Organic Gardening

Fall 2015

I moved to a new house with just over half an acre lot. Nice new and big garden to make. The previous owner had not done a lot to the backyard. So I wanted to establish a good price for setting up a new garden as this would come in handy for estimating a garden setup for when the wife and I make the move to retirement.

I borrowed a rototiller... yes I am going to til the soil instead of putting down newspaper and garden beds. I wanted to mix some amendments into the soil since this would be the base for the new garden. I used some tent stakes and paracord that I had laying around to establish the boundries and squared it off the house foundation. I setup a 25' X 35' area and tilled it, added some rock dust and biochar. The soil has some organic matter and is sandy. Not a bad starting soil... at least its not clay.

Over the final weeks of fall I added leaves that I picked up with the leaf blower/mulcher. I also got leaves from a couple of neighbors that I added as well as some final grass clippings. I did not till the leaves or the grass clippings into the soil, if the were not fully decomposed they might lead to a temporary nitrogen deficiency.

I put up a fence around the garden which I am going to guess costed about $50. This was to keep the dog out of the garden as well as rabbits. I also staked the fence into the ground with landscaping spikes every 5 feet or so.

At this point I am not going to count the price of the fence, biochar, and rock dust used when I tilled.

Also, I will not be saving seeds at this time. The garden is small and there is a high risk of cross breeding. I will also be trying new items that I am interested in growing, such as Moringa Oleifera and Egyptian Spinach.

Winter 2015/2016

This section will mainly be costing out the price of setting up a new garden from scratch. Now you can do this on the cheap, but I don't really have time at this point to do that. There are not a lot of places in Colorado Springs to find some of the items I want... so it is going to cost...

Soil Amendments

Gaia Green Glacial Rock Dust (50 lb)     $29.99 + $39.97 shipping and handling
Wondersoil Organic Coco Coir Mix (10 lb)     $33.49 with shipping
Down To Earth 6-Pound Oyster Shell Flour     $13.73 (Amazon Prime)
Worm Organic Earthworm Castings     $24.02 (Free Shipping)

Seeds

Organic Scarlet Runner Beans     Free because of my purchases
Amish Paste Tomato     Free because of my purchases