlarge it this year. Then last year we planted blueberry bushes in front of the house as shrubs. They look great! We also have our fruit trees in the front yard. I got the idea from looking at pictures of the old English cottage gardens. I always thought they were gorgeous and they were made up of herbs, but there's things other than your typical herbs you can grow in them too.
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Post by PATRICE IN IL Mon Feb 27, 2012 4:52 am

I'm quickly running out of gardening space in the back yard and am planning what to plant in the front this year. I like the idea of the herb garden in the front yard Sonshine. I may have to tinker with that idea for a bit, I've been doing my herbs in containers so far. My main concern is keeping my DH from mowing everything down like he does.
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Post by Sonshine Mon Feb 27, 2012 4:58 am

Patrice, we actually did ours like a flower bed with a border around it. That way they weren't accidently mowed down. Now they are big enough that that wouldn't be a concern. Smile
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Post by Sonshine Mon Feb 27, 2012 5:00 am

Thought I would add another suggestion for the front yard. If you can make a trellis then you could raise any vegetables that have vines on trellises in the front yard. I think sweet peas would be pretty. Another thing that would look nice in the front yard would be cayenne peppers.
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Post by PATRICE IN IL Mon Feb 27, 2012 5:45 am

I have to sit down with the garden catalog and see what will grow well in a mostly shaded spot. It does get sunlight, but my house faces North and I have a spot that is about 8-10' deep of shadow, from the house in front of my picture window, to where I'd be planting. I made a slightly raised bed there a few years ago and planted wildflowers in there, but last year it was mostly weeds growing in it.
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Post by 12acrehome Mon Feb 27, 2012 8:32 am

constant shade? or filtered sunlight, or gets sunshine for 4 or 6 hours of sunshine daily?? makes a huge difference in what might grow well. Look at lettuces, cabbage types, maybe cauliflower.

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Post by kfander Mon Feb 27, 2012 1:12 pm

My house sits on just under a half an acre, much of it take up by the house itself. The town that I lived in was built to support a large paper mill operation, so if I dig down anywhere in my yard, I hit coal ash about six to eight inches down. Growing potatoes directly in the yard, then, was out of the question. I have had very good luck, however, growing potatoes in compost bags. I place the bags on a wheeled platform that I built, so that I can move it around to get the best sun from time to time, and it has worked very well. In fact, at harvest time, I can cut a small hole into the bottom of the bag and harvest the potatoes as I need them from the bottom.

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Post by PATRICE IN IL Tue Feb 28, 2012 9:45 am

12acrehome it is varied by the length of the day, if that makes sense. During the height of summer it gets sun when it is directly overhead through the late afternoon. My neighbor's house (East of me) casts a shadow in the morning and the other neighbor's large pine tree (West of me) casts a shadow in the later afternoon.
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Post by 12acrehome Wed Feb 29, 2012 2:23 am

Patrice,

This link should give you a good start. Check the variety that you want to grow to be sure, I would say a minimum of 4 hours of sunshine would be the base requirement for most vegetables.

http://organicgardening.about.com/od/vegetablesherbs/a/shadeveggies.htm
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Post by Sonshine Wed Feb 29, 2012 8:36 am

kfander wrote:My house sits on just under a half an acre, much of it take up by the house itself. The town that I lived in was built to support a large paper mill operation, so if I dig down anywhere in my yard, I hit coal ash about six to eight inches down. Growing potatoes directly in the yard, then, was out of the question. I have had very good luck, however, growing potatoes in compost bags. I place the bags on a wheeled platform that I built, so that I can move it around to get the best sun from time to time, and it has worked very well. In fact, at harvest time, I can cut a small hole into the bottom of the bag and harvest the potatoes as I need them from the bottom.
We might have to try these bags if we don't have any luck with our potatoes this year. We have a lot of clay, but it's getting better since we've been working the soil.
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