Home and Garden

Sustainable Gardening 101

The flowers we’ll be growing: Sweet peas Lavender Agapanthus Evening primrose Platycodon Pansies Daffodils Hyacinths Pelargonium Kniphofia Penstemon Dahlia

Cyclamen African violets Roses Daisies Lantana Lobelia fuschia Petunia Forsythia Morning glories Pachysandra Bougainvillea Nasturtium Lupins

We will use a deep-bed, minimal-turning method for the plant beds, so the deep, loose soil can provide higher yield and bigger crops in a small space. 

We will plant taller trees and plants to the north and shorter ones to the south, to make sure everyone gets enough sunlight.

Compost (from crops and kitchen scraps) and manure (from chickens and goats) will be added regularly to keep the soil healthy. The compost bins must each reach an internal temperature of 150F to kill all the pathogens, and need to be turned over to another bin when they start to cool down. We will have a row of 5 compost bins (5’x5’x5′) that move down the line from fresh cuttings to digested dirt.

Vegetables will be rotated on a 4-year cycle, where potatoes get planted after root vegetables get harvested, and miscellaneous things come after the nitrogen-encouraging peas and beans. This ensures the fields are always ready for the next crop:

• Field 1: Miscellaneous -> Root vegetables -> Potatoes -> Peas/beans/brassicas
• Field 2: Root vegetables -> Potatoes -> Peas/beans/brassicas -> Miscellaneous
• Field 3: Potatoes -> Peas/beans/brassicas -> Miscellaneous -> Root vegetables
• Field 4: Peas/beans/brassicas -> Miscellaneous -> Root vegetables -> Potatoes
• All fields will get green manure crops in the winter (mustard, comfrey, alfalfa, rye), which will be dug in or composted once they’re grown to enrich the soil

In addition to the 4 annual vegetable beds, with walking paths between them, we will have: