plot expansion project

We made a bit more progress in removing the weeds in the space where I will expand my plot. Still more weeds to pull..... We also got the old chain saw running again. I think next week we'll need it for some stump removal.

community plot expansion project

community plot expansion project

I was given permission to expand my plot about 15 feet to the east. This area is overgrown now with 10 foot weeds and a couple small buck thorn trees. There are also several good sized stumps and rocks to deal with. I'm looking forward to a couple hours of working on this today, before the rains of Hurricane Hanna come through over the weekend.

I'll work at this project step-by-step, and hopefully get to Step 2 today.

Step 1: Pull up all the weeds, remove rocks. I'd like to remove the tall weeds an extra 5 feet, too, and have a mowed grassy path around my garden. The way the weeds are now shades my garden too much. I'll figure out the stumps later.

Step 2: Mark out the edge where my fence will go.

Step 3: Add as much compost as I can find, hopefully 2-3 inches. Add lime. Turn this under. I'll collect a soil sample later.

Step 4: Seed the garden area with a cover crop. I think I'll use clover, maybe mix in some rye grass. Seed the path area with grass seed.


community plot expansion project

community plot work

(Click on the photo and mouse over for plant labels.)





A good day for getting a few jobs done at the garden plot. Here's what we did:
- Clear out dead summer squash vines.
- Remove all but 3 tomato vines and poles.
- Pick dried beans.
- Harvest broccoli.
- Harvest basil.
- Put up trellis for fall peas.
- Weeding.
In the plot expansion area:
- More weed clearing.
- Move the weed pile out of the area I plan to use as a garden.
- Measure new space: its 12 ft by 21 ft. That's a total of 252 sq ft of new space. (My old space is 15 ft by 24 ft, 360 sq ft. new and old together will be 612 sq ft.)
- Dig out one big stump and start removing it with chain saw.

My next jobs are:
- Process basil leaves and freeze as pesto.
- Lime and seed winter cover crop in the squash bed. (The lime amount recommended in my soil test results was 13 lbs per 100 sq ft this fall. For my approx 8 by 8 ft squash bed, I should add 8 lbs of lime.) (I got my mail-ordered fall cover crop seeds from Johnny's this week. I ordered 1/4 lb Crimson Cover and 1/4 lb Mixed Fall Green Manure Mix seeds. The clover should be sowed soon - by late summer. I'll seed 1/4 to 1/3 of this pkg in my squash bed ASAP.)
- Plant garlic.

community plot expansion project

finished and fenced

As I remember, the original conversation went like this: me "I was thinking about enlarging my garden for next year", husband "Oh we can just move the fence over", me "What about the stumps", husband "Oh, we'll just take them out". Me "Great!". It seemed so easy. So we started at it...... Now, several weeks later, with sore backs and blisters, a BIG pile of rocks and giant uprooted stumps, we are done.

But its a beautiful fresh new plot of dirt. Definitely a cause for celebrating with a nice martini!

The photos show my new plot from each of the four corners. The new dimensions are 23-24 feet x 27-29 feet. (The plot is not square, so the paired numbers are each end.) About 660 square feet total.

My old plot was 15 x 24 ft, 360 sq feet. So it now almost twice the size.

And I'm planning all sorts of new crops for next year. Here's my list of my new ideas.

community plot expansion project

more work on plot expansion

I'm lucky to have assistance with this project. We've got some gigantic stumps. (6 big ones and 4 or 5 little ones.) Too bad we couldn't just bury a charge of explosive under them, back up and let them blow. Nevertheless, we are making progress. And we'll sleep soundly tonight after all this work.


community plot expansion project

plot work

Four stumps out, six more to go. One enormous rock gone, several middle sized ones yet to move. I'm still hoping to get a cover crop on this new soil before too long.

community plot expansion project

finished !!

Don't you love a clear plot of fresh dirt!

We finished removing all of the stumps and rocks today. We moved two giant rocks under the lilac as benches. And I limed and seeded green manure/winter cover crop. I am imagining rows of productive crops next year....

(Tomorrow we will move the fence to encompass the newly cleared area.)

community plot expansion project

the big rock

Well, I didn't get out to my garden today so I'm posting these photos of "THE BIG ROCK".

Last weekend, the big rock took up several hours of our time. It was too heavy to move out of my new plot space and too big to leave in place.

It was a multi step process with lots of negotiations to finally dispose of it.

1. Use come-along chains to pull it into position on the edge of the hole where a giant stump was taken from.

2. Use the muscle power of an old man and a young whipper-snapper to topple it into the hole.

3. Next, my son's discovery, smack the rock with a mallet and shatter it into pieces.

4. (My job) Fill the hole with dirt and then there's no sign of the rock 12 inches down and the weekend of work is forgotten and I can plan next year's garden.

community plot expansion project

still raining......

I thought the weather was clearing when I went to the plot today. But no! Just as Skippy and I got there, the sky opened up. Skippy was pleased when I grabbed the tarp that covered my lawn mower and propped it up with garden poles. The two of us sat on a towel under it (Skippy is such a clean dog..) and watched the downpour. It lasted about 15 minutes.

After the downpour ended I worked in the drizzle, but Skippy was very glad to stay under the cover. My husband and son came and helped (well they did more work than me and lots more than Skippy). Two more stumps are gone.

Of the 10 stumps we started with, we now have three left to remove. We've removed six (!) and have decided to leave the corner one where it is.

(I'll have to do a post someday on how to remove tree stumps....)

community plot expansion project