What do you plan to grow next year?

[Farmfresh]

I TRIED a garden 7 times last year... we had a drought, then freezing weather and bugs... Gardening is hard for me because of all of the bugs...

I am older and have walking/bending problems due to health issues...

But I want another garden...

I tried raised bed but that was a disaster not deep enough.

Its so expensive.. I was thinking of using a tiller to break the ground and planting.. What can I use to stop bugs? That is natural the pesticides do not work for me... Please advise a garden for dummies... I am terrible on gardens ( or the weather is) but oh boy ca I grow chickens!) Please help!

I too have health issues that limit my gardening to an extent. I do have "good days" and can get lots done when they occur, but I discovered LONG ago I just can not weed like normal folks can. I rely heavily on deep mulch in my garden. I start early in the season a lay a carpet of newspaper down right up to the row and right up to the seedlings, if it something like tomatoes. Then I top the paper with a good biodegradable thing like straw, grass clippings, leaves or even more newspaper just shredded this time.

As for bugs... I move my chickens into my garden space for the winter. I find this decreases the amount of bugs in my garden during the growing season significantly. All late fall, winter and early spring my hennies spend all of their time digging through the garden debris, hunting for goodies. They scratch up the dirt and hunt for goodies. They break up the straw I put into the garden in the winter as mulch ... and look for goodies. And the goodies they find are bugs and bug eggs and overwintering larva in addition to weed seeds. All of those things, plus the extra fertilizer that they add are great for the garden.

 

[dragonlaurel]

You can use cardboard boxes, flattened to smother weeds and as a path. They will break down after a while but they are usually free..

 

[bibliophile birds]

You can use cardboard boxes, flattened to smother weeds and as a path. They will break down after a while but they are usually free..

you can also use scrap carpet or linoleum. over the summer we remodeled a house on the farm and used strips of the flooring we pulled out in the paths between rows. it worked great!

 

[Farmfresh]

When I first "inherited" my big garden it was paved in carpet. The organic farmer before me simply LOVED the stuff. You are right it does work great ... for a while, but then the backing (which is usually jute) finally starts to rot and the carpet begins to come all un-raveled. (You have never had a mess until you have carpet strands wrapped around your tiller blades or hit the edge of carpet with your mower! :/ ) Plus it is hard to move the strips when they are heavy and wet. The garden also had several rows worth of old conveyor belting which has lasted much better, but since it is black it gets HOT in the sun during the summer.

No, no more carpet or other flooring for me. I like the paper, cardboard or what have you that just keeps rotting in and adding to my organic matter. Deep leaves or straw make the best mulch on top. I like wood shavings and peat moss amongst my onions and carrots as well.

 

[Beekissed]

I will be doing mostly green mulch this year. Mom and I really liked the white clover performance this past year and she was particularly impressed with how well it kept down the weeds, retained the moisture in her garden and made for mud-free walking between the rows.

 

[Farmfresh]

Yes I do Dutch Clover between the rows of my berries and around my fruit trees as well.

Clover fixes nitrogen in the soil, encourages bees and the Dutch Clover is perennial and stays nice and short. I love clover! I also like to plant red clover in my fence lines. Although you have to reseed it from time to time, it keeps down weeds as well.

 

[old fashioned]

I have a companion planting book called "Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening" by Louise Riotte copyright 1975. But also the "Carrots love Tomatoes" is a good book too (I don't have, but have borrowed from library). I've planted carrots and onions with my tomatoes with great success. Garlic is great with roses, it helps prevent black spot also tomatoes grow great with roses. Onions, garlic and marigolds are great natural bug repellents. Onions also grow well with cabbage family (cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, etc). Just don't plant onions or garlic next to peas or beans. After peas are done, plant corn in that space. Peas add nitrogen to soil that corn thrives on. Or try planting pole peas and/or beans with your corn like the Native Americans did along with squash.
Vinegar (too acidic) is a good weed killer if used in the heat of summer. Some days it works better than others so is a gamble, but is relatively inexpensive and is safe for all pets/animals. Be careful around wanted plants, it will kill most everything.
I experiment in my garden every year trying new things and end up usually doing a french intensive/companion planting type mix. Which is to say I plant alot of stuff closer together that the neighboring plants benefit each other and usually get a good harvest of all. By planting beneficial flowers like marigold and petunias (my personal favs) they attract bees and beneficial insects to my vegetables. I also have perenial herbs along the fence next to the vegetable garden. Aromatics (like herbs and flowers, even onions and garlic) attract good bugs and/or keep bad bugs away. This too is not a perfect way, but I don't usually have as many bad bugs eating my stuff before I do

My yearly usuals are...
corn
squash-pumpkin, acorn, hubbard, yellow, zucchini
blue lake pole beans
peas-edible pod and shelling
potatoes
onions
beets
carrots
tomatoes-roma type, brandywine, mortgage lifter, rutgers
peppers-bell, ceyenne, jalapeno, pepperoncini, paprika
cukes-pickle and slice
spinach
lettuce-head and romaine
radish
celery
sunflower
dill
cilantro
dry beans-navy, great northern, red kidney

Next year I plan to add globe artichokes again (I lost my starts this year from late snows/frosts) and I got some tomato seeds from Campbells Soup Co. and want to try these. It's still early so I'm sure I'll find others to add too. I'm thinking of planting in blocks next year-all toms here with carrots and onions, all corn here with beans/peas/squash etc. This last year I did that only with the corn/squash, the rest was in rows.
OH I CAN'T WAIT FOR SPRING!!!

 

[Farmfresh]

All of this companion planting reminds me of my dad's bad joke.

His father was a truck farmer, or what we now call a market gardener, by profession. So when I was talking about companion planting one day and
Dad had advice I was all ears ... for a while at least.

He very solemnly warned me to never EVER plant onions near my potatoes or the potatoes would never come up. He had me going for a while until I asked why.

His answer, "Because the onions will make the potatoes eyes water and then they can't see which way to grow!" (insert rim shot here).

 

[Javamama]

Could you let some guineas or chickens go feast over there? They'll love doing that little favor for you. Following a tiller is heaven for them too. You don't want to put them in with young plants though. That would distract them from their work.

No way. Not unless I suddenly desire swiss cheese holes in my veggies. The chickens have access to the whole garden except during the growing season and have worked it over pretty well already.
My bugs all came via the air anyway - cabbage moths were undeterrable.

It could have been weather related too. It was cool and wet most of the summer.

 

[Farmfresh]

You might need to use a row cover on certain crops, like those cabbages. Never give those moths a chance!