# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Gardening >  New Garden

## Chris

My garden is just about done. I need to till the new soil in with the old forest soil still, but it has been too wet. the side paddock will be for chickens in the future, and I have a connecting door so I can let them into the garden seasonally or supervised to help turn the soil, eat bugs and weeds, and of course fertilize. 

In total over 5000 sq/ft of garden and over 1000 sq/ft of chicken run. 

I a couple weeks I'm having some plants delivered and will be planting asparagus, strawberries, and blueberries in the garden. I normally don't like putting perennial crops in with annual ones but with deer pressure I don't have another location right now. I'll also be planting some mulberries in the chicken run to provide mast. 

I may end up having to cut some more trees if there isn't enough sun, but I'm almost to my property line as-is and this is the only flatish piece of ground on my property. 


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## Rick

That's a pretty sweet garden. Plenty of vertical fence for climbers like beans. Me likey.

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## hunter63

Wow, I'm impressed.....That is nice....
Lie the big gates for the tiller and such.

Sadly mine is just back to grass right now....maybe be getting back into it.

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## canid

Nice plot. I hope the exposure is good but you always have options for poor sun areas. There are several herbs and a few greens I can't grow in the shadiest part of my bit of dirt for much of the year.

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## Solar Geek

Love it Chris.  I have a similar set up only I put all 7500 ft.² into the garden area. Makes me wonder if I should put up a  divider. Then open it and make part of it for chickens when we start to grow them. They could scratch  up the beds and deposit their sweet compost piles  and I would be at to switch them from year-to-year if I made the fence movable. Great set up.

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## Rick

You...uh....you do know that chickens and sweet compost piles should never be used in the same sentence, right? It's like a law or something.

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## Solar Geek

I do actually. I was  wondering if anybody was paying attention and indeed you were.

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## Winnie

Cor! That's a fantastic garden in the rough, Chris My new allotment is just slightly smaller, but I do envy your fence.

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## Chris

> Love it Chris.  I have a similar set up only I put all 7500 ft.² into the garden area. Makes me wonder if I should put up a  divider. Then open it and make part of it for chickens when we start to grow them. They could scratch  up the beds and deposit their sweet compost piles  and I would be at to switch them from year-to-year if I made the fence movable. Great set up.


Not a bad idea, a movable 8 foot deer fence like I have wouldn't be easy, but a movable chicken fence is a piece of cake. You can even just use cheap plastic netting. Then yes, switching chicken sides every year seems pretty genius. 

In my case the chicken end is the shadiest end, so that will always been a permanent run, but I do hope to put in some other connected runs and others elsewhere I could transport the chickens too. For instance I have this one, cleared, but very steep slope (greater than 45 degrees). I might trellis in some grape there - but how will I keep weeds down and mow? It will have to be chickens or goats or sheep or something. I'm lazy like that, I'm just thinking of ways to make animals work for me, meat and or eggs are a byproduct.

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## crashdive123

Awesome.  My garden consists of a few plastic containers, so needless to say.....jealousy abounds.

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## Solar Geek

> Not a bad idea, a movable 8 foot deer fence like I have wouldn't be easy, but a movable chicken fence is a piece of cake. You can even just use cheap plastic netting. Then yes, switching chicken sides every year seems pretty genius. 
> 
> In my case the chicken end is the shadiest end, so that will always been a permanent run, but I do hope to put in some other connected runs and others elsewhere I could transport the chickens too. For instance I have this one, cleared, but very steep slope (greater than 45 degrees). I might trellis in some grape there - but how will I keep weeds down and mow? It will have to be chickens or goats or sheep or something. I'm lazy like that, I'm just thinking of ways to make animals work for me, meat and or eggs are a byproduct.


Ok, taking your thought further. Our garden is 150'+ x 50' at most parts (not a straight line garden). We have coated chain link fence 6' high. But due to Mother Earth News great article on gardening in WI, we  had the installers put 4' of chicken wire on - 2 feet folded and underground to prevent most diggers, and 2' high to prevent most lazy climbers. Haven't had any real incursions except when I LET IN a wood chuck by accident (got him out!)

So, I could not only separate north from south, but I could add little runs east to west also where the garden needed "chicken tilling" and compost deposits. I was thinking it was split in in 1/2 but boy, I could really work with this concept.

Thanks again for the picture. You really helped us and made us think. I just never thought of pasturing the chickens in the garden during the gardening season even on the fallow areas until I saw your picture.

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## hunter63

Do you recall that article?......Just curious.

But that is an ideal set up with the buried fencing......Congrats!

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## nell67

Love the size of your garden plot. We had some leveling done to our property last summer, some new top soil (actually the guy had dug out his pond and had excess soil to get rid of) so hoping to till up a bigger garden spot this year. Will be guarding the tomatoes with gun in hand this year. We never got to can the first tomato last year because of the SQUIRRELS, and I was blaming the rabbits. Even started picking the fruit when began to ripen and set them up on the porch railing to finish ripening, only to walk out on the porch and see tomato peelings laying on the porch. The darn squirrels PEEL the tomato before eating them.

We did however eat a couple of squirrels, but not enough to save the tomatoes. gonna make sure to have plenty of room in the freezer for squirrels this summer.

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## Allison Taylor

It will be perfect. Looks really nice. I like that you've left some space for the chicken.

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## LowKey

Goats will eat everything they can see, including your grape vines. Sheep might leave em be. Chickens too. Have you considered runner ducks or geese?

You might want to think real hard about putting strawberries anywhere you will be planting tomatoes. They share diseases, with the tomatoes not being as hardy as the strawberries about it.

Blueberries can be a chore too. They like a really acid soil while most garden plants tend to like a more neutral soil. If you're going to keep blueberries in the garden, keep them along the edge, dig out the soil about 1' down, put in a boarded bed, then replace half the soil with a peat moss or an acidic compost like shredded oak leaves and pine needles. You'll have to side dress them at least twice a year with some sort of soil acidifier. There are organic ones out there. I use blood meal on mine, with a fish emulsion in the spring before flower break and again on fruit set. Same for the cranberries I grow.

Guessing you know to keep the brambles out of there. They'll run all over - and even faster in tilled soil.

Mulberries are bird magnets. Usually planted well away as a trap crop to keep the birds away from the fruits and veggies you want them to stay away from. Just sayin...

Nice looking fence. I'm jealous.

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## 1stimestar

Super sweet garden spot.  Can't wait to see what it looks like with a garden and chickens.

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## Ryoji

That's cool. I would like to have such a plot of land at my disposal.

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## DoorsOfGuf

I've been dreaming about this piece of land all my life. It's just that I've lived in an apartment for ten years, and to be honest, I'm already tired of the city. 

But rather than plan a garden or owning a piece of land I figured that I would sneak back in and spam the forum.

I failed.  I am an idiot.

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## Rick

What part of the world are you in?

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## crashdive123

Spammers never learn.  Bye bye DoorsOfGuf.

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## Adamgeorge

Great thread. Thanks for sharing this helpful gardening information. I just love the way of your explaining tips that you have shared these are truly good ideas for me to post some spam here.

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## Gabrasi

> I do actually. I was  wondering if anybody was paying attention and indeed you were.


Hi, Can you suggest to me what type of fertilizers, I can use for my lawn garden? I read about some of the fertilizers and it seems as though Spam is a good one.

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## henry92

That's wonderful :Smile:  Here are a few shots of my new garden, and a couple of my older gardens. As you can see there's not a lot in them yet, but it is nice to have some more room

Garden Photos 11-14-14 (8).jpg
Garden Photos 11-14-14 (77).jpg

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## crashdive123

> That's wonderful Here are a few shots of my new garden, and a couple of my older gardens. As you can see there's not a lot in them yet, but it is nice to have some more room
> 
> Garden Photos 11-14-14 (8).jpg
> Garden Photos 11-14-14 (77).jpg


Where is this?

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## VnVet

spam-buster.jpg

Thanks to the admin and mod squad who keep us spam free.

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## crashdive123

Oh, I'm just trying to play with this one for a little bit.

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## VnVet

A cactus garden?  :Huh: 

Anyhow, same as everyone here, I appreciate your and rest of the staff's efforts to keep this site SPAM free...

OTOH, real SPAM with real maple syrup is delicious..

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## kyratshooter

Honest to God this looks like the entranceway to Boot Hill Cemetery in Tombstone, AZ.

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## VnVet

Due to the purpose of this site; so, is his garden edible is the question?

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## kyratshooter

Certain of the cactus flowers and fruit is eatable.  

There might be one scattered around in there, but I suspect there is the situation of one "contributing" post that will revert to normal spam at a latter date.

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## VnVet

> Certain of the cactus flowers and fruit is eatable.  
> 
> There might be one scattered around in there, but I suspect there is the situation of one "contributing" post that will revert to normal spam at a latter date.




I used to live near Hendersonville, NC where there was a market. One of the sellers had "leaves" of what appeared to be prickly pear cactus.
https://korsniay.blogspot.com/2021/0...rs-edible.html
They were the same as the pictures except the skin wasn't tight. Sort wrinkled same as a pepper at the grocery store that no one would buy.

You're definitely correct about where it will age. LOL

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## Alan R McDaniel Jr

Down here the Prickly Pear has Tunis (Pear Apple) which is edible.  It is very tart but there are those who make jellies and jams from it.  From the same plant (or more commonly the spineless varieties) we get the young leaves, Nopalitos, which are sliced and mixed with scrambled eggs.  It is an acquired taste.  They are a tad bitter but many people like them and they are often sold in the produce section of the grocery stores...

Alan

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