Spring '21: A Start on Our Land

 

We came to start laying out cardboard to kill the grass and make our life wonderful; we'd bought a 250 foot roll of corrugated paper, and who should be interested in it but the NonGrata Trio. (Can they read the Private Property sign?) Of course we will be planting food for them, but the cardboard is ours!

At the left in the picture is the area we covered a few months ago. We put in some of our forest soil then and planted garlic and clover, and that has provided miniscule bits of green. That's ok; it is only March. The sticks on top are because we don't have a wood chipper yet, and we can't currently get a truckload down to the area. This trip we put in fava beans (broadbeans) and daikon radish--our goal at this time is to fix the soil. We'll be planting lots of beans to help turn the whitish silt into loam, and worms will feed on the daikon radish, leaving us castings. We ran out of time or we'd have covered the soil with cut weeds. Hopefully the clover will start growing fast and provide cover to protect the soil microorganisms while it works its wonders fixing nitrogen. 

We covered the garden area with the cardboard and weighed it down with bigger sticks. 

Once that was done it was a rush to beat the rain while wrapping the area with bright orange notice to the wildlife that they had to adjust their routes on the property. 

We covered three sides, as on the right it is steep hillside with thick brush and trees that the deer don't seem to come through. On the level land it will become, perhaps, a place for a row of grapes. 

We sprayed the netting 30 inches high and top and bottom with deer repellent. I hope it dried before the rain. We checked on it the next two days before leaving for home (still far away) and everything seemed as we left it. We may have success!

Over time we'll be replacing the netting with raspberries, sea buckthorn, and other plants that deer will avoid. And perhaps we'll put in a pretty gate made from sticks--see my Pinterest for ideas on that. Outside the edges of the garden we'll plant lots of goodies for the critters. They have to eat too! And we can hope it will protect the No Frolicking zone. Tip of the Day: leave a tub of water available to keep thirsty critters from eating your juicy foods.

Meanwhile, at home I've started many little plants from seed that will either go into the ground or become part of the first season of my Paradise Organic Plants Container Nursery. 

Please tell us about your permaculture efforts in the comments section below!