About Vegetables
https://sites.google.com/view/electricfarm-gardening/home/vegetables
About Perennnials
https://sites.google.com/view/electricfarm-gardening/home/perennials
About Gesneriads
In the rural environment much of a property owners time and energies is spent doing horticultural activities. Of course the vegetable garden is of primary concern but there is also lawn care, landscape plantings, orchards and woodlot maintenance to be considered.
When initiating gardening activities at a new site you have to first evaluate the native soil. In my case the soil is composed of a lot rocks dispersed with a fine clay sand. This type of soil has little nutritive value as it lacks organic matter and despite the rocks it has very poor drainage as water puddles and runs off the surface and does not penetrate.
I have been in the Landscape business for 40 years now and initiating horticultural activities at new sites is something I have done repeatedly at many locations. Often a customer new to the area will suggest bringing in a tiller to create a garden. This shows a complete misunderstanding of the problem. First many perennial weeds have rhizomes that when tilled re sprout in abundance. Also tilling has tendency to keep bringing more rocks to the surface and drives the fine soil deeper rendering it unusable by plants. So what to do?
I like to start on a new location a year ahead of planting allowing me time to purge the area of unwanted weeds and foliage. I do this by killing the existing weeds using Generic Glisophate Salts (not Roundup). Generic Glisophate Salts are relatively non toxic, safe to animals and children, and effectively kills most plants to the root. At this time there are few plants that must be preserved and would require protection from the herbicide spraying.
It requires about 3 weeks to achieve kill and many times a second application might be necessary to achieve complete kill. So as you can see you need at least a couple of months in preparation for the next step.
In the beginning is the best time to create a large soil supply as eventually you will need a lot. To create a viable garden bed requires about 1 yard of soil to cover 20 sq.ft. and to create lawn requires about half that amount so as you can see we are talking about a considerable quantity. A pick up truck load of material is only 1 yard therefor not very helpfull. The least expensive way to create soil is once BIG. To do this you will need the services of a dump truck and bobcat, tractor or backhoe. Here for example is the ingredients I brought in for my property.
1 load = 8 yards with the truck I used:
1 load Stream Run Fine Siftings
1 load Pea Stone
1 load rotted Cow Manure (would have preferred horse)
20 bales peat moss
The total cost of this is about $1000 but it will save you many thousands into the future.
I dump these ingredients in separate piles and then later use my machine to assemble the master pile adding a bucket at a time from all the various ingredients. In this case the above yielded a soil pile of 40+ yards enough to prepare 1000 sq.ft. of garden space.
Once any hardscape installations are complete I spread this soil with the machine where I desire to have plantings. This is easy to do at this stage as there are no obstacles and plantings that I have to worry about damaging. While I still have un planted areas I back fill for retaining walls, and foundation plantings, walkway and patio edgings etc.
I often hear people say they are going to use raised beds which is okay but the retainers require constant maintenance, and they dry out very quickly and require watering, What I do is raise the soil level of the property so that the whole property has the soil quality of a raised bed.
Okay spring arrives and you are ready to assemble your garden. First you want to check that all the old foliage is dead and If not you still have time enough time for one more application of herbicide. The herbicided areas have a tendency to become quite acidic so in areas where I plan on planting high ph crops (garden vegetables). I cover the ground with lime and for vegetable gardens this is also a good time to spread some 10-10-10 fertilizer before bringing in the soil .
I must mention at this point that late summer or early spring is a good time for hardscape constructions as patios, walkways, staircases, retaining walls and such are usually built above grade and require the soil in the surround to be graded up. This is easy to do when you are spreading the top soil (next).
I usually schedule a day to do all the tractor work. You will need a machine the day you are to spread the soil so I try to have all my soil ingredients delivered prior to that day so the tractor can build my master soil pile first. Machine types - Backhoe(worst), Tractor with front end loader(better), small tractor(even better Kaboda) , Bobcat(best). Most small machines have a 1/2 yard bucket or less and work well taking one bucket from each the ingredients piles and then opening a spreading a bale of peat moss on top this process being repeated until the master pile is constructed. Be sure to leave some of this master pile for use into the future - your going to need it.
This master pile you will need access to with a tractor preferable from all sides unless the pile can be constructed against a bank. A location for this pile should be close to the construction but allow easy machine access as you will be using this material frequently also you might need to order additional materials and renew your master pile.
Tractor days are expensive so I try to maximize the amount of work into as few days as possible for this machinery.
Day 1 - Tractor arrives and does pre master pile grading. You send a dump truck to gravel pit for 1 load fine "srceenings" followed by 1 load "pea stone". You have pre ordered peat I do this with a supplier that delivers at a reasonable charge I usually start with 20 bales but never seem to have enough. You will also need 1 load compost or manure. Manure is complicated by the presence of weed seeds cow manure being one of the worst. I used pig manure for several years and it is not that potent but contains no weed seed. Chicken manure is hot stuff, no weed seed but use sparingly as it is 20-1-1 fertilizer and the feathers release nitrate for years as the decompose. It should be noted that many municipalities now sell compost quite reasonably. Some that I have bought was extremely nice screened product. Okay I got 30yards of materials assembled and for vegetable garden use i add 40lbs lime and 80lbs 5-10-5 to 10yrds of master mix.
I use the tractor to fetch materials one bucket at a time and dump them exactly on top of the existing master pile this ensures a good mixing. The tractor has a half yard bucket so each delivered truck load is about 30 buckets by tractor. I start with 1 bucket "fine screenings" then follow that with one bucket "pea stone", then follow that with one bucket "Compost" , add 1/2 Bale Of peat moss, also add optional lime and fertilizer for vegetable garden use.
At this point most of your hardscape should be constructed and ready for backfill. Often I start this process by back filling new hardscape with a wheel barrow sometime planting as I work so when I finish I don't have to go in the bed for any reason. Often for perennials I adjust the mix for nutrition and PH for their planting location. Walkways can be created using piled pea stone to above grade and then filling the planting void with "Master Mix". In this manner you have a temporary path which can later be anything you desire as you know there is a good "base" there.
I start at the foundation by creating the foundation planting areas and then work away from the house so that I never have to cross my finished work. As I grade up to the foundation there is usually a line on the block work which I pick as my grade level and then all further work grades taper away from the house. I dump one bucket at a time and while the operator is fetching I quickly rake to final grade with a 4' landscape rake. I have done some very large job locations in this manner and was always able to finish with the machine and operator in one day yielding a finished grade ready for planting. Usually in the area adjacent to the foundation plantings is a walkway connecting the drives and doorways it is a good time while you got the machine to install a sub base for these constructions with pea stone they can also be used as temporary paths for an extended time while final installation is considered. I am still considering after 23 years. Always keep in mind pea stone at $8 a ton is the least expensive material you can buy. It is cheaper than top soil clean and easy to grade by hand.
My feeling is that a rural vegetable garden without a fence is a waste of time and even with a fence each year I suffer losses from animal invasion. While spreading the soil above if I am to install a vegetable garden I create a large soil pile at the center of that location and then build my fence around it after which it is any easy process to spread the soil and grade up on the fence. Because of the poor native soil in our area I used a generous amount of my soil mix above (maybe 8"). It is now 20 years since I did this and each year I am returned benefits from this initial effort as I can till its 15x30' area by hand with a shovel and rarely find a rock.
Small gardens that require little maintenance are usually more productive in the end.
These plantings are highly variable contingent upon plant type, soil ph, sun amount, etc. There are some general classifications used:
Annuals are usually purchased each year and planted after all danger of frost is past usually June in the Catskills. They create a show that usually lasts the duration of the summer season and die on first killing frost. Some annuals volunteer by casting seed and seldom seed to be replanted (marigolds, viola, calendula, malvina and many others).
The term biennial is supposed to mean a plant that is planted one year and then flowers and dies in the seccond year. This however is quite variable. Digitalis for example is considered a biennial but I have had Digitalis survive and bloom for several years thus yielding perennial performance. This happens with many plants utilizing the perennial or biennial designation where the performance in reality is quite variable.
The plants recognized as perennial are highly variable with differing cultural and climate requirements. For example here in the Catskills only the hardiest of perennials will yield perennial performance. In general the most important horticultural requirement for survival of perennials is "Good Drainage". Perennials do not like being excessively moist while freezing and thawing.
I have areas of my gardens prepared for perennials with similar needs like acid soil, shade, full sun etc. I have a planting guide for perennials here in Zone 3-4 which allows you to search for perennials by their specific cultural requirements.
Download: Global Plant Guide.zip
Prior to spreading soil is a good time to do tree and shrub planting as usually holes have to be dug to set the root ball at grade. I like to dig my holes deeper than the depth of the root ball and significantly larger in diameter. I put pea stone in the hole to bring my planting up to grade. This also provides drainage for the emerging roots. I trial set all my plants this allows me to step back and evaluate the spacing's and heights visually and adjust where necessary. It is then quite easy to fill the holes and grade up to the root ball tops without covering any of the stem or bark ( this is the number one reason for planting failure).
Significant lawn areas are a lot of work. I know of city people that come up for the weekends and spend the whole weekend mowing. I am not an advocate of large lawns unless your a golfer as they require too much work and yield no product. Here are some ideas for land use:
There are some nice wildflower plantings at intersection of routs 30 and 145 in Middleburg they include rudbeckia, monarda, shasta, cosmos etc. and seem to come back reliably year after year. There are many wild flowers that have value as cut flowers in the florist trade.
Small Blue Spruce "Liners" can be purchased from Schoharie Valley nursery quite reasonably. Plant them on random 8' centers in a grove and in about 5-7 years you will have to start thinning and selling trees. Do not plant a line of blue spruce as they become two sided and have no value as Christmas trees.
I recommend pea stone areas many times. During the construction at a new sight a couple of loads of pea stone and you can get mud free pathways and work areas at a very low cost which saves a lot in cleanup costs like muddy shoes on the hardwood floor. I have all my driveways and pathways done in pea stone that I maintain weed free with herbicide. I have a picnic table and seating area done with pea stone. These areas are easy to maintain as they drain well can be raked with little effort. In the landscape business I recommend this approach to landscape frequently. Why?
Many times I put down these areas with very little lead time so herbicide was not possible. During the construction phase these areas are under such heavy use that there is very little opportunity for weeds to grow but if significant growth is noticed it is easily controllable with glysophate. Once the construction phase is complete another load of pea stone can be used for cleanup and to set final grades. I am fortunate that my local supplier of pea stone has very nice product. I have dealt with other suppliers whose washed product was not clean and it never did wash clean. Our Manorkill product is surface clean after the first rain.