Summer Gardening 6-2-2010
by Farmer Dave
(Northern California)
summer planting
Summer gardening!
Our summer gardens are finally planted!!
I have been waiting to do some summer gardening to prepare and plant my summer garden for weeks. The rain and cold have made it hard to work my garden beds so I am happy to say we finally got some sun and the gardens are now planted.
Four of my daughters helped me and we got to do some summer gardening. Preparing our garden beds and planting corn, squash, onions and potatoes; peppers, cucumbers and summer squash. My wife planted our spring garden of lettuce, broccoli, cabbage and peas earlier in March when we had another clear spell of weather.
Planting the food of our future, nourishing the earth, strengthening our bodies and enlivening our spirits. That is what Family gardening is all about.
We have a small homestead farm, about 3 acres including a small orchard and vineyard and a 1/2 acre of alfalfa to feed our animals and the soil.
Here is how we do it.
Garden Bed culture
We have two methods of preparing our garden beds.
Sheet compost:
We sheet compost in the fall using 6 inches or more of manure or mulch.
Loosen or dig beds in the early spring adding compost and broken down manure and any other amendments we have for the season and long term fertility of the beds.
Cover Crop also known as green manure:
Till summer garden after harvest.
Plant a legume and a grain in the fall. We use vetch and oats as our cover crop.
Let the cover crops grow until they start to flower, and then till them in preferably two to four weeks before planting. Till again right before planting and then prepare garden beds using compost and broken down manure and any other amendments we have for the season and long term fertility of the beds.
In my early days on the homestead we used to till everything in by hand, now I turn everything in with a roto tiller and will be using a tractor as part of my retirement plan. My wife still exclusively hand farms using the sheet composting method, if we had more manure I would do that too.
Our family grows about 80% of our own food using these organic methods. We have a lot of detailed information on composting, planting and planning your gardens in our Victory Garden ebook
