Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Liz <liz@allslash.org>]

At 10:06 PM 12/1/2007, you wrote:

> Hundreds of jars from such a small spot is at the extreme end of small
> garden accomplishment.  You know it can be done, and you know how.  BTW you
> anywhere near Wytheville, Marion, or Pulaski?

I am now. I'm in Stuart, about 90 miles east of Wytheville. But the 
garden I was talking about was in Virginia Beach. It took up the 
whole back yard, plus vining plants on the fences all around the 
yard, plus herbs in window boxes. I did a lot of companion planting 
too, carrots under the tomatoes, squash growing up the corn. We 
didn't get much corn out of it--they were there mostly to support the 
squash plants. But we did have a few dozen ears each year to eat 
fresh. And I also planted things that could be used in two different 
forms--beans that we ate fresh early in the season, or canned from 
the immature pods, and then the later pods would be left to dry out 
so we could store the beans dry. I also used succession planting, 
peas as early as they could be grown, then peppers or squash in the 
same ground later in the season. There are so many things you can do 
to maximize the yield from a relatively small space. And of course 
the growing season there is longer than out here in the mountains. 
The big problem was the sandy soil, and we just manured and composted 
like heck. There was a Mennonite family near us that had chickens and 
sheep--city codes prohibited that, but they had been "grandfathered" 
since they'd been there for decades. My kids all worked for them (and 
brought home wheelbarrow loads of chicken poop for the garden).

Now I have 29 acres and no time at all, sigh. I have lettuce that 
self-sows in some planters, and that's all. My job keeps me on the 
road all over the state of Virginia pretty much five days a week, and 
on the weekends I'm wiped out. But I'm going to expand the existing 
raised beds this winter and plant some things in the spring that 
don't take a lot of tending, like greens. And if I have the time and 
energy, I'm going to build some cold frames with windows I picked up 
from the dump. This lettuce just insists on growing, so I might as 
well give it some better conditions. I planted it three years ago, 
and haven't had to replant since. It just self-sows right where it is.

Liz in SW VA
http://life-as-a-spectator-sport.com