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smitty
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# Posted: 12 Sep 2011 09:11am
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The wife and I have been gardening this year, learning how to do it from scratch, never done it before. We want to have a handle on growing food, because part of our dream of building a cabin included a green house, and lots of gardening.
But we are in the dense forest, so other than clearing out an area for some good sun light, we are stuck with what grows well in the shade.
Just wondering, if anybody here also gardens at their cabin, and maybe would like to trade seeds, or tips and tricks for growing in the woods.
I have heirloom seeds left over and would love to do some trading.
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Just
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# Posted: 12 Sep 2011 11:00am
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The forest is full of wild food . you should talk to a local to see what's there.
it is puffball season hear 'giant wild mushrooms 'eat them fresh or freeze them . lots of food out there you need to look.
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hattie
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# Posted: 12 Sep 2011 01:09pm - Edited by: hattie
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Hi smitty: A big problem with planting things at your cabin is the wildlife. If you plant fruit trees or berry bushes, the deer will strip them clean. We live full time at our place and still battle the deer on a daily basis. We have something called a "scarecrow" that is motion sensored and sprays the deer with water if they come near but this year they have discovered how far it reaches and strip all the plants that are just beyond the scarecrow's reach.
Having said that, there is nothing more satisfying then growing your own veggies and fruit (even if you do have to share with the deer *S*). Find out what your growing zone is for your area and stick with very hardy varieties for that zone. We found that raised bed gardens were best for us because the soil here is terribly rocky. We put in concrete beds and filled them with a mixture of compost, peat and top soil.
I don't know of any vegetables that grow well in the shade. You may get them to germinate but they will become very "leggy" looking for sunlight. I would suggest clearing out a spot so they can get the sun. You will also have to deal with designing something to water them when you are away because new seedlings don't like to dry out.
One point about bears and fruit trees. Bears LOVE fruit on trees. If they happen to find your fruit tree they will strip it of fruit and then will destroy the tree (especially if the tree is young). It is very common where we live to have that happen. If you always clean up the dropped fruit from your trees then at least the bears won't be as attracted to the smell of rotting fruit.
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steveqvs
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# Posted: 12 Sep 2011 02:32pm
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I have never grown anything at my place in the woods, but others that I have seen have total cages around their gardens to keep critters out.
At home we use the square garden technique. It does a great job. I do have some hungarian pepper seeds if you want to make your own paprika. This year was not a great garden year. Cold and really wet untill early summer then it got hot and dry.
Square Foot Garden in my backyard
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bugs
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# Posted: 14 Sep 2011 06:42pm - Edited by: bugs
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Hi Smitty
Gardening as you likely have found out can be very rewarding and tasty too. Nothing like a vine ripened fresh picked tomato.
As Hattie has mentioned the more sun you can get the better. And then there is the wildlife both big and small (I made this sign for a friend of mine who lives/gardens on an acreage and is "plagued" by these little cuties.... He was not amused! Some people have no sense of humour!)
If I were going to garden out at our shack I would go with raised beds of recycled plastic 6x6" landscaping ties. I would put a wire mesh cloth of 1/4" down on the bottom to stop infiltration from tunnelers and run page/chicken wire around the outside with a wire of solar powered electric fence to keep the larger residents disinterested. Then I would fill the beds with a good soil mix and amend it as required for specific plants.
I would also arrange the raised beds so row covers could easily be used. I have used row covers in the past and it is amazing how much they increase the heat units in the spring, prevent sun scald and stave off frost in the fall. For watering a simple gravity soaker hose (for rows) or drip hose (for individual plants) from a rain barrel work very well. We use this system at home. Works super with virtually no wasted water.
Companion cropping is also a possibility. For example growing beans alongside carrots. For us our beans are done by the time the carrots are ready to harvest.
Also don't forget about any little microclimates you might have around your cabin. Always neat to try and grow something two or three zones out of their supposed range.
I would love to get into heritage seeds and plants. They are so very interesting. The only heritage we have is a couple of rhubarb plants we rescued from my grandfather's garden. They likely originated from plants he had 100 years ago. They may have even come over on the boat with him. He was a gardener in England.
Anyways, hope you folks have a great time working out what grows best in your situation/conditions. Sometimes experimenting is half the fun.
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smitty
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# Posted: 15 Sep 2011 05:04pm
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Thanks folks,
So it looks like a fence is in order for the critters, and if I plant any fruit trees, or bushes, they need to away from the cabin, and fenced off, so I don't attract bears to our camp. And I'm going to have to do some canopy clearing.
Bugs,
I tried companion planting this year, it didn't work out for me this time, but I'm going to try again. I planted peas next to the corn, thinking the corn would provide what the beans needed, and the beans provide what the corn needs, and they would use the corn to climb. Well our corn only got 4 feet tall, and the beans died in the drought. But going to keep trying. We also got a late start with the seeds, so we are just now getting tomatoes, and I hope to get them in before frost.
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bugs
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# Posted: 15 Sep 2011 05:52pm - Edited by: bugs
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Hey Smitty
Ah well win some lose some. We have given up on corn, peas and potatoes. We focus on growing things we really enjoy; carrots, wax/green beans and tomatoes. The rest we get from our farmers' market.
Last year we were so wet that blight (I understand it was the same pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine.) wiped out our tomatoes and potatoes. First time that has happened in decades. This year was much drier and we got a nice crop of tomatoes to fill the freezer.
Ah the frost. We had -5C on Wed morning in the middle of the city. Froze essentially everything. So we have trays of tomatoes ripening in the house and rhubarb freezer jam in the works.
There is a book out re companion cropping: Carrots love Tomatoes by L. Riotte. And also: Proven tips for lazy gardeners by L. Tilgner. The lady wife also has a book, The gin and tonic gardener: Confessions of a reformed compulsive gardener. The author, J Wells, seems to champion a lot of sitting in a comfy lawn chair in the garden with a gin and tonic (hence the title) in hand most of the time. Err are you noticing a theme developing here!!
Anyway, wish you all the success in your endeavors.
bugs
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Bevis
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# Posted: 15 Sep 2011 10:14pm
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When I had my Cabin, I built a small Geo Dome greenhouse. I could grow whatever, whenever I wanted. Google it.
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hattie
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# Posted: 11 Apr 2012 01:13pm - Edited by: hattie
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Spring has arrived and yesterday we planted our onions outside. Our greenhouse was planted some time ago and is doing very well. It really helps extend the growing season here. The plants in the pots that you see in the photos will be transplanted outside. Our key lime tree really likes the greenhouse. We will move it outside when the weather improves.
We have carrots, beans, peas, tomatoes, lettuce radishes, spinach, cucumbers, chives, basil, dill, rosemary, mint and parsley all growing quite well in the greenhouse.
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tnky03
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# Posted: 12 Apr 2012 01:03am
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Quoting: hattie We have carrots, beans, peas, tomatoes, lettuce radishes, spinach, cucumbers, chives, basil, dill, rosemary, mint and parsley all growing quite well in the greenhouse.
Hattie, what beautiful plants! You are sure to have lots and lots of good veggies this year. Do you can or preserve any of your harvest?
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Seto
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# Posted: 12 Apr 2012 12:33pm
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my forested lot has 2 cover types, most is green ash, bur oak, elm, and a few others, the rest is on top of an old DOT landfill (DOT used the lot in the 50s as a dumping site for debris left over from building a highway, i got the place really cheap because of this), the landfill area is all Box alder (a soft maple) and elm. the alder were in very poor shape from old ice damage so i cleared a lot of this area.
i set up a bunch of raised bed gardens and container gardens, there is a lot of "alternative" gardening methods that can be used on non conventional sites.
if your not up for clearing i would suggest you look into permaculture methods, these are long term food forests, planting native species that will offer high yields of food requiring little maintenence, there are other methods called forest gardening, cornell univeristy has a booklet online called "forest gardens", planting understory shade tollerant plants that can resist wildlife to some degree.
as per wildlife there are ways to keep them out, a plastic coyote decoy is available from several companies, they look realistic and if left in the garden and occasionally moved they will keep a lot of smaller critters away that don't want to test if its a real coyote or not. a realistic owl or hawk in a tree also can work.
a wire mesh deer fence can be set up to a 6' height and will keep the deer out of a garden area, they are effective.
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hattie
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# Posted: 12 Apr 2012 06:47pm - Edited by: hattie
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Quoting: tnky03 Do you can or preserve any of your harvest?
Thanks tnky03:
We eat most of what we grow as it matures, but I do make strawberry jam and raspberry jam as well as raspberry preserves. Because we have the greenhouse, we are usually picking fresh produce up until Christmas.
We buy cherries, pears and peaches in a fruit belt about 1 hour away and preserve those in jars.
Hubby prefers to eat his veggies raw so that is why I don't bother freezing or canning them. As veggies mature, we plant more and are picking from outside all summer and into the early fall. Our outdoor gardens are all raised beds made of concrete. They seem to work really well for us here as they hold the heat.
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drmargy
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# Posted: 14 Apr 2012 12:38am - Edited by: drmargy
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I garden up at my float cabin. Because I have very little land space, I use mostly pots and a floating garden a friend built for me. That works well, because I can pull it out into the lake away from most critters, but not all. Geese are sometimes hard to deter. On land I do have a small plot that I have built up with compost over the years. The only thing I've found that the land critters (small ones, we have no deer in our area) leave alone is potatoes. I get a good crop every year with little more than a little water if the summer rains are scarce. - Margy
Garden Float Construction
Potato Patch
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hattie
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# Posted: 14 Apr 2012 01:52am
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Quoting: drmargy Because I have very little land space, I use mostly pots and a floating garden a friend built for me. That works well, because I can pull it out into the lake away from most critters
WOW!! Now that is clever! What a great idea!!
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tnky03
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# Posted: 14 Apr 2012 11:16am
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demargy, Your garden is awesome!
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drmargy
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# Posted: 17 Apr 2012 12:25am
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Thanks hattie and tnky03 - Margy
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sparky1
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# Posted: 30 Apr 2012 02:53pm
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I have Asparagus, some grapes, Raspberries & Dwarf Peach trees, the animals get more than I do, but they are growing. If i get some thing they are paying off,
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