2009-10-24 Farmer Adria's Report (with pictures!)

Here are a few pictures I took Thursday & Friday...

5 days after planting rye grass on the bottom terrace:


8 days after planting:


In a few more weeks the entire bottom terrace should be thick with rye. Their roots will extend deep into the soil, helping break up the clay hardpan.

Oh, does anyone have connections with the school landscape team? Could we ask them not to mow the actual garden area? The rye will grow tall and it may look like it needs to be cut, but we want to let it go till year. :o)


Here is the third terrace in between the square-foot plots & bee aivery. We'll put down clover here next week sometime. Hopefully it will take hold and keep the ground covered (and bees happy) till spring planting.


The terrace was chock full of stones, iron pipes and large chunks of asphalt. Most of the big pieces have been removed, but before next spring we'll have to pick out a few more.




Here's the top terrace after students planted last week. They decided to section off the area instead of using traditional rows, and added foot paths to walk around.





That's it for now - have a great weekend!

2009-10-22 Farmer Adria's Report

First, the gardens are looking good! Great job on getting the top terrace planted - hopefully the seeds will germinate & grow quickly!

So this afternoon I began preparing the last terrace for this season -- the long strip below the square-foot plots and above the bee boxes. As soon as our clover comes in we'll plant that and hope for the best. Some clover is already coming in on the plot furthest away from the road (under the pecan tree).

The rye I planted in the bottom terrace last week is just starting to turn green. The rain we had washed some of the seed into little piles, but there should still be enough there to get plenty of coverage.

I'm pretty excited about learning to keep bees. And maybe a little anxious.. I've only been stung by a honeybee once, but that was enough to learn not to irritate them (like by sitting on one while wearing shorts!).

2009-10-13 Farmer Adria's Report

We received over 2 inches of rain yesterday and the weather forecast is calling for that much if not more tomorrow. So, I drove by Ace & picked up a back of winter rye and spread out on the lower terrace late this afternoon. Hopefully most of it will stay in place during the storms tomorrow.

Rye is an annual grass with roots that can extend several feet below the surface - just what we need to help break up the clay below the plow tip. With a little sunshine after tomorrow, the lower terrace should be bright green by this time next week.

We've talked a little more about adding red clover to the garden in other areas, so it may be worth our while to try and sow more of it in the smaller terraces below the concrete block plots (after we mix in a little of the compost to help feed the clover).

That's it for now -- hope to have bee pics posted in a few days. :o)

Some of Farmer Adria's friends

2009-10-11 Farmer Adria's Report

Hi everyone,

Well I figured the ground would be a tad wet for garden work today, but since it looks like we will have a lot more rain next week I drove the equipment over and made the best of it. The ground was a bit damp, but dry enough to work. I spread about 30 cubic yards of compost on the top terrace and another 20 yards on the bottom half.

I'm not sure if these will come through embedded or as attachments.. Hopefully there are pictures below!





Oh -- when I got there this morning someone had just planted 7 strawberry plants on the top terrace, and there were a few stones lined up in a circle. I didn't see any seed stakes, so I moved the rocks to the side for the time being. I also carefully dug up the plants (which were still in the peat pots) and put them to the side. I re-planted the strawberry plants after I finished up today.



So, after spreading the compost I used the bottom-plow to turn it under. The bottom plow cuts anywhere from 12-18" deep. It's important that we introduce organic matter deep below the surface, since we don't want the soil to return to the way it was before (clumped together and as hard as some of the bricks we've picked out). Also, adding compost will provide lots of yummy nutrients for plants as their roots grow down.

Here I've spread the compost out about 4" deep across the top. The blue plow folds the compost over and pulls more clay up on top.




After turning the compost under I used a heavy-duty roto-tiller to mix the clay & compost together.


I'm thinking of using rye grass as a cover crop on the lower half. Rye is great since it grows well in in the cold, and its roots extend very deep in the soil -- deeper than I've plowed. The more we break up the hard clay underpan the better. Next spring I'll turn the rye under and introduce more compost prior to planting. I love the clover that's been planted on the terrace slope and elsewhere, so that's an option too.


The top terrace is ready to be used now, though it could use a little more compost next year before spring planting begins.



Here are the replanted strawberries:



Morning dew...


So -- that's it for tonight. If the pictures didn't make it through, you can see them all (and a few more) here: http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t274/queen_of_spodes/A%20Girl%20and%20Her%20Tractor/DHS%20Community%20Garden/ I'll try to have a more formal blog set up soon. :)

Adria

2009-10-05 Farmer Adria's Report

Bruce,

After you left [Sunday afternoon] I got a bit more work done before
calling it a day. I finished spreading the first layer of compost on
the top 40, then turned it under. It now looks like we didn't spread
out *any* compost, but it's all there tucked under the clay. Your
idea of spreading another 30 yards makes good sense. After that's
mixed in you could either plant rye or other cover, or sow leafy
veggies like kale, chard & spinach. Ace on Scott blvd still had lots
of plants for sale when I was there two weeks ago.

I smoothed out the bottom half closest to the dumpster & made a first
go with the plow. It was starting to sprinkle a little so I didn't
have time to pick out all of the bricks but I did get some. The
pile of wood chips by the dumpster is spread out to cover the open red
clay & to make room for the new load of compost. I also spread out
the pile of chips by the sidewalk to make it easier for the dump truck
to back in.

Oh -- I've been looking at bedder attachments for my Yanmar, and I
think I'm going to go ahead and purchase one. Bedders are sometimes
called "hillers" because that's what they do -- two discs pull dirt up
into a raised row for planting.

Bedder:

I have tomorrow off and hope to swing by and take a few more photos of
the work we did today. I still need to put up the bee pics (which
came out great btw!)

Thanks for your help today -- I'm really excited about how the garden
is taking shape!

- Adria

2009-10-03 Farmer Adria's Report

So our first batch of compost has been spread out and mixed in on the upper terrace. The lower terrace has been bottom-plowed and is ready for its first load of compost.

I happened to be at the garden this morning when Dekalb County arrived to deliver a new load of compost. Here are a few pictures and a short video:


Upper terrace, after mixing in the first batch of compost. It's there, but turned under a layer of clay. We'll continue spreading & turning over until we have adequate amounts of organic matter in the soil to prevent it from clumping together and forming a big brick.



The lower terrace, after initial plowing (no amendments added here yet - hence the bright red color)



About this time I heard the beeping of a Dekalb country delivery truck... Black gold had arrived!


The load was steaming hot.. and will remain that way until it's spread out.

The steam comes from CO₂ and thermal heat - products of the breakdown of materials by bacteria and fungi (decomposers) in the compost. Products resulting from decomposition of rotting grass clippings, leaves, manure, ect include proteins, amino acids, and humic matter (the leftovers of fully decomposed plant matter). All the stuff plants love and need to grow. The humic matter will also help change the red clay into something more desirable.

Oh, one more thing: heat is not only good for breaking down material, it also kills weed seeds.

It's very important that we only use properly aged compost in our gardens, since adding fresh manure to a garden will cause our plant roots to burn among other things. So don't scrape up your chicken litter & toss in the garden.. Pile it up and let it sit for at least a year before mixing into your garden.