[danielkleach]

Hi all! My wife and I, along with our 2 year old son, just recently moved out of the city into a rural area of Georgia, located in the hardiness zone 8a. We purchased a house here with 27 acres. About 20 of those acres are full of brush, and about 80% of that also has planted long leaf pines that are 2 1/2 years old (3 ft high on average).

We are completely new to all of this. The most we have done before this is grow peppers for my wife, because she couldn't find the ones she wanted in the store (fresh). I want to get started with a garden and a few chickens in the spring, but there is so much to prepare in the meantime. We could really use some pointers.

Not long after we moved in I walked around the cleared portion of the property (near the house) using the "Seek" app to identify any potential vegetable/fruit leftovers from the previous owner. It seems there are a few things they left behind including:

• red raspberries
• cutleaf blackberries
• muscadines
• kiwis (previous owner said they had a female plant when they bought the property, and they added a male nearby but no there was no fruit yet)
• soap aloe
• apple/peach trees (previous owner said these didn't really fruit last season, but didn't say how old they were)

Is there anything I should or need to do for the existing bushes/vines/etc in order for them to do better this coming season?

The backyard is fenced in and encompasses probably 3 acres. We will definitely be looking to expand that out further, but need to clear a lot of the brush first.

There is a garden area started by the previous owner, that is fenced, but theres a ton of weeds now. The area is around 65ft x 65ft. What's the best way to get that ready for spring planting? We thought about getting a couple of pigs to bring in to clear it out, but when they are done we don't really have anything set up elsewhere to keep them fenced.

Our overall goals (over the next few years) are as follows:

• 1/2 acre to full acre garden full of a variety of vegetables
• enough layers to provide the three of us with enough eggs to have them every morning
• meat birds to keep our freezer stocked year round
• a nice orchard that has started to bear fruit
• 1/2 acre to full acre pond dug out and stocked with fish (mainly for sport, but also for eating)

Any tips for what we should be focusing on first?

 

[Danaus29]

I suggest living with it for a year to see where water pools in the spring rainy season, watch where the shade tracks when the trees are leafed out, look for seasonal flowers or plants which you might want to keep, keep an eye out to see what kinds of wildlife share your property, etc.

I know how difficult it is to fight the urge to start planting. But if you place expensive trees/shrubs in places where they struggle you won't gain anything.

Check local sources to see what should be planted when in your area. Take notes and make a list of things you like to eat and when they should be planted. Divide your garden into 4 sections and clear one section for the coming season. Many people are overwhelmed when they start gardening on a huge plot. Start small and expand as you have time.

Use more than one reference to verify the identity of your current plantings. I have seen those apps misidentify a lot of similar looking plants. Mark the plants you want to keep.

It looks like quite the spread. Good luck with your endeavors.

 

[geo in mi]

Danaus29 is giving you good advice to use a year just to see the lay of the land and the path of the sun. A lot of what you can do and how fast you can do it will also depend on your cash budget. But spring comes early in Georgia, so I would take the month of December to mow and blow off the garden area so you can get started. (See the chart here)
vegetable_chart.pdf (uga.edu) Two keys there--use the chart to see when you can start, to beat the sun) and the other is the phone number of the GA Extension service--and you should use it for more, local, advice.

Here's a starter information source that is a wealth of information: Johnny’s Selected Seeds | Supporting Farms & Gardens Since 1973 (johnnyseeds.com)
Not necessarily for the seeds, (they sell mostly hybrids) but for planting information, depths, spacing, growing time, and an encyclopedia of knowledge for each type of vegetable.

This may also be a good starter resource for you, he mentions some seed sellers who can ship earlier than most of the national catalogs: Food Gardening | Walter Reeves: The Georgia Gardener

If you have to buy feed in bags to feed your chickens to get a few eggs, it'll cost you (per egg) much more than store-bought eggs. (Do it anyway, what the heck?) You might look into rabbits, ducks, geese, turkeys. Lots of youtubes for getting started.

The pine trees: Check with your extension agent--see if they're marketable, as planted, or what you have to do to make them into a valuable crop. And a tax/farming expense.....

And the two most important: 1) Take your time to develop your water. Looks like you may have a secure supply in due time, with a pond or two. 2) Biomass. Looks like you have plenty of it for now, between the rows of the pine trees. Figure out how to clip it and get it onto--and into--your sandy soil to give it fertility and hold moisture. As the trees grow and throw too much shade, you should develop a legume rotational system for your soil needs.

And, most important of all: Buy yourself a good pair of gloves.

geo

 

[robin416]

Danaus29 is giving you good advice to use a year just to see the lay of the land and the path of the sun. A lot of what you can do and how fast you can do it will also depend on your cash budget. But spring comes early in Georgia, so I would take the month of December to mow and blow off the garden area so you can get started. (See the chart here)
vegetable_chart.pdf (uga.edu) Two keys there--use the chart to see when you can start, to beat the sun) and the other is the phone number of the GA Extension service--and you should use it for more, local, advice.

Here's a starter information source that is a wealth of information: Johnny’s Selected Seeds | Supporting Farms & Gardens Since 1973 (johnnyseeds.com)
Not necessarily for the seeds, (they sell mostly hybrids) but for planting information, depths, spacing, growing time, and an encyclopedia of knowledge for each type of vegetable.

This may also be a good starter resource for you, he mentions some seed sellers who can ship earlier than most of the national catalogs: Food Gardening | Walter Reeves: The Georgia Gardener

If you have to buy feed in bags to feed your chickens to get a few eggs, it'll cost you (per egg) much more than store-bought eggs. (Do it anyway, what the heck?) You might look into rabbits, ducks, geese, turkeys. Lots of youtubes for getting started.

The pine trees: Check with your extension agent--see if they're marketable, as planted, or what you have to do to make them into a valuable crop. And a tax/farming expense.....

And the two most important: 1) Take your time to develop your water. Looks like you may have a secure supply in due time, with a pond or two. 2) Biomass. Looks like you have plenty of it for now, between the rows of the pine trees. Figure out how to clip it and get it onto--and into--your sandy soil to give it fertility and hold moisture. As the trees grow and throw too much shade, you should develop a legume rotational system for your soil needs.

And, most important of all: Buy yourself a good pair of gloves.

geo

The most important bit of information so far: gloves. I went through multiple pairs a year when I lived in N. GA. I've since found deerskin gloves and find they last me at least a year. Make sure the wife gets a pair or two also.

 

[doc-]

Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you have a nice property and a good attitude.

As far as a food garden goes, make a list of what you like to eat and go from there. Peas, beans, carrots, tomatoes have good nutritonal value, are easy to grow and store easily. Potatoes are great, but I'm not familiar with how to grow them in your warm zone. Corn is nice but requires rich soil.

The trick with raspberries and blackberries is not how to get them to do well, but to keep them controlled . They'll take over the joint if you're not careful....Apples & such don't need any help at all unless youi're trying to go commerical. If the trees are young, they may need a little pruning early on to shaoe them optimally-- many web sites explain that easy task.

Kiwis plants?..Oh! So that's where all that shoe polish comes from!

A 65 x 65 garden plot is a little large to cultivate by hand or with a small rototiller, and a little too small to bother buying a tractor for. OTOH, may want to buy a small tractor with front loader and PTO with 3-pt hitch for other chores too, like mowing, leveling drives ways, etc. This site Vegetable Garden Size Calculator: How Much to Plant for Your Family may be helpful in planning isze. (I think it slightly underestimates.)

Putting in ponds may get The @#$% Feds involved in you life. Try to stay under the radar

With 27 ac, you have way more than enough to grow food for yourself. You can consider leasing pasture to a beef-raising neighbor &/or returning a bunch of ac to natural habitat. Identify invasive species and work on eliminating them first. Let Mother nature decide what she wants to grow. Do a small section at a time. It's a never ending endeavor....I personalluy don't see the need for a "yard" with typical suburban lawn and landscaping of more than a single ac around the house. (The palying area of Yankee Stadium is about an acre, for reference.)

 

[danielkleach]

I suggest living with it for a year to see where water pools in the spring rainy season, watch where the shade tracks when the trees are leafed out, look for seasonal flowers or plants which you might want to keep, keep an eye out to see what kinds of wildlife share your property, etc.

I know how difficult it is to fight the urge to start planting. But if you place expensive trees/shrubs in places where they struggle you won't gain anything.

I definitely understand why that would be a good thing to do, but the whole reasoning behind us moving to the country was to start providing some of our own food ASAP. We seen the way the world is going with the shortages and countries starting to feed the kids bugs in schools and wanted to get ahead of it. Even if we are only growing 5% of what we consume, it's a start.

While nobody truly knows how things will end up in the next few years or even months (WEF), nothing is more important to me than my family and providing for them as best I can. I am willing to go through placement struggles and a bit of wasted money, if necessary.

 

[st0n3]

So... in the clay? the sand?

Looks like gorgeous space...

I don't really have large meadows to post pics of... My place was timbered before I got it and is mostly covered over with smilax and muscadine vines... doesn't look much like your place at all.

My current place in the sand requires the use of liners when I put in a garden pool... but at my previous place, also 8a Georgia I was able to dig out seep springs for nice pools...

I would find Springs by walking around during a dry spell... Not during the rainy season.

At my previous place, i put in a garden in a low pocket... made access to water easy..., but those low areas are called frost pockets for a reason... Lost a month at both ends of the season... and those late spring freezes often killed perennials that were leafing out.

Welcome to the forum, I look forward to hearing more about this great piece of property!

EDIT:
Re clearing brush to install new fencing...
Don't do it!
I run my deer fencing through the thickest tangles of scrub that I have. The deer aren't able to jump the fence through the thicket... Clear everything... makes it easy for them to jump.

 

[danielkleach]

Danaus29 is giving you good advice to use a year just to see the lay of the land and the path of the sun. A lot of what you can do and how fast you can do it will also depend on your cash budget. But spring comes early in Georgia, so I would take the month of December to mow and blow off the garden area so you can get started.

If you have to buy feed in bags to feed your chickens to get a few eggs, it'll cost you (per egg) much more than store-bought eggs. (Do it anyway, what the heck?) You might look into rabbits, ducks, geese, turkeys. Lots of youtubes for getting started.

The pine trees: Check with your extension agent--see if they're marketable, as planted, or what you have to do to make them into a valuable crop.

Aa far as budget goes, we have a good chunk of cash in the bank to get us started. I also work as a software engineer for my day job (from home), so the bills will get paid with money left over to provide for the homestead.

As far as the chickens go, I would like to have a coop for them obviously, but also provide them a large run where they can help supplement the food costs. One of my biggest issues with that currently is where to put it. The cleared acreage consists of a fenced garden area, a few raised beds, a large outbuilding, a small shed, a pool and a pool house. It seems like I need to clear more brush behind all that to make room for them to run around.

The long leaf pines were planted by the previous owner with the QUIP (spelling?) program. I had them cancel the contract with the state, so that I could clear/move any of them that I wanted. But, I will definitely be leaving the majority of them as-is.

 

[Forcast]

Make a budget. Know how much each project will cost. And a your time budget. How much daylight hours are you available to work each project. Do you work full time in a paid job? Its unbelievable how much time and money stuff takes. Critters need tending, shelters, fencing, feed, water, vaccination Vet care. Place to store feed. Just getting water to pigs in a field can be tough. Pigs just turned out may not be safe for a 2 year old to be around. A lot of things may not be safe with young children. Ponds . livestock. Wildlife snakes. Kids are hard to keep an eye one if your working in the garden or whatever. You might not have a busy road nearby but kids are gona be kids.
We all started two to many projects when we got our places. Thats why take it slow is a big thing. Sure dig up a small garden spot in the big garden area. Deal with that . the work the using that produce. Canning freezing ect. Then add more the next season. Same with all critters. Start small. Make sure your able to kill, process and the big one Eat it.
Welcome to the group. great people here. Learn from all the mistakes others have made.

 

[tjtaylor]

Hi all! My wife and I, along with our 2 year old son, just recently moved out of the city into a rural area of Georgia, located in the hardiness zone 8a. We purchased a house here with 27 acres. About 20 of those acres are full of brush, and about 80% of that also has planted long leaf pines that are 2 1/2 years old (3 ft high on average).

We are completely new to all of this. The most we have done before this is grow peppers for my wife, because she couldn't find the ones she wanted in the store (fresh). I want to get started with a garden and a few chickens in the spring, but there is so much to prepare in the meantime. We could really use some pointers.

Not long after we moved in I walked around the cleared portion of the property (near the house) using the "Seek" app to identify any potential vegetable/fruit leftovers from the previous owner. It seems there are a few things they left behind including:

• red raspberries
• cutleaf blackberries
• muscadines
• kiwis (previous owner said they had a female plant when they bought the property, and they added a male nearby but no there was no fruit yet)
• soap aloe
• apple/peach trees (previous owner said these didn't really fruit last season, but didn't say how old they were)

Is there anything I should or need to do for the existing bushes/vines/etc in order for them to do better this coming season?

The backyard is fenced in and encompasses probably 3 acres. We will definitely be looking to expand that out further, but need to clear a lot of the brush first.

There is a garden area started by the previous owner, that is fenced, but theres a ton of weeds now. The area is around 65ft x 65ft. What's the best way to get that ready for spring planting? We thought about getting a couple of pigs to bring in to clear it out, but when they are done we don't really have anything set up elsewhere to keep them fenced.

Our overall goals (over the next few years) are as follows:

• 1/2 acre to full acre garden full of a variety of vegetables
• enough layers to provide the three of us with enough eggs to have them every morning
• meat birds to keep our freezer stocked year round
• a nice orchard that has started to bear fruit
• 1/2 acre to full acre pond dug out and stocked with fish (mainly for sport, but also for eating)

Any tips for what we should be focusing on first?
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Wow, I love it!!! You have a lot going on and a lot to do! I have been through all of that a few times and love it!
To start with, you mentioned a 1/2 acre garden, is this just for your family or are you wanting to sell some as well?
Because my friend if its just for you guys you will not need that much area and you won't really have time for the work it will take for at least a few years while you set up the rest. Learn to grow correctly and it will save you time and produce tons of food in a small foot print. It will also provide forage for livestock, etc.

I'd love to help you out with any ideas, etc. I'm not good at this internet stuff though, I believe you can PM me somehow so we could talk with out all the clutter or I can send you my cell or email as well.

I have been homesteading since I was around 6 years old

 

[Danaus29]

I definitely understand why that would be a good thing to do, but the whole reasoning behind us moving to the country was to start providing some of our own food ASAP. We seen the way the world is going with the shortages and countries starting to feed the kids bugs in schools and wanted to get ahead of it. Even if we are only growing 5% of what we consume, it's a start.

While nobody truly knows how things will end up in the next few years or even months (WEF), nothing is more important to me than my family and providing for them as best I can. I am willing to go through placement struggles and a bit of wasted money, if necessary.

You do you then. But remember, it's not just wasted money. If your trees and bushes don't flourish and produce you have also wasted the years spent waiting for them to grow and produce.

 

[tjtaylor]

You do you then. But remember, it's not just wasted money. If your trees and bushes don't flourish and produce you have also wasted the years spent waiting for them to grow and produce.

It has a lot to do with what you grow as well, there are food crops you can grow in almost any soil under almost any condition and they will flourish.

 

[geo in mi]

Here's what I would recommend to get started on a garden, Model 722 - BCS America You could add the front end sickle mower for it to clip the tall grasses between the pine tree rows for biomass mulch and fertility--as well as till the composted mass into the soil. In time, you will be able to just lay the mulch onto the top without tilling. For now, though you'll have to buy some commercial fertilizer and probably lime to counteract the acidity. I hope you can resist the temptation to buy a shiny new Kubota or John Deere with a front end loader and lots of other goodies. IH 350 utility, Oliver 55 0r 550 utility, Allis-Chalmers D-15, with some 3-point attachments would suffice. You'll need capital for tools, fences, outbuildings, too. Get acquainted with Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist.

geo

 

[Nimrod]

Plant an orchard ASAP. Check with neighbors on which varieties do best in your area. Take into account the micro climate in the area you are going to put the orchard. Only plant varieties that you like to eat. It's a bummer to find out 5 years later that you don't like the apples.

Clear the garden of all brush and weeds. Plants won't prosper in anemic soil. You just won't get a very good harvest. Have the soil tested and amend it accordingly. Find a neighbor that raises cows and buy a truck load or two of manure. Clean out a pond and spread the loon poop on the garden. Build a fence to keep the critters out. Bury 3 feet of welded wire fence to stop the gophers and other critters that try to burrow under the fence. Make it high enough to keep deer out. Put on electric fence around the lower part to keep the bears and hogs out. Run a solar fence charger.

 

[Danaus29]

It has a lot to do with what you grow as well, there are food crops you can grow in almost any soil under almost any condition and they will flourish.

Maybe in Georgia, not so much where I live. Soggy, cold, clay soil kills a lot of perennial crops. Blackberries and raspberries being noted exceptions. They can and will spread and grow just about anywhere.

What have you grown that can flourish just about anywhere? I'm always looking for easy, perennial food crops.

 

[tjtaylor]

Maybe in Georgia, not so much where I live. Soggy, cold, clay soil kills a lot of perennial crop. Blackberries and raspberries being noted exceptions. They can and will spread and grow just about anywhere.

I've homesteaded in three states so far TX, OK, and CO from very hot to very high altitude; there is always a way; you just need to be willing to do what it takes. And that may be growing about the ground God made there.

 

[Danaus29]

I've homesteaded in three states so far TX, OK, and CO from very hot to very high altitude; there is always a way; you just need to be willing to do what it takes. And that may be growing about the ground God made there.

Have you found any food crop plants that could be stuck down just anywhere in all those locations and still survive and produce food?

 

[tjtaylor]

Have you found any food crop plants that could be stuck down just anywhere in all those locations and still survive and produce food?

Yes, I have, I have been able to grow food in every place I've been to. It just takes some ingenuity and research. Our high-altitude land had almost no topsoil (or any kind of soil) to speak of, was almost all rock, however, we grew right on top of that rock.

 

[tjtaylor]

So... in the clay? the sand?

Looks like gorgeous space...

I don't really have large meadows to post pics of... My place was timbered before I got it and is mostly covered over with smilax and muscadine vines... doesn't look much like your place at all.

My current place in the sand requires the use of liners when I put in a garden pool... but at my previous place, also 8a Georgia I was able to dig out seep springs for nice pools...

I would find Springs by walking around during a dry spell... Not during the rainy season.

At my previous place, i put in a garden in a low pocket... made access to water easy..., but those low areas are called frost pockets for a reason... Lost a month at both ends of the season... and those late spring freezes often killed perennials that were leafing out.

Welcome to the forum, I look forward to hearing more about this great piece of property!

EDIT:
Re clearing brush to install new fencing...
Don't do it!
I run my deer fencing through the thickest tangles of scrub that I have. The deer aren't able to jump the fence through the thicket... Clear everything... makes it easy for them to jump.

There are several good ways to keep dear out of even cleared land like a garden with very inexpensive electric fence you'd think they would jump.

 

[Danaus29]

Yes, I have, I have been able to grow food in every place I've been to. It just takes some ingenuity and research. Our high-altitude land had almost no topsoil (or any kind of soil) to speak of, was almost all rock, however, we grew right on top of that rock.

I know some plants, that are able to adapt to those conditions, can grow in shallow soil.

My point was that when a person is new to the land where they want to grow crops, they need to take the time to learn what the soil is like and find out what will grow in what they have. You can't just plop an apple tree down in shallow soil and expect it to produce apples for the next 20 years.

There are very few plants, if any, that tolerate ALL soil conditions in ALL locations. One has to do their research if one wants to grow a successful garden or orchard.