I tried to think of a title to describe my situation, don't know how well I did.

I will be able to have a garden plot this year, as I am a member of an association that owns land with garden plots on it. However, it is only "mine" for the season. Everything gets tilled up in the fall (including piles of leaves) and the following spring, so there is no possibility of planting anything perennial (and having it still be there next year that is). In fact, it's far from certain that you'll even have the same plot from year to year.

So, I want to be as efficient as possible about what I put into it. I have a limited amount of compost that I can incorporate. I don't mind adding needed nutrients (I'd have to do just about the same anyway, even if I owned it). Everything I put in has to be easily removed, and I will need fencing to keep the rabbits out.

Some of the things I'm thinking about are what to use for fencing that will be easy to remove and store, including posts (limited storage space). I don't want to go to all the effort to bury the bottom and then have to dig it up again. I was thinking about laying some of it on the ground and weighting it down -- with wood, piping, whatever I can find. I plan to have some sort of wheeled cart or something to drag over my tools on a day-to-day basis, as it's with walking distance (for the heavy stuff, I'll take my van). I want to put a big tub of some sort in the garden area to fill with water so that it will be warmed by the sun -- otherwise, it'll come out of the hose cold as can be. Besides, the water is a shared resource and someone else might be using it when I want to.

Now, as for what to grow, I do have ideas about that. Stuff like rhubarb and asparagus or most berries, which take a number of years to develop, are right out. But I am thinking about strawberries. Haven't tried growing them before. I know they can last more than one year, but is it terribly wasteful to plant them every year? Can I get a crop in one year? And I am especially interested in "Jewel" since Polly recommends them so much.

I would also like to practice growing various "grains" for my birds. I won't have trouble getting seed. I have their various seeds that I can plant. Lots of different millets, plus I have oats, barley, wheat, stuff like that. Anyone grown anything like that? What did you do to keep the birds away from them, both as newly seeded and as maturing grains?

I plan on lots of conventional things too, like tomatoes, carrots, other veggies, and maybe some flowers (especially marigolds, lots of things don't like marigolds), but I think I can figure that out or ask questions as they come up. Well, here is one, there is supposed to be verticillum wilt endemic in the soil, but I saw plenty of tomatoes growing there last year! Still, I am thinking about putting the tomatoes in big planters . . . I'll probably still grow my cherry tomatoes in the Earth Boxes on my deck. Have to have them handy for noshing.

I plan to use mulch of some sort, horticultural paper if nothing else. I'm afraid to use grass clippings from curbside pick ups -- don't know what icky chemicals might be in them. Guess I should mention that too, I want to grow organically, and hope no one "next door" uses anything that drifts over onto mine!

So, ideas, suggestions, questions, comments?

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001

Answers

Joy, this might sound funny to you , but I just spent the day digging burdock out of my perrenial flower bed, and all I could think of while I read your comments, was wow, she'll never have to do that, and oh how the wild morning glories take over my asparagus bed every summer. So , Joy there are some good things about this kind of situation, smile.

don't forget sunflowers and amaranth, amaranth is great, there are alot of pretty and different varieties, you can eat it's greens and it's seeds, I'm sure your birds could eat them too.

Well I hope everybody else responds and gives you some info. all i can think of right now is burdock, I'll probably dream about it tonight. Maybe there is a lesson to learn from Burdock. Let me see, grow your roots deep and when the organic gardener comes along to dig you out, break loose, leaving a bit of root to grow back, endure, survive. Joy , I wish the best of gardening. Have fun. tren

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001

Do you want me to post all the stuff I mentioned again?

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Hi Joy, for fencing I would look at using the electric fence posts for portable fence. Then use a chicken wire with it, doesn't have to be too tall, to keep the rabbits etc. out. Chicken wire is fairly easy to roll back up and move it. Tren mentioned amaranth, I have never gotten it to do very well in Michigan. What kind are you using? You can get strawberries the first year, but not as much as you would the second year. Your greenhouse should be able to tell you what types of tomatoes are verticillum resistant, there are some. This sounds like such a fun challenge. more later!!!

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Hey Joy!! Yep, I'm totally sold on Jewel berries. (Daisy Farms, Decatur, MI) You will get a crop the first year but it is really nothing compared to what you will get in the next few years. Have you thought about putting some Rhubarb or Berries in containers? Like big Rubbermaid type storage containers? Only problem would be somewhere to store them where the roots wouldn't suffer a killing freeze; and I would worry more about the rhubarb than the berries in that case. And your precious compost would be used where it would do you the most good. I'd stick to annuals in the rental patch. Have you seen the tub fruit trees that Stark Bros. sells, and also their trees that they have developed for espaliers? Those wouldn't take up much room.

Do you, or anyone else you know take the newspaper or do you know where there is a recycling bin? I use the paper shredder at work (shhh- don't tell!) to shred the previous days paper and bring it home and toss it in with my chicks to help compost it, or just use it plain around plants that need mulched. Shredded newspaper breaks down faster than flat sheets, but both will have broken down well before the season is over.

I've heard of using aluminum foil mulch under peppers to scare off aphids. I put cardboard boxes down under the wood chips between my beds, and when I raked off the wood chips to move things around a bit, I was amazed to see how much the cardboard had broken down - and totally astounded by the number of huge, fat nightcrawlers that had moved in and made themselves at home. I'm using big appliance boxes that my ex-hubby saves for me in my new beds; mashing them flat and putting them down over soil that has been tilled with some compost in it, then topping it with more composted manure. I'll just cut X's where the plants go and bend back the triangles to plant, then mulch around it with newspapers. I expect it to help keep down the weeds, hold moisture and attract worms.

Whatever you do - good luck with your big new garden!!

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

That's a bummer on the strawberries. I really don't have anywhere to overwinter them. The garage gets too cold.

I do have lots of paper, Polly. I don't know how I forgot mentioning that. My birds use up a lot of paper. I've been saving it up now, poops and all, and plan to put it down face down. I'll need something heavier on it though to keep it from blowing away. This also reminds me that I have a stockpile of some of those paper bags like sunflower seeds (wild bird feeding) comes in. Or maybe I don't - - maybe I gave them all to Julie last year, have to look.

No, Julie, you don't have to put in any of your suggestions again, I saved the emails. Just want to get other opinions and slants. YOU should grow strawberries.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Heh. Funny you should mention about strawberries! I was eyeballing a couple of flower beds already and thinking of interplanting, or possibly edging them with strawberry plants. The robins and hte mice should love it. (snark snark)

I was thinking about how you might do a hanging bag strawberry garden. They need more constant watering, so you might have to do something like hang them somewhere that you can have a continuous drip irrigation like at greenhouses, especially if you want to go away for weekends in the summer or for when it gets really hot and dry there and things need watering twice a day. If you planted them in the bags, you could take them down and store them in styrofoam coolers packed with peat or something, store them up back under your deck near the house -- they'll stay cold, but won't have the freeze/thaw cycle.

Yes, you gave me the bags,(that's another story), but I've been saving up more this year. I can maybe get you plain brown ones from the stable if you want, just have them toss the empties on my trunk. I also have LOTS of cardboards saved up! BIG ones.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Consider a portable SquareFoot Garden plank walkway system. you could put your buried fence barrier along the edge of the plank and sink it into the ground at tilling, then connect uprights to the top of the plank for above ground barrier. fold the barrier flat for storage at the end of season. Maybe it could catch on and the others in the garden would go for it, then squares could be ready next season. Mel Bartholemew actually wrote the SFG book while managing one of thes community gardens. Another thought, consider working with the ground manager on doing winter conditioning for the grounds in general in exchange for the same plot next season. This way you could enrich your area prior to planting season also.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Joy -

My first question is Why would you spend the money on "Earthbox"?? They are very simple to make at home for MUCH less money. I'll post what I did last year if anybody is interested.

There is a form of gardening called 'bio-intensive'. It all depends on how much room you have and how much you want to grow. It calls for raised beds, and spacing plants closer than normal, on center instead of in rows. That would require beds between 3' and 4' wide, and however long you have space for. There is much less need for water and mulch.

I used this technique back in Arlington and produced all our 'plant' food - minus the grain - in less than 100 square feet. But, there are only two of us. Its really simple once you get past all the mumbo jumbo in the books.

If you are growing grains, let them till the leftovers into the soil. It will build it up really fast, as they are great 'green manure' products - and you still get to harvest the seed!! Tell them, though, as it would be such a waste were they to throw it all out.

Fencing... Do you have a cheap source for hardware cloth?? If so, a few stakes and you are all set. Rabbit fencing is expensive, and play yard fencing won't keep bunnies out at all... They are little Houdinis to quote Stan, and can squeeze just about anywhere, just like mice.

If you have some wood stakes, why not try verticle gardening? I've read of folks doing tomatoes as close as 4 inches apart that way... Never spaced them that close myself, but did put in a HUGE crop on a spacing of 8". Also, most bush beans also come in climbing varieties (and peas are obvious).

If you want some edible flowers that will be great companions for the veggies, try nasturtiums, carnations (and pinks), pansies and marigolds. All are great in salads, and the marigolds give a couple different dyes, too.

As for the wilt - you said you are going organic... Are you doing open=pollinated as well? There are some varieties of seed that product resistant strains, but most are hybrids. There is a dusting powder, but I have never had a problem in IL, where the disease is very common.

To keep cutworms out, though, start the seeds in old hershey's type cans with both ends cut out and a cap on the bottom. When planting, just take the plastic cap off and bury with 1/2" - 3/4" of the can above the soil.

Any leaves (but especially oak or pine) are great for mulch. Straw is great too, but don't use hay. I did that once.... Often seeds are left, and it is a perennial - and alfalfa will choke out anything growing there. Old newspapers - shredded or in sheets - are wonderful mulch, too.

Usually, birds don't bother the grains too much. Sunflowers - oh yeah - they'll eat those before ripe. But, the other grains are usually pretty hardy. Depends on which ones you want to grow. Bird netting will help. Tie longish strips of tinfoil to the fencing. The flash should keep most birds out - and one of those inflatable snakes will be good. Anything that moves and flashes is great for keeping the birds away.

Strawberries - they usually don't fruit the first year... In fact, normally you should pull the blossoms the first year anyway, so that they will root better and fruit the next year. I'd just put them in planters at home. I don't know of any fruits that are reliable in their first year - even blueberries, which are usually starting to fruit before being sold. Perhaps there is a new variety out there that I don't know about, though... I get seeds from some very 'out of the way' places.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

I'm going to post this here anyway. You may remember that I mentioned it earlier, but perhaps other folks will have comments on it. I read in one of my organic gardening tips books about chopping up broccoli stalks and trimmings and tilling them under where there is wilt in the soil. I don't remember if it was for Verticillum or Fusarium wilt, but I figure you can go hit up the local market for any rejects and trimmings they may have on old broccoli (cabbage for that matter?) to till under. The idea in doing this is that as it decays, broccoli gives off a gas that kills the wilt in the soil.

-- Anonymous, April 13, 2001

Hmmm. Good thing you did. I think I "lost" that email. I remember it now that you've posted it. I'll start getting some as soon as I know which section will be "mine".

-- Anonymous, April 13, 2001

Oops, didn't see Sue's post above. The "why" of Earth boxes. I already have them.

And Sue, here's a why for you, WHY hardware cloth rather than chicken wire (both are readily available here). Hardware cloth, in my experience, 'fights back' a lot more than chicken wire.

About the shiny things, just remembered this tip I read somewhere several years ago (probably Organic Gardening). Use all those "freebie" CD's that give you trial software programs or X number of minutes of AOL out in the garden. Hang them so that they will spin and flash -- scare away birds.

-- Anonymous, April 13, 2001