Now that our seeds are ordered it's time to get back to preparing our garden for the Spring planting. We have about half an acre that's going to become our garden area. Now a half an acre may sound like a lot but not for a garden with everything from apple trees to zucchini. The soil on our homestead is very rocky and not in very good condition so we're going to be making raised beds to grow our plants. (More about that later.)
Just like the homesteaders of old, the first part of this process is to clear the land. The spot we want for our garden is full of scrubby Post Oak trees which need to be cut down and the little (and some not so little) stumps dug up. And LOTS OF THORNY BRAMBLES!
We're only using hand tools to accomplish this task — hand scythes, rakes, mattock, hand snips, shovels, etc… "Why not use a weed eater or tractor or other power equipment?" you might ask. We didn't want to spend money on equipment that would get little use. We can clear the same area with a scythe in half the time it takes with a weed eater. Besides it's nice to work without the noise and nasty gasoline smell 😉
Day 1 – Before we started clearing. (click image for larger view)
So here's how it works:
Step 1 – Walk thru a section of the garden and cut down the brambles. Take the brambles to the burn pile. (Burn you nasty brambles with the thorns, burn!)
Step 2 – Walk thru the section again and pick up any dead limbs and branches and take them to the burn pile too.
Step 3 – Walk thru the section AGAIN and pick up any rocks that will be in the way of the scythe. Set the rocks in a pile for later use.
Step 4 – Use the bush scythe to cut down the weeds and smaller trees.
Step 5 – Rake up the cut organic material for composting.
Step 6 – Cut down the larger trees that the bush scythe couldn't cut. Move these aside for later use.
Step 7 – Use a mattock to remove all of the small stumps that you can. UGH!
Step 8 – Rake the section again.
Repeat until you have the garden cleared.
Sounds like fun, huh? Wanna help? Just kidding!
Day 1 – Already looking clearer 😉 (click image for larger view)
Another view of Day 1's efforts (click image for larger view)
One of MANY brush piles (click image for larger view)
The Burn Pile (click image for larger view)
No Cost – Low Cost
We originally planned to purchase 2×10 lumber to use for the sides of our raised beds but we decided that as true modern day homesteaders we should always be thinking of how we can accomplish a task with no cost or low cost. So we've decided to use native materials such as split tree trunks or rocks or other items to outline our beds. We'll also use the small scrub trees that we cut to make rustic trellises and plant supports for the garden… waste not, want not 🙂
I think it's going to look way more inviting and less “formal” than the static 4' by 8' beds that we were going to make.
P.S. We had hoped to be further along with this process by now but we're just now feeling recovered enough from the accident to tackle the job.
Stay tuned for Part 2 – coming soon.
Hickory Hollow Homestead 