I've talked about critters, now lets work on the garden eh?

I know I've talked enough about critters, but I have quite a bit of gardening prep work all ready. On the left here is a Jiffy tray. This is a 72 pot tray, and I've got it planted with all kinds of loot. I actually keep diagrams on my trays so I know what is planted where :P

This tray I started almost three weeks ago, and my tomato's are already coming through! I actually got a lot better germination than I thought I would... So there's about nine beefstake tomato plants. The left of those I planted Okra. God I love Okra. slice it up small, fry it up yuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmm!!!!

This is the left side of the tray, where you can see one lonely shoot of Okra. The next two trays directly above it have green peppers (sweet) and the one above that has a Fiesta blend of sweet peppers.

Most of the rest of this particular tray has berry plants. Raspberries, blackberries, strawberries etc.

You are probably thinking I have a huge garden already.... well....... not yet. My current one is approximately 30x24 or so, and I am going to leave that one the same size, and add raised beds! If you've ever heard of the square foot gardening method you'll probably figure out what I have coming :) I want to build ohhhh about 8 or 9 raised beds that are approximately 10x4 by about 8 inches tall.

I've got a couple reasons for doing this. #1 is that I have waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much clay and it is hard to break and work the ground. #2 is that the clay soil sucks. No way about it. I throw my compost in the garden and till it year after year, but I would love to try a different method with a third of compost, third of manure and a third of topsoil all mixed together. The 30x24 area that the original garden is will be for the vine(y) type of plants. Cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, zuchini, melons and stuff.

I've called around, I can get compost or topsoil delivered very cheap (much cheaper than the limestone i needed 2 weeks ago to fix the driveway) and I'll have enough left over after the raised beds to finally level out my backyard (figuring on 20-25 yards of material) With all this construction and expansion, I'll still have room around my fire pit, about 30' by 150' for the kids to run and scream in the backyard, or if not enough go play in the front. I'll have enough room to pretty much make all the food I need (hoping anyways) and wanting to see if I can come up with close to a $0.00 grocery bill. What I can't produce, maybe I could trade for.... say some chickens or quail for some beef/pork? I know I'll still be buying bread and milk. I don't have the patience to make my own bread and who can complain for a buck huh? Other than that I'll be eating and living healthier than I have in a Looooooooong time.