Advertisement
  • Contact Us
  • State News
  • National News
  • Legals
Subscribe For $2.50/month
Print Editions
Mountain Messenger
  • News
    • Local News
    • Courthouse
      • Civil Suits
      • Deeds
      • Marriages
      • Public Meetings
      • Reunions
    • Club News
    • Education
    • Business News
    • Entertainment
    • Sports News
  • Spiritual
    • Parabola
    • Southern Baptist
    • Transcendental Meditation
    • Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston
    • Church Bulletin
  • Obituaries
  • Columns
    • A Look Back
    • Back Down Country Roads
    • Dear Recycle Lady
    • Between The Lines
    • Letters to the Editor
  • eMessenger
  • Special Publications
    • Properties and Lifestyles
    • State Fair Guide
  • My Account
  • Login
  • FAQ
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Local News
    • Courthouse
      • Civil Suits
      • Deeds
      • Marriages
      • Public Meetings
      • Reunions
    • Club News
    • Education
    • Business News
    • Entertainment
    • Sports News
  • Spiritual
    • Parabola
    • Southern Baptist
    • Transcendental Meditation
    • Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston
    • Church Bulletin
  • Obituaries
  • Columns
    • A Look Back
    • Back Down Country Roads
    • Dear Recycle Lady
    • Between The Lines
    • Letters to the Editor
  • eMessenger
  • Special Publications
    • Properties and Lifestyles
    • State Fair Guide
  • My Account
  • Login
  • FAQ
No Result
View All Result
Mountain Messenger
No Result
View All Result

Nature’s Way

Expand Your Horizons

adam by adam
April 28, 2023
in Natures Way
0
0
SHARES
14
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

How do you prepare for a new garden plot? We are finding that every year, sometimes several times a year, we want to expand our garden. This happens usually after perusing the seed catalogs or visiting a friend’s garden. Longing for more, more, and more, is the American way, and that’s when ideas begin to percolate. More space would allow more flowers, more veggies, even more of what we already have. Such as onions! Onions are cheap in the store but if you have ever seen our friend Josh’s onions, you will hanker for some even if you aren’t that big on eating onions.
Pre-planning is always the best route to go. You might as well write in your garden diary that next year a new plot will be inducted into the rest of the alumni. Determine the sunlight throughout the day and then select a new area. Maybe it is already growing grass, dandelions, and what have you. That’s ok. Thick black plastic will do the trick of smothering that stuff. We buy it by the roll and spread it out flat across the area we plan to rehabilitate. Don’t do this on a windy day; you will be frustrated for sure. Have handy rocks or bricks to anchor it down. If you allow even a foot of loose plastic, the wind will eventually get under the whole works and tear it up.
Black plastic kills grass pretty quickly by heating up and drying out everything under it within a few months, depending on how hot it is outside. When it is finally removed, you are left with clumps of dry, dead matter which can be raked out easily and tossed into your compost pile and left to rot further. Piling on fresh compost onto this newly exposed soil will give it nutrients, water it in to give the worms an invitation to a moist place to dig into. Let it all break down a bit more before putting your plants in. You can add an organic fertilizer if you feel more is needed. Soil tests are great to use for new plots.
Another method which doesn’t involve plastic is called the lasagna method. This is a layering process which gives you a place to put all that cardboard that accumulates from packages. Without removing the grass from your intended spot, pile on fresh manure or partially decomposed vegetable matter. Then pile another layer of leaves, another of grass clippings if you have those next. Cover it all with large swaths of cardboard. Water it thoroughly and repeat another whole layer of manure, compost, leaves, grass, water again and let it sit. My suggestion is to prepare another bed this spring so that by next year or even late fall to expand your growing area. You will use it, I guarantee.
Since we live and grow food in deer country, fencing is our choice for keeping critters out. We have bought dog fenced kennels, six feet high by ten feet long and attached them all into one big rectangle. Inside that is our garden area, safe and sound. The fencing keeps out rabbits and cats and dogs, oh my, and anything else that roams into our yard. Yes, we know how high deer can jump so there is one more tactic used to deter them. We have collected from the woods, 10 foot branches, about 4 inches wide, not too thick because they will be heavy. We lean these onto the fencing in a diagonal angle from the ground to the top of the fence. Nothing is required to fasten them; the weight keeps them secure in their place. When we have to mow the lawn around the garden, the branches or poles get tossed backward out of the way and then stood up again when we are finished mowing. Don’t ask me the reason why deer will not jump over the diagonal poles. When I worked on a huge organic farm in South Jersey, the farmer used this method with diagonal thick wires anchored to stakes in the ground and attached to the top of the fences with clips. He taught us that this method works. Perhaps the diagonal barriers along with the horizontal fence confuses Bambi and crew; they won’t try to jump when they cannot sense the distance. I know they can jump straight up in the air right over 10 feet of fencing. I have seen them do just that. But add either a double fence row or the diagonal poles/wires every 18 inches and they will not go near it.
I hope our experience will be yours, too, depending on how hungry those critters at your place are. I am always willing to share with four-leggeds and offer them lush clover lawns, daylilies by the scores, and evergreen bushes in the winter. I never put out tulips, hostas, lilies, salad greens, oh the list goes on and on, within deer territory for it will be gone. I expand my horizons and drop some dough on more fencing.
(Karen Cohen is an organic home gardener, seed saver and swapper, and would love your comments, tips, and questions. Email natureswaykaren@gmail.com And Happy Gardening!)

Sign up for our newsletter.

Enter your email address to receive weekly updates.

You will receive a confirmation email for your subscription. Please check your inbox and spam folder to complete the confirmation process.
Some fields are missing or incorrect!
Lists
Previous Post

Flag Etiquette: Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag

Next Post

New WV driver’s license design features New River Gorge Bridge

Next Post
New WV driver’s license design features New River Gorge Bridge

New WV driver’s license design features New River Gorge Bridge

Please login to join discussion

Sign up for our newsletter.

Enter your email address to receive weekly updates.

You will receive a confirmation email for your subscription. Please check your inbox and spam folder to complete the confirmation process.
Some fields are missing or incorrect!
Lists
ADVERTISEMENT
  • National News
  • WV State News
  • VA State News
  • Contact Us

© [year] Mountain Media News

  • Login
Forgot Password?
Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.
body::-webkit-scrollbar { width: 7px; } body::-webkit-scrollbar-track { border-radius: 10px; background: #f0f0f0; } body::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb { border-radius: 50px; background: #dfdbdb }
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Local News
    • Courthouse
      • Civil Suits
      • Deeds
      • Marriages
      • Public Meetings
      • Reunions
    • Club News
    • Education
    • Business News
    • Entertainment
    • Sports News
  • Spiritual
    • Parabola
    • Southern Baptist
    • Transcendental Meditation
    • Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston
    • Church Bulletin
  • Obituaries
  • Columns
    • A Look Back
    • Back Down Country Roads
    • Dear Recycle Lady
    • Between The Lines
    • Letters to the Editor
  • eMessenger
  • Special Publications
    • Properties and Lifestyles
    • State Fair Guide
  • My Account
  • Login
  • FAQ

© [year] Mountain Media News