Being that, I have animals of all kinds. I push all the manure from all of them into a pile every year. I do not add sand and, do not have to water at all.
My suggestion to anyone wanting a work free garden (After planting) is to, ask you local farmer to drop off a (Mason Dump) truck load of manure in one pile.
Take a shovel and, shove it into the pile with the spade straight down then pull it straight out to create a ledge (Strawberry Pot, Sandcastle kind of effect).
Plant in the ledge be it seed or, plant and, let it go, walk away, you're done.
The manure stays warm and moist all summer even in a dry year. If you plan on going on vacation for a month? Run the hose out and soak the entire pile so, you won't have to worry about it.
I yield more zukes, cukes, melons, beans tomatoes, carrots, beets, pumpkins, watermelons, swiss chard, etc, etc, etc, and especially collard greens than I can eat, give away or, put up. I feed the animals any blemished fruits during the growing season to make next years compost even better.
I still have collards in the freezer from last years harvest and they are still DELICIOUS !
I do not use store bought pesticide or, fertilizers of any kind. I did throw down food grade D.E. for the stink bugs last year and, it worked great but, it worked great on the bees and, my oh so loved ladybugs as well so, I had to hand pollinate which takes forever. This year I am raising praying mantis as my only means of pesticide. They will assist in pollination and, eat the stink bugs and other creepy crawlies. The ladybugs stand a chance this way too.
Happy planting to all I hope this helps?
"Store" your own food, Stay out of the pesticidal stores"
Being that, I have animals of all kinds. I push all the manure from all of them into a pile every year. I do not add sand and, do not have to water at all.
My suggestion to anyone wanting a work free garden (After planting) is to, ask you local farmer to drop off a (Mason Dump) truck load of manure in one pile.
Take a shovel and, shove it into the pile with the spade straight down then pull it straight out to create a ledge (Strawberry Pot, Sandcastle kind of effect).
Plant in the ledge be it seed or, plant and, let it go, walk away, you're done.
The manure stays warm and moist all summer even in a dry year. If you plan on going on vacation for a month? Run the hose out and soak the entire pile so, you won't have to worry about it.
I yield more zukes, cukes, melons, beans tomatoes, carrots, beets, pumpkins, watermelons, swiss chard, etc, etc, etc, and especially collard greens than I can eat, give away or, put up. I feed the animals any blemished fruits during the growing season to make next years compost even better.
I still have collards in the freezer from last years harvest and they are still DELICIOUS !
I do not use store bought pesticide or, fertilizers of any kind. I did throw down food grade D.E. for the stink bugs last year and, it worked great but, it worked great on the bees and, my oh so loved ladybugs as well so, I had to hand pollinate which takes forever. This year I am raising praying mantis as my only means of pesticide. They will assist in pollination and, eat the stink bugs and other creepy crawlies. The ladybugs stand a chance this way too.
Happy planting to all I hope this helps?
"Store" your own food, Stay out of the pesticidal stores"