Kitchen garden at the house----
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| One of the gardens right outside my front door. Yup, no lawn! |
Actually, the gardens totally circumvent the house. Sweet potatoes and comfrey in the more shady spots. Pineapples in both sun and shade. Various herbs and onion greens in the full sun. Also beans, peas, chard, bok choy and other Asian greens. Turmeric in the shade. Taro in full sun and semi-shade. Pipinolas climbing the trees.
And here's the hugel style pit I just filled in. It still needs to be topped with compost before planting. Getting a good photo is impossible with just a cellphone, so I took several to give you a better idea.
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| The green grass clipping are fresh cut today. The other clippings are a couple days old. |
I find your gardening fascinating because you can grow so many things most of us can't.
ReplyDeleteThat's a huge hugel pit. How long has it taken to build? I assume the grasses that you cut for clippings have no seeds in them. That's what keeps me from using grass clippings for mulch.
This particular put took about 5 months to complete. I take my time collecting the fill material. Plus I like to let the rain thoroughly wet each layer as it goes in. So that all takes time.
DeleteThe grass clippings do indeed have lots of seeds in them. I use grass that I don't feed to my sheep-- too mature (thus full of seeds), too weedy, or contains toxic plants. As the layers go into the pit, the seeds often sprout, but then I add another layer, smothering the new seedlings. The final layer of grass clippings will get a cover of mulch and soil, again smothering the weed seedlings. Once I plant the pineapple crowns, I'll use seed-free grass clippings as mulch, thus preventing most weeds.
Do you think you would be able to grow these plants at your seed farm? Would it be too dry and hot there? Glad to see some updates. You are one busy lady!
ReplyDeleteI could grow a lot of plants at the seed farm, if I wanted. Two limitations -- I have to haul water in, which is a nuisance. And it's hot and windy, which some plants don't like. Actually there are somethings that do better at the seed farm than at my homestead. Lima beans. Okra. Cowpeas. Papaya. Mango. Breadfruit.
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