Adjusting the dream...

[catjac1975]

Lesa, I scaled down my dream too and I am happier than I have ever been. We had a 2500 square foot brick house and bought a 1500 square foot double wide. We had 16 acres and bought 8 acres. We are having a blast. We moved to be close to our DD and her family. It is the best move I have ever made.

Our previous home was in town, the 16 acres 3 miles out of town was black clay. If you have never experienced black clay, in hot weather it is concrete and cracks open. I have stepped in said cracks and twisted my ankle. It gets so hard that T-posts have bent from trying to drive them in to build a fence. When it rains......it goes to complete goo. It stuck to my shoes, every step I made, my feet got bigger. The black clay would suck the shoes, boots, right off my feet. Nasty mess. DH got his truck stuck once and it took a bulldozer to drag him out.

Now we have sandy soil. NO MUD!!! Sand is tough to garden on......water drains right through it, the sun comes out and the plants burn up. But the garden spot is deep mulched right now and will be composted, mulched and mulched some more. I will build good soil.

You are not giving up on your dream, you are just adjusting your dream. And it will be even better than you expect. Chickens can make your compost, just deep litter and pile in the leaves, grass clippings, pea hulls, corn shucks, any vegetable matter you have. They will eat all they can, then shred and poop on the rest. In 3-4 months you will have crumbly black compost. You can plant permanent fruit trees, grapes and berries. You will have to keep us posted on your move!

The worst part of sandy soil is the loss of water. But, digging and tilling is wonderfiul and growing carrots?????Baseball bats!

 

[Smart Red]

Mulch! The more the merrier! That's the goal for gardening in sand. Big carrots? How about leeks? Those should be monsters in your conditions.

 

[lesa]

Composting and mulching seem to be the answer. It will certainly be an interesting learning experience! The one thing I hate about gardening here, is the difficulty in digging a hole. Shouldn't be a problem in sand! Wondering if it will be worth it to bring the tractor.

 

[digitS']

How is this all going for you, @lesa ?

I realize moving is difficult and, across so many states to get there ... I'd be in a kind of state of collapse just contemplating the upcoming move ...

And, I know that you are busy with work. Do you have a chance to put in a garden this year?

Steve

 

[baymule]

Definitely take the tractor!!!

 

[ninnymary]

@lesa, you are one of my favorite persons here and I sure wish you would post more often.

Mary