What should I plant ?

[PrettyPaisley]

I have the majority of the garden in and growing. It's a pretty big garden for me...it's rectangular and one side is 200 feet with the longer side being 1200 feet. I've got all the usual; several types of squash, summer producing and winter just planted, cucumbers, tomatoes, okra, beans of all kinds, watermelon, some corn (I'm going to try for the 3rd time to get some to come up and then I'm finished with corn) and peas. And holy cow do I have peas. I am pea-d out. Oh, and sunflowers and some wildflowers to make things pretty.

There is a spot about 30x200 that is just awful ground. This is the first year for a garden in this spot so none of the soil is ideal, hence all the peas. But this spot is quite rocky (small rocks....very much a pain to pick up) and is the typical red clay that's so common around here. I can't think of anything else to put in this spot but I don't want to give it back to weeds and grass that I'm working so hard to pull and I'd love to plant something useful. What would go well there ? Maybe something I could grow for mulch ? Or to feed the animals ? Or just a ground cover to replenish the soil ?

[elkhound]

milo...it takes the heat and produces a grain head for ya chickens.you can just broadcast plant it.if nothing else it can be bush hogged down for chop and drop of adding back fiber to break up that red soil.heres some i grew.

[elkhound]

you could save it for fall planting of beets and turnips.my chickens love the tops and the tuber from turnips and it cuts down on feed bill.

[PrettyPaisley]

Do you thing root crops will grow with the soil being of hard and rocky ? I definitely don't know enough about root crops to know...maybe they will break up the soil? But if I wait until fall I will have to tear up the weeds....it will go back to "pasture" very soon!!

[elkhound]

yes they will grow.just dont plant seed very deep so the bulb forms more on top of soil.one thing my uncle plants to break up soil is winter radishes.they have a long tap root.but from my looking up so far on internet they are actually daikon radish which is a type of turnip.i hardly get my onions in the dirt so they dont have to fight the dirt to grow.but as you know i do things different...lol

why not try a few things as test subjects.

sugar beets might be interesting...but it might be hard to find non gmo unless you go to bakers creek.but any beet would do IMHO.


just had a thought..mangels....they were once..and still are in u.k. a main feed for livestock.but i have no experience with them.they get huge though.

[PrettyPaisley]

I'd love to learn how to make sugar from beets !! I'll check Baker Creek; I've always got a running wish list on that site !!!

[PrettyPaisley]

Elk-milo is sorghum !! Why didn't you say that !!! That will work just fine !!!

[elkhound]

not sure of i showed you this...bookmark please...lol


http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/afcm/

[elkhound]

Originally Posted by PrettyPaisley

Elk-milo is sorghum !! Why didn't you say that !!! That will work just fine !!!

well its a type of sorghum...its the grain head variety..not the one used for syrup although it can be .its just not as good for it from my understanding.theres 4 types of sorghum.. syrup,grain,broomstraw and the other i cant remember...lol

bakers has old varities..like honey drip for syrup.

i can point you to other stuff but i dont know enough about it and you gotta be careful feeding it to livestock at certain times.sudan and sudex types of grass. i seen that stuff reach the top of cab on JD4440 in no time flat.critters can get toxicity from it.

[elkhound]

i planted earlier this week...milo,millet,wheat and sunflowers.this meanders all back through my meadow.

[PrettyPaisley]

You must take pictures and share once it's in full swing !!!

[elkhound]

you are calculated
30 x 200
Result

Total Acreage = 0.14
Total Square Yards = 666.67
Total Square Feet = 6,000.00
Total Square Inches = 864,000.00

milo is 8 to 10 # to acre...you could plant that area with 2 to 3 # easily.i over seed in broadcasting as i do lose some to birds.but its such small areas i dont worry about it.

[elkhound]

land calculator to help you

http://www.calcul.com/show/calculator/land-conversion

[Patchouli]

200 x 1200? That is awfully big. Mine is 100 x 80 and I grow enough to feed a family of 5 plus sell at the Farmer's Market. Are you planning to sell a lot of produce? That will affect what I would recommend planting.

We usually use pigs and then potatoes to break up new patches. Ours has a lot of clay and rocks.

[Patchouli]

Originally Posted by elkhound

land calculator to help you

http://www.calcul.com/show/calculator/land-conversion

Just put your numbers into the calculator and it says you have a 5.5 acre garden?

[Patchouli]

Originally Posted by elkhound

i planted earlier this week...milo,millet,wheat and sunflowers.this meanders all back through my meadow.

Are you growing that mainly for feed or to attract wildlife?

[PrettyPaisley]

Originally Posted by Patchouli

200 x 1200? That is awfully big. Mine is 100 x 80 and I grow enough to feed a family of 5 plus sell at the Farmer's Market. Are you planning to sell a lot of produce? That will affect what I would recommend planting.

We usually use pigs and then potatoes to break up new patches. Ours has a lot of clay and rocks.

I know. I'm not sure why I can't translate what I read in the yellow wheely thing I bought at Lowes to numbers that make sense. I posted a picture of it in the distance on the sticky picture thread in the gardening forum so you can see it's not even an acre. But when I walk with the wheel up one side and down the other those are the numbers I get.

[Use Less]

Can you start building that area up by putting anything you pull up or rake in there? Weeds, leaves, grass clippings, newspaper (shredded, or soaked in water and weighted down.) I've heard of people who drive around and pick up bagged leaves from in front of houses in the fall. That does sound rather large. Maybe just pacing it off would work better. I was going to farm market once or twice a week with the overage from a garden roughly 50' x 65', and not all of that was planted since I had some raised beds with mower-width walkways between in there.

[Brighton]

Originally Posted by PrettyPaisley

I know. I'm not sure why I can't translate what I read in the yellow wheely thing I bought at Lowes to numbers that make sense. I posted a picture of it in the distance on the sticky picture thread in the gardening forum so you can see it's not even an acre. But when I walk with the wheel up one side and down the other those are the numbers I get.

Walk it off yourself, a big step/stride is about 3', so walk along and count 3, 6, 9, and you will get a better idea of what you have.

[Patchouli]

Originally Posted by PrettyPaisley

I know. I'm not sure why I can't translate what I read in the yellow wheely thing I bought at Lowes to numbers that make sense. I posted a picture of it in the distance on the sticky picture thread in the gardening forum so you can see it's not even an acre. But when I walk with the wheel up one side and down the other those are the numbers I get.

I think I would take that puppy back to Lowe's. looked at your picture and I would guesstimate yours is about the size of mine.