Preparing Your Garden (Estancia: renting, buying, maintenance)
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Our plan is to settle in the East Mountains. I'd read about the planting time difference and that's actually going to help us, this first year. We're intending to be moved by the end of March. By TN standards, we could put the garden in the ground on the day we moved in and be *late*. We're going with raised beds or containers (Greg gave away the black water troughs with holes that I intended to use -grrrr) and try to catch rainwater and use the buried pots Mina mentioned. All of this will be fenced, of course and *guarded* by a friendly red heeler. Not a deterrant for people, my goofy boy, but hopefully enough for deer. At the very least maybe they'll think him a walking barrel and stay away. :-)
So, if I am understanding this correctly, everyone uses conventional seeds and just waters more? If so, then this frees up my choices immensely. I've been looking at drought tolerant food plants, which might not have been my first choice otherwise. I prefer heirloom plants because the varieties are amazing and the flavor is awesome. My favorite is the Baker Seed catalog.
As far as fencing, get a chicken moat type fence that also fences off at the top.
Get a few chickens. The chickens will keep away the bugs and smaller animals away from your garden so poisonous pesticides don't have to be used and the topping will keep the larger animals out during the day and at night.
This info is from a thread I started in another forum and it comes from SCGranny.
Good nurseries should have their plants marked if they do well in drought conditions.
I am not in favor of planting anything in New Mexico that requires a lot of water.
Are there edible xeric plants out there? I was under the assumption that only decorative plants were xeric.
While i'm not in favor of planting water-suckers, I AM in favor of reducing the chemicals and crap my family intake as part of store bought produce. Not to mention being in favor of reducing the food bill.
I intend to have chickens as well. I'd thought about the moat situation, I just need to plan it out in my head. We have farm fresh eggs here from our best friends and I don't intend to go back to store bought unless I absolutely have to!
Also Chicken Fertilizer is the BEST for your Garden or Plants. KID TIP .... Guinea Hens are Great to have and they are like Watch Dogs. They have or use to have a Couple of Greenhouses and even a Giant Tomato plant in the Estancia Area... Does anyone know if they are still there? el pintada kid
I intend to have chickens as well. I'd thought about the moat situation, I just need to plan it out in my head. We have farm fresh eggs here from our best friends and I don't intend to go back to store bought unless I absolutely have to!
Just keep an eye open. I have friends that live near the base of South Mountain and they have killed a couple of rattlesnakes in their yard, but their neighbor who has chickens has had many more snakes of all kinds, including rattlers, in her yard.
People will say you cannot get rattlers at our altitude, but I know of two people whose dogs got bitten by rattlesnakes last year.
I would love to have some hens but for now its not worth the effort to get it set up only to have to move too soon.
Are there edible xeric plants out there? I was under the assumption that only decorative plants were xeric.
While i'm not in favor of planting water-suckers, I AM in favor of reducing the chemicals and crap my family intake as part of store bought produce. Not to mention being in favor of reducing the food bill.
I suppose most xeric plants are edible, just not very tasty. There are no xeric vegetables to my knowledge. I have mostly grown tomatoes and cucumbers in containers here, but this spring if I have the time, I am going to try a raised bed vegetable garden. Yes, it is an indulgence in a locale with little water, and I plead guilty. I will pay the extra water bill, and enjoy my fresh, tasty produce.
While there are not "xeric" vegetables, there are some I have found to be better suited to a dry climate:
Artichoke
Chillies
Corn
Eggplant
Tomato
Zucchini
Last edited by Vinegaroon; 02-16-2009 at 02:42 PM..
Reason: supplement
Vinegaroon, how large of a garden do you have and how much time do you spend on it?
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