Location - Planning the garden

The site for our new garden. To the left is the pump house and pond, to the right, the building is the greenhouse (now with PV Panels on top).

Our Garden for 2008 had some Chives, cilantro, chocolate mint, and tomatoes and basil and a few peppers. Not quite as productive as we would have liked, but it gave time to do other things. This was the year of experiments. Chicken run created in the potatoes and squash. They picked bugs but they also ate the plants. Irrigation was installed this year in several areas, with drip for most everything except a few special plants (they have sprayers) that we have for future shade.

We had this type of set up for a bit over the potato plants. Instead of plastic, we had cheese cloth for part of the year. This was set with irrigation from the Chicken Coop. Unfortunately, the chickens jumped the fence, knocked down the cheese cloth and ate the plants. We got few potatoes, though we did serve them to Deb and Dad and Pam when they all visited.

Since it is just about the holiday (December, 2008) and I am down with a knee problem, I figure I'll do some planning. I have read that it is time to plan your garden for the next year. We have had some interesting experiences this year. We were gone once to sell the Oak Park house after we returned from our trip to Scotland to see Kate, Jim and Aine with Liv and CJ. Another 10 days was spent driving out to the coast to see Nate in San Francisco. Knowing that we want to be gone at times, we will be planning some irrigation that will be on timers. That was a success of last summer, mastering the timing of water so we were not wasting in the Xeriscape and lacking in the herbs took a few weeks and needed adjusting as seasons changed. I’m hoping to expand some of the things we grow, now that we have found the permanent spot for the irrigated garden next to the greenhouse (will use that too). This is a pretty sheltered area that you see when looking down from the pond. It’s held piles of--well “things”, a collection spot for the past couple of years. We made a bit of an effort to use the materials. For example the metal bottom to the greenhouse is made from recycled corrugated aluminum we had piled there, and from other junk piles. The final piece came from neighbors David and Susan. That action, along with cutting down some mesquite, really opened up the area we can now use for the garden. We have an idea of raising the soil depth of and leveling the area a bit. We were doing the garage floor as a project and needed to make a deeper hole for the cement, so that soil is being removed and is transferred to level the garden area a bit. Now we will have a nice small patch of land which is easy to irrigate and things can happen within reach of the greenhouse.

Another problem to solve was one I experienced last year with the Earth Box. http://www.earthbox.com/ The fact that the tomatoes growing in the Earth Box were out in the full sun caused the leaves to burn and the fruit was damaged. The Earth Box is a pretty great way to maintain water to the roots of thirsty plants. This was set with an automatic watering (with the overflow from the bottom chamber) and the wicking from below the roots. It seemed to work well when we brought it into the court yard, a place with a bit more shade on the hot afternoons. Solution? We need shade to protect the plants.

The greenhouse will serve a bit for shade. I have also an idea from some literature that we got mailed from Dad in a Southwest Senior dated July 2008 (see dad, we do read and use that material). The article’s author is Dee Davis, a Master Gardener who lives in Las Cruces. She talks about the withering summer heat in NM, and how her garden benefits from heavy pine needle mulching (we have that) and a shade cloth (we’ll build this on our structure).

Temperatures can get up to 104° F (40° C) in her garden. I’m pretty sure we have seen higher temperatures under the full sun this summer. The article shows a picture of a garden under a shade cloth. It's a shade cloth held up by 2 x 2s into the ground. We hope to use some of the felled trunks trees limbs and to make the posts and cross pieces. A shade cloth is an easy find, we’ll have to see what we have in the line of a heavy and strong one but not too expensive. Then around the side, this picture shows plastic about to hip level with the upper area from about 3-6 feet as open. It’s a way to keep the wind down to protect the early spring plants. The winds have been known to cause damage to our spring tree flowers and cut down on fruiting, so I suppose this is the same theory. We used some plastic on the side of the greenhouse for this winter. We’ll re-purpose that to make the sides. Should also double as a barrier to keep out some of the early morning nibblers.

The one side is to be the tree posts with the other side attaching to the ends of the greenhouse roof where there are purloins coming out. We want to also think about running this shade cloth across the poles on the top. Perhaps weaving it through the cross poles? I’m not sure. The wind can get pretty bad, so I’d want to take it down in the winter. Maybe the shade cloth could be allowed to go up to the cross pieces and down all the way to the plastic level or off completely? Keeping it out of the winter wind would have to increase the life of the shade cloth.

I have read a few articles about the setup of the soil, too. I'll test the soil here and in the field as I get some testing done. My previous gardens in Chicago and Northwest Indiana, had good deep sandy/loam soil. We have excellent soils for the New Mexico region, we think they have been farming Las Palomas Canyon for 1000's of years. There are considerable rocks and lots of weed seeds in the soil mix.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2008-06-01/No-Dig-Garden-Beds.aspx suggested making a garden in a bag. They suggest punch holes in the bottom sides of the bags of soil (40-60 lb bags?) for drainage before placing them on the ground, cut open the top of the bags. Plant directly into the soil. Mulch upwards to protect the ground, the pine needles can be used here.
Source: http://www.motherearthnews.com/

Weeds are a big problem so I’m thinking of laying down the cardboard from our Photovoltaic (PV) panels that we have left over. This along with the bag of soil can act as a strong weed barrier. All that would remain is the irrigation and timer.

Off to plan the seeds and layout.