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I would just continue to work on the clay soil/rabbit manure mix with other organic materials such as more compost and manure. I got rabbits this year so I have started adding their poo in addition to chicken poo which I already have been adding to my soil. A soil test would be good to start...

Wow, I have been following this conversation for a few days and I am suprised at how controversial of topic it has become. I thought it began as an innocent question on how the Amish grow such great gardens and now it seems to have struck a nerve on farming defintions, techniques etc... I...

I plant in raised beds as well and I find if you really have fertile soil than you can space corn about 8-10". I did this last year and planted pole beans with my corn, the beans provided some nitrogen and I got very good results. My beds are 3 ft wide and I do three rows per bed.

I agree with adding organic matter such as leaves or straw. Since I went to raised beds and a no plow approach in my garden the earthworm population has exploded. This weekend we cleaned out a raised bed for peas, as me and my wife pulled back the old leaves and straw on top of the ground to get...

This weekend I planted potatoes, onions and sugar snap peas in the garden. I have lettuce, tomatoes, squash, zuchinni, cucumbers, watermelon, and canteloupe in the greenhouse I planted from seed about two weeks ago. Lettuce is all up and a few of the other plants have started to sprout. More...

I think Journey is right on with the days for squash since I think it bears within a 6 to 8 weeks. Also most tomatoes seem to be advertised in the 70-90 day range, some early girl's are advertised in the 50-60 day range, but I would add about two weeks to the number of days advertised for a...

No issues with rot from mine yet. You should get good drainage with this method since the potatoes are actually above the ground or in shallow soil since they are growing in the mulch.

I am on BYC although I started here first. I am also on BYH as well, can't get enough of these websites, so much info!

What I found was my bluelakes would give me two good pickings and maybe a small third picking and the plants would just about stop putting on beans. The Rattlesnakes seemed to just keep putting on beans, they slowed down after about three good pickings, but the plants kept flowering and putting...

If you let them get large they make a good sized bean that is very good as well. The pod stays tender, however like I said you get more strings. You can pull them young and they are almost stringless. The yeilds were very good as well, row for row they outproduced my bluelake bush beans I also...

We actually had some rain last year in South Carolina, we had been in drought conditions for years. I watered only a few times, maybe 4 -5 times with a soaker hose during mid to late summer. I find if you use plenty of partially rotted leaves with some straw you need much less water. The straw...

I planted Rattlesnake last year and they grew great, much better than the kentucky wonders I had tried before. They produced beans all season. The do get some strings as they get bigger, but the flavor is worth pulling a few strings. Also the beans are very nice looking with purple streaks...

I usually just lay my seed potatoes down on top of the broken ground and then cover with leaf mulch and straw. What I find is you don't seem to get quite as many potatoes, but they are easier to harvest. I then will just pull back the mulch and harvest a few each week as I need them. As the...

Vfem, Wow, I had started a ledger in my garden journel for this year so I have YTD expenditures already. A couple of questions for your project: I have small flock of chickens(4 birds), would you want this information included (feed purchased, eggs collected, fertilizer produced)? The birds...

I run my chickens directly in the garden in the off season in a chicken tractor (see my page if you want an idea of what it looks like) and before I sow a heavy feeder like corn. I bascially put a layer of shredded leaves, newspaper , straw and any other high carbon material both in with them...

I would say these are good candidates for seeds. lettuce (grows fast, you may want to try some indoors potted and direct seeded) spinach carrots (doesn't transplant well direct seed) radishes (easy, grows in about 30 days so you can mess these up a few times and still get plenty of radishes...

I planted blackeyed peas the last couple of years from dried peas I purchased at the grocery store. The elderly lady who runs one of our local feed and seed told me to do this when I asked if she had any blackeyed peas for seed. She said she did, but not to waste my money on them. For less than...

I would say a garden is a labor of love. Unless you enjoy the process of growing your own food and learning from mistakes the garden will cost you more than purchasing the veggies. I mean this not only from a cost standpoint, but also from the aggravation. If you see it as work it is work...

This is a very good point. I have issues with high summer heat and very uneven rain, lots in the spring and little in the summer. I like to look for where the heirloom varieties originated from when I select seed and see if their weather patterns are similar to mine. I suggest making sure the...

:D Good luck , hope you like them.