Homestead mailing list

[Rob <becida AT comcast.net>]

Date:   Tue, 23 Feb 1999 15:32:44 -0500
Reply-To: homestead AT listserv.oit.unc.edu
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From: Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT roanoke.infi.net>
To: homestead AT listserv.oit.unc.edu
Subject: Re: Gardening...was Re: Kentucky
References: <2f862884.36d2da6f AT aol.com> <36D2FE01.1C96 AT bellsouth.net>
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Bevanron wrote:

> Maybe I have been hanging around Lee too long, but I am getting to a
> point where alternative gardening is becoming more attractive to me.
> This summer I would like to try some neat stuff I read about in a High
> Yield Gardening book that I got from the library.  Although I planted my
> spring garden in wide rows/hills, I am leaning towards no rows
> altogether.
> The neatest thing I saw in the book was called the Circle of Cages.
> Basically, you dig a pit, 1 foot wide and 2 feet deep in the garden and
> add fish emulsion, compost, manure, bone meal, grass clippings and
> additional manure and compost to bring it back up to ground level.  Then
> you move out 6 inches and dig a 6 in wide and 9 in deep watering trench
> that you put about 1/2 in of bone meal in and cover that with dried
> manure. Outside of that circle, you place 5 wire cages and the whole
> thing is surrounded by a low border fence.
> Tomatoes, cukes, squash, beans, anything vining can be grown in the
> cages, and companions-herbs, veggies, and or flowers, can be grown in
> the spaces between the cages.  Watering is easy and conserved using the
> trough, and there should be no fungal problems because the ground is
> being watered, not the leaves or fruit.  The following year, the center
> pit would be good for other crops.  This idea really appeals to me.  I
> find it easier to get out and weed or do work in the garden if the
> garden is pretty(I know, I know, sissy woman way of looking at it)and
> the biggest problem I have now is how to incorporate some perennial
> flowers and herbs into the garden and still be able to till or plow(Just
> doesn't work).  So I decided I would rather have herbs and flowers than
> to till all the time.  The long and short of it is that this spring
> garden might be my last row type garden.  There are just too many really
> cool ideas to ignore because I am stuck in the old ways of doing things.
>
> Bev, still reading, but coming to a decision
>
> --
> Bevanron
> erthnsky AT bellsouth.net
>
> "That which does not kill me was manufactured by the lowest bidder."
> Friedrich Nietzsche

>>>tvoivozhd:  Hooray!---but keep airborne and rainborne 
early-blight from your
tomato plants by a tall tunnel PVC frame and roll-up clear 
polyplastic film.  It
will also extend your growing season at both ends.