Here We Go with the Ruth Stout/Market Garden Makeover

Today would have been my beloved's 72 birthday. Plus it would have been our 29th wedding anniversary. So I'm sort of discombobulated this week. This week actually hits me harder than the anniversary of his death day. Gone but never forgotten.

This week I was arranging for three rolls of hay to be delivered. When the hay will be delivered depends on the guy up the road fixing his portion of the access road. As much as I swore I wouldn't buy this again, it was more cost effective. Square bales are running between $4- $7 a bale while the 4x5 rounds are $25. One square bale will cover a 2'x3' section of the garden at the depth required. It would take a humungous amount of bales to do it that way in the 16'x 32' vegetable patch in front of the house. Cash wins when you're homesteading on a limited resources budget, or having a homestead on a shoestring budget like we do.

Unlike the way we did the orchard area where we manhandled the rolls, we'll be pulling it apart by the cart load. A cart load when dumped is the perfect depth and width for row in this garden. We are still thinking smarter not harder even though it will take multiple trips with the cart. Opposed to rolling out the big bale like we did in the orchard. It only weighs 500-600 lbs to start with between two people. We didn't get more energetic, stronger, or younger in the last two and a half years. It's a trade off in labor, but more doable in the long run. Both of us groaned at the thought of going out to the orchard to complete the task after the first day. Every muscle and bone in our bodies hurt but we finally finished all five tiers done in about two weeks.

We started the Ruth Stout Method this week by weed whacking the entire garden area to where just stubble was left. The weeds had gotten taller than my five-foot frame left to their own devises. So it was impossible to mow. We left the weeds to decompose in place.

Next, we broke out the stakes, scraps of 2x4 pressure treated lumber split in half, crochet thread, and tape measure. The thread is 100% cotton so it will decompose over time and at 1000 yards per ball for $6, it was cheaper than the garden alternative. We placed a stake alternating 3' and 2'  across the width of the garden. Three feet for planting areas and two feet for walkways between the planting rows. We ran it down the 32' length for the rows. We measured out a 3' border around the garden area and staked it.

OOPSY DAISY!

As we talked about the layout later, we realized we made a huge mistake. This was where the tiny houses would be started the beginning of summer. Plans came to a screeching halt. I'd have to reconfigure the garden down in the orchard divided among the fruit and nut trees, and chicken runs. It's getting mighty crowded down there. 

The only problem with the orchard is that it's on the northwest side of the property. It is at least devoid of trees except the ones we've planted but surrounded by old growth trees. We laid out the tiers in  southeastern rows, but sunlight is hampered. While good for the trees, vegetables might be another story. I do grow some vegetables like corn, daikon, carrots, onions, and garlic in the orchard area. They do okay, but other vegetables may not do so well. All those sun loving veg like okra, tomatoes, and eggplants are questionable.  They may not get their minimum sunlight hours even with it being terraced.

I'm just glad we thought about it before we laid all that hay! That would have been a huge mess to move. So tomorrow, we'll be heading down to the orchard to measure and stake off the new Ruth Stout/Market garden. Don't you just love the aspects of homesteading when you have to turn on a dime, and fall back and regroup? One step forward, two back.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo