So do keep us posted, I would be very interested in hearing what you decide to plant in your carefully done space, so how much land in total do you have in that fenced in area once its done? What is your ideal amount of food produced? in this space?

MrsW spent the morning spreading the manure and peat moss while I was at rest in my place of "work" 😎
So we spent another hour working when I got home this afternoon....that's about all me & the Mrs had in us today.
We put the bottom rail on the fence which will double as containment and anti-borrow.
To answer your questions farmgal we have 200 sq ft of garden + or - of useable land for growing (leaving about 30-40 sq ft of walkways and lost space) :ugeek:
At this point we are planting the following:
Tomatoes, peppers, onions, turnips, beets, carrots, shallots, green onion, & strawberries
We hope to get enough food to feed one person for immediate consumption and preserving out of this new garden (if we have an intermediate yield, if all goes well, if we have no major issues).....this does not include the potatoes, pumpkin, squashes, and the other garden.

Denob....I'll even give ya a beverage to wash down the Robaxacete 😀

So stay tuned for more....that is all for today 😉

wow

This weeks over view

Planted this week-,Friday to Friday
◾48 new baby strawberry plants-MG (babies being moved over into new rows from the main strawberry bed, currently 3 for 9.99 if buying them)
◾64 square feet in barley-MG
◾ten foot row of dill seed-MG
◾ten foot row of spinach-MG
◾Pea’s and beets- 8 foot rows in raised bed

Currently prepping and working on different garden beds and everything that is coming back from next year..

Harvest this week..
◾Danelion- Greens -3 bunches 1.99 = 5.97
◾Nettles-4 cups (will make these equal to basil herb) 7.50
◾horseradish root- 1 cup worth =3.00
◾Garlic greens/bulbs- one bunch (count them as green onions) .99

total harvested to date.. 17.46

Extra’s..

Pig plow update: Cleared 202 square feet this week

Well it is finally dry enough to get in the garden without gaining two inches in height with every step in the mud. Not dry enough to put the garden tractor in but OK for the small tiller.

Got 3 X 50' rows of Garlic transplanted for total of 4 now. 2 X 50' rows of Daffodils are up and starting to bloom.

Got the bed made for the sweet potatoes and covered in black plastic.

Sweet Potato slips are doing pretty good. From three potatoes I have rooted about 30 slips. Down side is they are all different sizes as I rooted them as they got big enough. But for the difference in cost of sprouting ny own as to buying them I think was worthwhile.

Raised bed to plant them in and to the left is the garlic and daffodils

20 feet down and 230 to go at this garden.

Laneway still flooded farther up to get to the other gardens but walked in and cleaned up the trash from the asparagus (none yet) walked up to the bush but no fiddle heads yet either. Still have a lot of snow in low lying areas but is going fast now with these temps.

Broccoli seeds planted out and are already sprouting and herbs are up looking to be transplanted.

Great write up but I too want those pictures to load..

Got it 🙂

Well it was a good day so far in the gardens..

Got mints moved and planted around the edges around one plot (each plot is 64 square feet
Got a hundred winter keeping onions planted, got 50 green /to summer eating onions planted, got the flowers and mints interplanted in that plot.
Got a plot of Ground Cherries planted out.
Got the next plot planted out into peas, radishes, rainbow carrots and borage

and then stopped working in the gardens and went and played with the horses, did a little barrol work, did a little jumping work and I am resting a bit while others head out for a nice three hour ride, I want to chill and then back out for some more this evening.

I need to start potting up different things for the free plant event in Ottawa next weekend..

Awesome W's! I can't wait to see the pics!

Hi Mr and Mrs W

I have been meaning to get back to this and its just been a bit busy, put as this is the first year in this area for the garden, if you happen to have some extra pcv pipe around, do consider digging a one in at the 4 inch water level and one at the 8 inch water level, and put it down at least two feet, and take measurements on your water levels thoughout your growing season. I have some area's that have lots of water in the spring but dry out till very deep and I have other area's that unless its really, really dry, that it almost always has water at a certain depth.. worth tracking that info at least one or two seasons.. just a thought..

Awesome looking garden and I see just what you mean about being able to cover it to create a extended season growing in both spring and fall, do consider picking up the low floating row covering to do the double covering in there and you will be eating fresh greens, and different things out of there for you xmas dinner 🙂

Great photos and yes, please do consider keeping us updated!

So its the first week of may, and for many of us in Canada, we have moved though the straving month of april when it comes to wild forage, and moved into our first good month of being able to feed ourselves out of the gardens..

I am in Zone 5a, and this is what I am harvesting this week in the garden.. as I did this up in regards to my Friday garden report it had the approx. prices and harvest total for the week.included.

Harvest this week..
◾Danelion- Greens – 6 bunches 1.99 = 11.94
◾Nettles-28 cups (will make these equal to basil herb) -39.10
◾horseradish Greens- 3 bunches- 3.99 at the Chinese market-11.97
◾Garlic greens/bulbs- 2 bunch (count them as green onions) 1 .98
◾Fresh Mints- 8 cups – I weighted this out and its 2.29 per cup -18.32
◾Mirco greens- equal to one box-5.99
◾Wild flowers-Violets- (not ideal how to price these)-2.99
◾asparagus-1 bunch- 5

Total this week -104.26

While I know that we have lots of folks in different zones, what are you harvesting in your gardens this week..

Ps, while I am not worried at all about the possible frost warning for the main garden things, I can cover them but I am shaking my head if we get a hard frost as it will effect my hard fruits..

136 new strawberry everbearing in and only 120 alpine to go LOL
Still need to get the straw bedding down on the new beds an the walk ways, many of the alpines are going into the hugelbeds and the food forest..

Im in Zone 3-2 , The weather here has been amazing! Planted my seeds and whatever survived my husbands slaughter of my chives I transplanted to a different part of the garden. The chives are growing like crazy! Buying an apple tree some time this week, probably a Norland since they ripen in August, September crop is just too risky where I live. 😐
If you are wondering why just one? our neighbour has one so we will be good for pollination and we don't have much room for more. I would have to take down the kids swing set to put another one in. lol I'll wait till they outgrow it first.

This is my version of a Yeast or Heat Skin Rash Blend.

Ok, so let me do the little blub first.. this is advice only, try a small amount yourself to make sure you don’t have a reaction and if anything gets worse etc discontinue use..

Healing Salve 1
◾Plaintain – Fresh picked twenty to twenty five average spring size leaves with stems.
◾half a cup of nettle leaves (no stems)
◾1 full cup of wild violets mix of leaves with flowers

Bring in the house, clean them, wash them in truly needed otherwise, don’t.. Roll them into bundles and chop them and then bruise them with the back of the knife or rolling pin if you don’t know how to use the knife correctly for that..

Into a steel pot or even better a double boiler, just cover with the best quality oil olive you own, low, low, LOW heat, gentle warm and allow to steep.. ideally at least an hour or two..

Add in 4 tbsp. of coconut oil and 1 oz of raw beeswax, allow to melt into the mix.. strain and jar the mix into small canning jars, put your lid on and allow to cool.

You can add to the mix while hot if you want to, example a few drops of tea tree oil per jar and mix with a clean dry spoon. This is a hot method of making this salve, you can do the same salve with the cold process but you will need to dry your fresh plants and then allow them to soak in the oils for four to six weeks in a cool dark dry place before straining them and making the rest of the salve.

You can make your salves like a massage oil, just leave out the coconut oil and beeswax or you can make it firmer by adding in a tiny bit more beeswax, or you can make it melt at body heat temp, remove the beeswax and it will still be firmer with the coconut oil at room temp but will melt right in from the room temp..

Mine is a meet in the middle, its firmer but still easy to get out and will start to melt on the skin and is easy to apply. The perk of this salve is that it helps treat the infection, it helps with the pain, and the inflammation, and it is soothing and at least for me, helps remove the pain within the first use.. it does require regular treatments but no more so then the doctor’s treatment, and because its so lovely, It can be used as a lotion as well as a preventive once you have it cleared up.

Ideally, you should only make enough for a 3 month supply but I have had the salves last at least six months at a time. I recommend putting the different plants into the list to be dryed and therefor you can make this salve fresh even when its winter time, the fresh made is excellent, the dried is very good.. both will get the job done.

Here is one bit of info I pickup a while back on Plantain's, If your going after the mediational properties, look for ribwort plantain, also known as , buckhorn plantain, narrowleaf plantain, ribleaf and lamb's tongue. It is used frequently in tisanes and other herbal remedies. A tea from the leaves is used as a highly effective cough medicine. They are not as common as the round leaf, but they are worth the look.

Hi Ranger, its true that on certain recipe that getting narrow leaf plantains is better but regular works very well.

In truth, I would recommend you consider trying different plantain plants in your own yards and watching them, some of them seem to be better at producing leaves, some are really big seed producers and others seem a bit stronger in terms of salve uses..

I have both narrow and round and my best personal batch of ones that have proven themselves to work for me are in fact broud leaf, and I have moved them over and grow a area of those ones that I use for this use.. I have a different area for the seeds.. that patch can outproduce on seeds by 2 to 1 on other areas..

As always study your local plants and see what works best for you in your zone and your needs..