Where to start.

Hello,

I am trying to plan my new sfg because last year didn't work out so good lol. But my stevia was fun to eat while trying to save the rest.



Anyway I have several acres and have been trying to figure out where to put the new garden. If you had a choice would you put it up against the house thus having to fight the evil shade monster but its convienient or would you put it out in the middle of the "back yard" between the house and back pasture where shade would not be an issue but a hose and walking there on bad back days would be a problem. I will be expanding my farming in the future bit by bit but the garden is the first part to gets settled. Oh I am going to have both fresh eating and canning/storing beds.



Thank you

I put mine in the front yard, right next to the house and I enjoyed it tremendously. If it had been further from the house I probably wouldn't have tended it nearly as well, even though there is nothing to do but plant, watch it grow, water when needed & harvest. I went out several times a day just to watch & congratulate myself on switching to SFG from row gardening.

As for shade, it didn't get shaded until around 3-4 PM, so I had no issues with lack of sun.

Let us know what you decide.

jhayford wrote:If you had a choice would you put it up against the house thus having to fight the evil shade monster but its convienient or would you put it out in the middle of the "back yard" between the house and back pasture where shade would not be an issue but a hose and walking there on bad back days would be a problem.

I would try for a happy medium. If you have an evil shade monster lurking up close to the house, put the garden as close to the house as you can while still avoiding that devil for most of the day.

My own SFGs get shade around 4 or 5 pm in the summer due to trees.

I would be more interested in why your SFG "didn't work" last year?

I would be interested in why it did not work either. I would also not set myself up for failure. Shade is shade. It is either there or it isn't. If there is too much, what's to battle? Do not plant there. That said, the closer to the house the more likely you will keep up. That is one of the big things in ANSFG - having the garden a true kitchen garden and easily accessible.

You can add a water spigot father away from the house if need be - or a long hose. On bad back days the best thing to do is get up and walk. And - keep a chair in the garden. If it is the front of the house that faces south, then by all means, put your garden there if possible.

How is the house situated? I ask because the front of my house is almost exactly facing the west. If I put any gardens along the back of my house, I would get a lot of morning sun, but around 2 it would start to get shaded out. However! I have several gardens along the side of my house, which faces the south! Man, those gardens do very very well. Not only do they get a lot of sun, but they're protected from heavy winds, they're easy to get to, and the deer have never bothered them (unlike the gardens I have out at the edge of my yard).

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:I would be more interested in why your SFG "didn't work" last year?

Well it was a variety of things trying to start too late in the summer with the wrong plants. I tried to use cinder blocks to make my squares and that was a disaster. And people can't keep their sinking cats and dogs on their own propety. We don't really have property divide fences like in the suburbs so that made it a bigger issue.

So I want to move it more to the back of the house. Put up some of the orange fence untill I know the area is good and make my boxes proper.



I think that I figured out where to put it. Kinda a happy medium. I took out a pool for safety reasons (above ground) and the deck is going to be taken out when i get to that. Its not up againt the house but not to far either and I can use the some of the wood in my garden stuff. It is already level a nice sandy bed. I would say probably 20 yards or less away?

[quote="jhayford"]

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:I would be more interested in why your SFG "didn't work" last year?

snip....... And people can't keep their sinking cats and dogs on their own propety. We don't really have property divide fences like in the suburbs so that made it a bigger issue.[quote]



I feel your pain on this one. We just had a new neighbor move in and their little pooch is not on a chain - no fenced yards in the neighborhood. Right now we are covered in ice and it does not matter much (except watching where I step on the way to my car) but I fear for my boxes come spring, as they are in the side yard, between our house and theirs.....

GG

Leash law or potato gun... hard to decide...

camprn wrote:Leash law or potato gun... hard to decide...

Or those motion sensor sprinklers...

Chopper wrote:

camprn wrote:Leash law or potato gun... hard to decide...

Or those motion sensor sprinklers...

+1

My outdoor only cat decided my mm was perfect to lay on and if it was real loose she might take a bathroom break.

I tried smacking her with the shovel, but I was too slow. I took that cheap plastic netting to keep out birds and laid it on the garden where the dirt was free of plants. I have my peas growing up thru it. she gave up, will not dig and doesn't lay in the beds either.

As for the dogs, if you see the owner of the dog,( don't let them know you know) Just metion you have a gun for all the stray dogs. Worked for me.

Jo

littlejo wrote:My outdoor only cat decided my mm was perfect to lay on and if it was real loose she might take a bathroom break.

I tried smacking her with the shovel, but I was too slow. I took that cheap plastic netting to keep out birds and laid it on the garden where the dirt was free of plants. I have my peas growing up thru it. she gave up, will not dig and doesn't lay in the beds either.

As for the dogs, if you see the owner of the dog,( don't let them know you know) Just metion you have a gun for all the stray dogs. Worked for me.
Jo

I vote paint ball gun. Easier to load and shoot than a spud gun. I like bright pink. Make sure everyone knows my color so the owner can easily find out who is making them wash their dog. Caution.....paint balls can leave a good bruise or dent your car. Make sure you test them on the local children who are willing to wear a bike helmet and goggles so you can perfect your aim on moving targets. (They will shoot back)

Yosemite Debs.....who saves the frozen paint balls for chicken eating raccoons.

Prior to moving into my home, the tenant before me had put in a standard row garden, approximately 20' x 30' in the back yard, which faces south. Despite his efforts, youth and good intentions, there were already five times more weed varieties than edible vegetables when I moved in.

Well, before looking at the home or seeing there was a garden, I had planned to start my third SFG in five years, this spring. Rather than weed or do anything with the existing garden last year, I allowed the squirrels to harvest the corn, strawberries and other goodies, but that will have to stop this year because there’s a new gardener in town.

Initially I considered a Paint ball gun. Figuring the squirrels would develop a complex, being painted yellow and/or hot pink and not wanting to return. Then I started considering kinetic energy of a paint ball vs. the body mass of a squirrel, deciding a paint ball would probably kill a squirrel due to internal hemorrhaging.

So now I’m undecided. I’m not a tree hugger, but the squirrels were here before me and have a right to exist as long as they don’t cause excessive damage. However, just asking them to behave, probably isn’t going to work and therefore, I’m considering a small electric fence. Also, I’m hoping this will keep any feral cats from using my Mel’s Mix as a litter box.

After reading where this thread has gone so far, I may look into the motion detector sprinklers, but am also open to other ideas that folks have successfully used to deter varmints. Among other means, I also own a high powered pellet rifle, but as mentioned, don’t want to kill them if I don’t have to, just teach them to mind their manners.

Lavender Debs wrote:I vote paint ball gun. Easier to load and shoot than a spud gun. I like bright pink. Make sure everyone knows my color so the owner can easily find out who is making them wash their dog. Caution.....paint balls can leave a good bruise or dent your car. Make sure you test them on the local children who are willing to wear a bike helmet and goggles so you can perfect your aim on moving targets. (They will shoot back)

Yosemite Debs.....who saves the frozen paint balls for chicken eating raccoons.

Best. Post. Ever.

EYV,
If you are a meat eater .. shoot the squirrels as head shots if you're a decent shot , three or four squirrels are delicious if skinned & guttted when warm ,then cooked in a red wine sauce or done as any of the many rabbit dishes such as poaching in milk or apple wine vinegar, with mustard sauce etc etc.

The dogs should keep away the cats. The cats should keep away the squirrels. The neighbors should keep away their dogs...

(Once you figure out how to keep away the dogs, then maybe change to granulated predator urine for the squirrels.)

EatYourVeggies wrote:
Among other means, I also own a high powered pellet rifle, but as mentioned, don’t want to kill them if I don’t have to, just teach them to mind their manners.

If you shoot them you can eat them that is what they do here in the south. Oh and most of the neighbors on this road have several guns for fun or hunting or protection so they just don't care about other peoples property and animal control is worthless as a 3 dollar bill.

Oh yeah I did figure out where to put the garden. lol

You say "tree huggers" like it is bad thing

I have had pretty good success with "scare Crows" the motion sensor sprinklers.

I mentioned squirrels in a previous post who were burying green pine cones in my SFG.

A week or so ago, while digging another square, my trowel went "thunk!" I explored, only discover a huge green pine cone. I dusted it off, measured it roughly, and brought it inside to weigh it. The dimensions were 6" long and 9 oz.!

Anyone have any idea what size squirrel could do this? And what it must be eating?

On the squarrel issue, an electric fence will kill a squarrel if the wire hits its head. I have seen that happen at my dads house. he had an electric fence around the top of his yard fence to keep his dog from jumping into his chicken pen. We kept finding dead squarrels and could not figure out why. one day we watched as one climbed down a tree the fence was hooked to and when his head brushed the fence he fell down dead. I also hunt squarrels and have shoot on twice through the chest cavity with a 22 and had to pull it out of a hole in a log and shoot it in the head to kill it. It would have died but this was about 5 minutes after it was shoot. A squarrel will survive a paint ball strike unless you hit it in the head with a frozen paintball. Love the post for coons but think if you can get some hot pepper balls they would be better for that.

Farmers Rules

1: Shoot Once
2: Bury Deep
3: Say Nothing....




Aran