[Buttoni]

Are you sure you don't want to grow some kind of cover crop to improve the soil at your BOL? You might get there to find that weeds have grown in your prepared soil or erosion has occured otherwise. The wind or birds can introduce weed seeds into your garden area. At least keeping a layer of mulch between your beds where you want things to grow later would help too. I have never heard of the term "kugelgardening" It seems like a good way to passively improve your soil year after year.

Oh, with the layered Kugelgardening and my composting in place for over a year now, I think I'm good to go. I already thought of cover crop & have a couple pound of clover seeds for nixing nitrogen and managing weeds. And I also have been taking lots of cardboard, mulch and have TONS of dead leaves to create a weed free area in and around the two raised beds as well as my in-ground garden areas. I just haven't been down there enough lately due to my husband's health problems to get to the nitty-gritty of pulling the garden all together. Going down tomorrow to start that process. Just pulled off enough for bedding plants off my in-town garden to set out for my first planting out.

 

[Mr.penguin]

UPDATE:
In the rural garden the biggest portion has been cut and is being burned slowly in a fire pit. Local fire warnings prevent traditional slash and burn techniques as a fire would quickly spread in this dry windy weather we have been having. I plan on spreading the ash and some compost we have been making then planting a cover crop mix. Hopefully that will be done this weekend.

In the urban gardens I have had some failure keeping indoor plants alive so I am in the market for some plants to keep outside. I am already behind on my weeding so I am thinking of adding a layer of leaf mulch. I have plenty of leaves around the empty lot that I can cut with my lawn mower.

 

[CC Pereira]

My grandmother taught me to use black plastic garbage bags (to cover the ground around the plants you want to grow) instead of weeding, which really seems to work rather well.

 

[Mr.penguin]

I had my first salad from the garden today. Radish tops and bottoms with dandelion and clover I foraged from my lawn. The clover tastes like spinach with a hint of vanilla. I think it would make a good smoothie. Once I get more of it growing I'll try that. All of the dandelion in the empty lot went to seed. I am debating if I should save some of it for later use. I am hoping for a few hot days in a row so I can dry some mint for tea. Speaking of tea has anyone tried making weed tea to feed their plants with? Lord knows I have plenty of weeds.

 

[CC Pereira]

I had my first salad from the garden today. Radish tops and bottoms with dandelion and clover I foraged from my lawn. The clover tastes like spinach with a hint of vanilla. I think it would make a good smoothie. Once I get more of it growing I'll try that. All of the dandelion in the empty lot went to seed. I am debating if I should save some of it for later use. I am hoping for a few hot days in a row so I can dry some mint for tea. Speaking of tea has anyone tried making weed tea to feed their plants with? Lord knows I have plenty of weeds.

Garden soil can be mixed with compost, then steeped in warm water for about an hour, and strained, to produce a nutrient infused water. Clover is rich in nutrients, such as calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, carotene, chlorophyll, etc. Dandelions are also rich in potassium and other nutrients. So I think plants like clover, dandelion, and other 'weeds', could be used to make nutrient infused water for the soil and for plants.

 

[Buttoni]

I've started a red wiggler worm 'farm'. Just fed them for the second time today. I'll have worm castings as well as the ability to make fertilizer liquid 'tea' from them in a bucket of water. You don't have to age it before applying to plants like chicken and cow poop. Plan to eventually divide so I can have a worm 'hotel' both here in the city and at our BOL.

 

[LunaticFringeInc]

If you got any space at all to work with I think your a fool as a prepper if you aint doing some gardening even if its just a small one to supplement what you buy at the store! Even when I lived in an apartment My patio had a gang of things going year round to give me a little something to keep the pantry stocked and shaved off a little of the expense of shopping at the grocery store.

Gardening is definitely a skill that you will need to build over time as your not likely to have a gang buster harvest the first season. Building good soil takes time. Figuring out what works for you and what doesnt is a exercise of trail and error as you wont likely perfect it the first time you try it. Starting out with something as small as a 8x12 Victory Garden in the back yard thats more of a hobby, than fod production is a great way to break into gardening so when you have to do it "for real" youll be well ahead of the power curve!

 

[Mr.penguin]

I've started a red wiggler worm 'farm'.

My worms are free-range, organic, native and locally sourced. Meaning I just kinda dug for a few nearby and put them in my compost pile.