Gardening and building dirt

When the dirt is pretty bad (no organic matter, sandy top, clay 2'' and down solid cay) one needs to do a lot of amendments. that's what the mounds are.

the paper is added to control bindweed infestation.  so there is not many benefits to that dirt to be honest.
Cow manure, horse manure, saw dust aged 2-3 years, and some pies to build compost as mulch.
the paper needs to be perforated. granted it weakens the weed barrier, but if one does not do that the paper can act as roof, in dry weather not a good thing at all. so things need to be done.
The great results first year are not exactly expected. and a variety of crops are planted to see which ones will handle the dirt from the heirlooms.
So some of the pants do sow nutrient deficiency in a week or so. some time was needed to detect which element. It looks like phosphorus and some nitrogen. Te plants are inter-planted with polyurethane companions. Flowers, herbs, nitrogen fixers. Coffee grounds much is added (slow release of nitrogen, coffee shops give used ones for free if one asked to save them for a day)
Other means employed too. Weed stew (some weeds like red stem fillary, bindweed need to be killed in how compost pile or drowned. the plants developed seeds, so drown it is. and closed well) aka green manure. not ideal, but $3 contained from thrift store works. if I find me a barrel I'll do that too, but that takes some time.

this is yeast and super-phosphate and vitamin B starter. yeast was brewing for 3 weeks.

that is a fertilizer to deal with some phosphorus deficiency that exists in my poor soil conditions. coffee grounds aid as well. photos are taken before applying fertilizer. will be applied several times

   

 

These were bough with some signs of nitrogen deficiency, but will see how celery will do.  and nitrogen fixing neighbor :)

 

Onions show no deficiency at all. last autumn strawberry and sorrel and new organic transplants.

 inter-planted with onions and garlic and borage and bachelor's button and some lavander

broccoli etc inter-planted with beans. beans are transplanted. it's a good practice to plant with light hands. beans at times transplant and get stunted. in week or so they should come around.

 tomatoes inter-panted with lettuce and herbs and flowers.

older lettuce, elevated, so mr rabbit does not get it, no deficiency.

cucumber from green house bought and sows some sun damage (was adapted for 3 days) and adapted longer and grown from seed.

 been transplanted, squash

 inter-planting.

some new bushes replaced lilac that did not do well. will see if locally grown currant will do better compared to nursery bought. zone 2 cherry bush should do. acclimated for 2 weeks.

and weeds :)
before

and after


older pile, about a month in making. turned twice. it could go faster, but...

We do not plant till Mother's day :). До мая не сажаем

This is why we do not plant till Mother's day :)
До средины мая не сажаем. почему? а вот поэтому:)

the dirt here is beyond bad, top soil is maybe 2 inches if that, rest is clay hard as rock. so all needs to be amended and covered. otherwise wind takes it in no time, it takes cover in no time too it turns out just as well... if you can garden here you can garden anywhere on earth folk say.
Земля тут скажем так... плохая, это не сантиметров 5 если еще столько того что как-то землей можно с натяжнокй назвать,остальное глина как камень. ее ломои не пробьешь. пэтому тут можно что-то делать только на насыпной земле, и закрывать, иначе ее сносит начисто ветром. говорят, что если в этом неприглядном месте что-то кто-то выращивать может то выращивать они могут где угодно. причем если закрывать,как выясняется ветер это тоже сносит. в простонародье это называют чертов ветер. появляется это безобразе как часы после обеда и рвет все осебенно молодые растения.

heat dish. otherwise all gets killed.

обогреватель на ночь. если ы не посавила, все бы померзло, потому как на улицу пришла вобщем зима опять с мае

because outside is ... well that...

winter is back.
that's why many do not knit this season here who have gardens. kind of no time. the crazy weather keeps busy. it will be more than one year, many more than one year till I get me windbreak and green house so I can knit in spring...
вот потому у нас тут не вяжут кто пытется что-то посадить весной. птому что наша дурная погода не дает ничего делать кроме как ороться с нашей дурной погодой.

so what did grow well so far? prickly lettuce weed, it turns out chickens love it. o not have chickens so.
что выросло? колючий дикий салат который любят куры. только кур у меня нету.

High winds, climate changes and who knows what else

No one remembers these kind of high winds this time of the year. For days. It is something that never has happen. Some say desert  over the mountains is too hot and our climate has changed. It has changed all right. To the worse so far. Even wheels inside are affected by how bad the weather has changed. It creates a lot of trouble the way how the weather has changed. To the point that farmers do not put the crop in. High winds create too much trouble and crop does not survive, yield falls at least 20% and more. They call them Devil winds. I tent to agree. It has being a week like this. It made a lot of trouble out here. Smallest of which piles of mulch are simply gone, evaporated with no traces where that would go. I'm talking truck loads full being gone overnight. Devil wind pick up stuff and simply eats it and it's gone. And there is not a thing one can do about this. It has being so bad no one remembers it this way.