Vegetables Gardening - Growing Organic Vegetables

Welcome Bryant,
  I to am on the Tall side and as I grow older my back reminds me of all my zealousness of my youth. I live in Portland Oregon and we are known for our web feet. I have been lately using the Lasagna method where I make 20 foot long rows. I mow out the area and then weed whack it to the nubs and then lay down card board and build me a nice 3 to 4 foot high mound of wood chips as a base then I add leaves and grass and prunnings and we have amounted horse patrol with out police and they give away all the Horse pooh you can haul.For me that works out to be about 3 to 5 yards...and they use a cob bedding with grass as a bedding and they feed the horses Alfalfa and Oats& Barley. So Horses only digest 2/3rds of what they eat so the pooh is very rich in Nitrogen and so is their urine. So this really fires up the pile. So when all is said and done my pile is about 5 to 7 feet tall about 6 feet wide at the base and I cover this all in black plastic. Then take my
fork and poke some air holes along the length. In about two weeks the pile is about 130 degrees +/- mostly plus...by mid winter though it is down to about 85 to 95 degrees and come spring the temp is down to the mid 60s +/- and the pile is about 4 feet tall the base is still 6 feet. Now we are renowned for or rain, it is why we are so green, literally. So I use hoops and then I run a floating row cover over them. Now here in Portland we have this out fit called Harbor Freight and they sell all kinds of tools and gizmos and they have these metal clamps that look like giant clothes pins and I can get them for like 10 for $3 or 4 dollars and my row covers come from a very nice thrift store in the bedding section and I can buy enough sheets to cover the row for about $2 ( cuz they sell this stuff by the pound) Then with my giant clothes pins I clamp then to the hoops and it reduces the wind and rain. One of the spiffy things about the Lasagna rows is that
you can plant the sides as well. Many folks say you cant grow corn but I put four poles along the base every four feet and run three strands of clothes lines and the corn grows right up and the lines give them the support they need. The point is Bending is kept to a bare minimum. I use one row to grow pole beans and use the beans to make a tent and then grow my greens in the middle.

 Any way this will help build up the soil also and if you make the Cardboard layer thick enough and sprinkle some Tabasco between the layers it should deter some of your tunnelers. As for the deer and the others I always suggest a visit to a zoo and to bring a bucket or two and have them get you some fresh Lion Poop. Make it into a slurry and dip strips of cloth into it and distribute them around the perimeter of your property and into the forest about 20 or thirty Yards and this will establish the sent of Predator that will eat me and they will leave you alone for about 3 months then repeat the process. I think some of your other critter problems will also disappear as well.
jeff   

________________________________
From: pax4me <bbuchan@utica.edu>
To: Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, November 27, 2011 2:13 PM
Subject: [Organic_Gardening] New Member - Upstate NY


 
Hello All,
I'm new to the group. We just bought a new place this past summer and I'm hoping to finally get to put in my dream garden. We're USDA zone 4 in Upstate New York near the Adirondack Mountains at about 1250 ft (380m) on a hill of sandy loam on top of shale. Gardens will be in a couple of clearings in what is otherwise forest. It's usually very wet with long, hard winters. I planted a few fruit trees and berries this year and enough basil for pesto but the vegetable garden didn't happen. I'm planning raised beds. Big issues here are short growing season with few bright sunny days, weeds, critters (deer, rabbits, and groundhogs), and fungal diseases.

one thing I'm interested to learn from all of you raised bed gardeners in wet areas...what kinds of materials are you using for your raised beds? I have some fairly significant back issues, am tall to begin with, and would like to make mine a bit taller than average and I'd like them to last.

best wishes to you all,
Bryant

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