plot update

baybranch farm got themselves some land ….

it’s kind of crazy but we hope to garden / farm this 40′ X 120′ vacant lot near our home. this year our main goal is to build the soil and setup the infrastructure to grow grow grow vegetables next year. one of our first experiments is to “sterilize” some of the soil with some clear plastic.

near the beginning of may we put this 20′ X 35′ section of plastic down. it was way more work sealing (needs to be air tight under there) than one would expect. we tested the soil temperature last sunday and it’s already about 100 F, we are hoping for 120 F by mid july. after we remove the plastic the plan is to either rototill, or plant a cover crop and rototill next spring.

late spring and it was apparent there would be no soil ready to plant any time soon, so we installed three raised beds.

we used 2X8s to build 4’X12 beds, covered the grass with cardboard boxes we have been saving for this very purpose, and filled the beds, one yard each, with Sweet Peet. it all went well using the trusty baybranch trailer. we were able to move the trailer right up to the beds and push most of the soil straight in. (i did have to drive on the sidewalk as someone had blocked access to our lot, as usual…..the neighborhood kids got a big kick out of this!)

farm needs straw for all sorts of tasks so here is the jetta and trailer with 22 bales of straw.

here is a shot of the plot in its current state, fence and rototilling underway.

one huge hurdle yet to tackle is access to water … that’s the subject of the next post (since i should be working on that right now!) got any suggestions for us, please post a comment….