Hi Diane,

I'm a regular lurker around here, and learning so much from all of you, but I have to comment on your amazing garden plan! I understand your need to see it 'in color', since I'm a big fan of graph paper and architect's scales, too. Love the plan, and looking forward to seeing shots of your progress along the way.
Carol

Diane, That looks very ambitious, so we don't need to ask what you will do in your spare time. The fruit orchard will be a wonderful addition and should act as a bit of wind break and snow fence because I'm sure you get some wind over those corn fields.

Al picked up chicken feed for me and the guy wanted to know if we were getting any eggs since he said no one else was. We have gotten 9 or 10 a day all week and I only have 13 hens. I can't say mine look very pretty right now tho. It does seem like we are getting a lot for January.

Diane,

It looks great. It also looks huge. It is going to be so exciting to watch as your develop your raw land into a productive garden.

Our chickens are laying heavily too, y'all. It seems like we've had more sunshine than usual in winter here in our area, and on the very cold nights they have a light on for heat and that also influences the egg-laying. Our hens produce better in sunnier, warmer winters and are laying much better this winter than they did last winter.

Dawn

Diane,
Awesome plan! Seems to be very big garden, almost an acre. Its going to be exiting to watch future events you have planned.

Are you putting some kind of boarder to each 4'x20' beds? How about open space between each beds? are you planting some ground cover/grass or adding mulch?

Right now I am thinking to use 2"x12"x16' wooden flanks to build raised beds while retaining lawn between beds (paths). half of the wooden flank will be inserted in the ground to keep grass away.

Nice to see you out of lurkdom, Carol!

Carol (#2? LOL) and Dawn, glad your birds are putting out, too. Ours weren't for quite a while but, since putting them in the new house, they're doing really well (with no heating or light).

The garden will be pretty big, that's for sure. Of course, I'll want to use every last bit of it up but I'm going to try to leave a bit of it fallow each year, rotating throughout the space. Note I said "try". LOL

Chandra, eventually hubby will build something durable, such as from metal scraps. For now, we'll put up a few wood-sided beds since it's the cheaper way to get started. Hubby's a welder and, as we rebuild our metal scrap pile, he'll probably replace the wood with metal as it needs replaced. (We had to leave 99% of hubby's metal behind when we moved last fall.)

I'm hoping to leave grass between each bed since we're north of the Bermuda line. I reserve the right to change my mind about that, though, as I learn what particular battles this place holds. I do dream of being able to just walk with the lawnmower between rows and having a magazine-pretty garden one day. We'll see how that works out in real life...

It's all open to change as reality smacks us upside the head. In the meantime, it's nice to dream and have at least some map to point us to the future, eh?

Diane

Diane,

I am very excited for you. I hope you'll take pictures, even before the first spade hits the dirt, so you'll have a record of your progress. Kudos to you!

Seedmama

I spend sometime this evening to sketch the garden plan for new beds. Here is our new garden plan, beds in bright green are the new raised beds planned for 2011...
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Big work now is to remove grass, construct wooden boarders, prepare soil.

There is plenty of room for change, I am quite open to any new ideas, advise, suggestions... please feel free to comment. Cheers -Chandra

Such graphic planning boggles my mind. I don't even plant in straight rows! You both have very impressive plans.

Diane, I'm envious of the "above the Bermuda line" part, just not envious of the cooler temps.

What kind of chickens are you raising? Are they in their first year of laying? Our birds are laying pretty well this year, as well. I only just got a light on them about three weeks ago, but they were laying better than usual anyway. But the Kraienkoppes are successfully hiding their eggs somewhere in the hay barn. Any time now, I suspect one will show up with a batch of chicks.

I still have about 15-20 Muscovies to butcher and a number of cockerels. Maybe today I'll get some of that done. Today Jerreth is taking our youngest daughter up to Bolivar, MO; to start back in school.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Seedmama, having a record of the progress is part of the purpose of posting it to my blog -- and a fun one for me. I love posting initial plans & pics of projects we have planned, updating as they progress, then going back in a few years to compare the plans with what reality turned out to have in store for us. The trick is to not take myself and my plans too terribly seriously because there are far too many curve balls out there, just waiting to knock my teeth in.

George, the chickens we have now are just a few of what we bought from McMurray last spring as day-olds. There are mostly Light Brahma with one lonely Buff Orp and a stray that came running out of the woods at us one day in Oklahoma. I believe she's some sort of RIR mix. Oh, and my son's Turken. We had over 50 chickens before we moved but got rid of most to make the move easier. We'll be placing another order before long to replenish the flock but not yet sure what we'll get.

Chandra, nice! What do you plant in those beds on the north side of the house? We've both certainly got our work cut out for us, don't we?

Diane

Diane, last year I used that small bed (8x2)for growing herbs (thyme, oregano, basil, lemon balm, mint, chives). But I not yet made any decision about those two new additions, probably more herbs, but don't know?