[Orchardsmith]

Been there and done that. Make a list and prioritize it. Look at it realistically with an eye to the number of waking hours each week. Plunge in head first if you like, but there are lots of people who have failed doing that. It's shocking to suddenly realize that there's a looming threat. That's when it's most necessary to remain calm and focused on first things first. Secure your housing, water, security, and some storage. Think about an expansion project or two each season. If you try to do everything at once you likely won't do any of them well. . . . some other observations: 1. Electric doesn't work to keep deer out for long. Lightweight woven wire 2 tall to make a total of about 8' is much better. It can be hung on wood posts you can install yourself. 2. Small critters have to be kept out with traps and lead. 3. Think about major investments in equipment when you actually know what you can use. Find someone to tear up the first part of your garden, then try to keep ahead of the weeds with hand tools like a wheeled push cultivator and long-handled garden weeding tools. Keeping up with the weeds properly will be one of the most challenging things to manage.
4. What kind of support do you have for all of this? You doing everything by yourself while the rest of the group finds entertainment elsewhere is a formula for failure sooner or later. 5. Pick two crops you like to eat frequently and can actually grow there and see if you can grow and preserve something useful. How will you preserve them? Where will the containers be kept? Do others in your group like to eat lots of these, too? If you're successful with these (and that doesn't mean you managed to put 20 bags in the freezer, if you have one) consider a couple more. Until you can do a very few things well, it isn't time to start another dozen things.
Very few people are completely prepared for a scenario where the SHTF next Monday. PRIORITIZE! Do the biggest things first and figure out how to do them well. The more progress you make with basics, the better prepared you'll be when it's needed. Start to network. To do this properly, you need to have something to offer others. What would that be today? There are lots of things to think about and plan. Unless you have unlimited funds, you must think about what's important. Let us know which steps you will take first. Good luck.

 

[Orchardsmith]

Another question for you. The soil on your hand looks much more like sand than it does clay, to me. Are you in a creek bottom? Clay would smear and give color to your hand. On your fingertips I see what I think looks like grains of sand. You can have different soils in places where you would not expect them. County extension offices are hit and miss. Some are good, some are useless. But any extension office, with enough persistence, should be able to locate a soil survey map for your specific piece of land. Then you look at the map yourself and look at the soil and decide what kind you have. If there are sandy places, that's good and bad. But I'd much prefer to garden in sand or sandy loam than I would in clay, any day. What ever kind of soil you have, it's good to increase the organic matter levels. That's done quickly with manure, and less quickly with other things like yard waste, leaves, cover crops, etc. You can begin adding to the organic matter levels right away. Good luck on this.

 

[Orchardsmith]

I linked a soil map of my property in the initial post. The location of the existing garden is in the "Tifton loamy sand" area. I read up on that type of soil type, and it sounds like it would be great for certain vegetables, but not all. I think I may actually be using raised beds for now anyways.

Ah, Tifton loamy sand. Sand means you have good drainage, sometimes too good. I gardened for a while 26 miles inland from Beaufort, SC. Loamy sand. Believe me, you could do much worse. Add organic matter to your soil as rapidly as possible.The organic matter will slow down leaching and hold water better to reduce erosion. Rotted manure, yard clippings, etc. can be added as you have them. The more you add the better your soil will be. Keep some rotted manure on hand for making manure tea to use when side dressing vegetables. Your soil is heavy on the sand side, so plan to water and add plant food as needed. Set up some rain barrels (covered to prevent mosquito multiplication) to have water on hand year round. Get a couple of good rain gauges and a min-max thermometer and set up a proper weather station cover. Determine how you will cultivate in ground that cultivates easily. You're in the Southeast, so weeds will sprout easily and often. Always attack weeds when they're small. Big weeds are a nightmare. Prepare your cultivation strategy first, then do some thinking about what to plant, and when. Timing is crucial. There are two growing seasons there, February-June and September-December, as I recall. Verify that. Take the time to drive around and find some veteran gardeners to observe and ask questions. Observe first. Maybe ask questions later. Locate the garden centers with smart people behind the counter (not every one is like that). I had good luck with sweet potatoes, onions, green beans, purple hull peas, kale, etc. Plan for what you will actually eat, not what others grow. If you want to have raised beds, go ahead, but to my way of thinking that makes cultivation more difficult, not easier. There's no problem with having raised beds on well-drained ground. Raised beds make for small, intensive plots. I never found that raised beds were worth the trouble for the scale on which I wanted to operate. Others see it differently. Any place you garden will have to be fenced with woven wire up to at least 8', IMHO. If you aren't going to keep the vermin out of it, don't bother to start in the first place. Look for a decent Ruger 10-22 and learn how to use it. If you can keep your head about you, there are few things that the right round in that rifle won't handle, and no things that half a dozen of the right rounds in that rifle won't handle. You don't need an arsenal, just something that works the way you need it to.

 

[Orchardsmith]

And you have lemons already! Very cool! Do you like marmalade? Can this variety be used for marmalade? Look to your assets and build on them.

 

[Orchardsmith]

I started with the identical electric fence setup some years back where there was lots of deer pressure. Three wires the same heights as yours. I built it right and kept it clean. First year was very good. Second year there were problems that developed here and there, which I kept vigilant about. Third year the deer held off until potatoes and tomatoes were at their peaks, then devastated things. They just began going through the wire. The fourth year I built the woven wire fence using two strands of 47" lightweight wire. Over the next five years I had a deer challenge it once, but he didn't get in. I never had another problem. I had to brace the wood posts, especially at the corners. Between wood posts along the lines I put 8' T-posts to further stabilize. There's a #11 wire along the top to clip the top of the top strand. I just built a new fence at my latest homestead. It's 8' tall and built the same way. I truly wish everyone well with whatever fence system works for you. Eight foot woven wire is what works for me.

 

[Orchardsmith]

Whether you have raised beds or not, the key is to add organic matter to your soil so water and nutrients don't go straight out the bottom. The sandier the soil, the faster water will respond to gravity. This is true in a raised bed or in a bigger area of topsoil. What you don't want is soil with a clay subsoil that won't allow water to drain. Plants that will do well in soil that has little or no drainage are the same plants that do well in a swamp. The ideal soil has its own nutrients, holds water well, and also drains well. Materials that are all organic matter or all sand don't work well as soil unless there are amendments: peat moss, wood chips, and sawdust come to mind. It's why soil that has been continuously cropped with corn is a disaster: the organic matter is reduced so much that the slightest rain brings erosion. No-till came along to help with the erosion, but it doesn't solve the real problem of soil depletion.

 

[Orchardsmith]

Where did you find this information?

At my house... the sand depth is nearly 200 ft... harsh.

Around this area, common wisdom is that a dense clay under a foot of sand is desirable.

One potential problem with clay under sand is digging on a slope.
Water forms streams under the sand... dig through one of those streams, and you could have a gully very quickly.

Good drainage is always good. The information came from watching someone plant roses in yellow clay ground. The common wisdom varies from area to area.

 

[Orchardsmith]

I doubt that there's any need to be concerned about "weeds".
Suggest turning them under as green manure.

Those "weeds" can be very beneficial.

Here's a pdf to download...

http://www.zetatalk3.com/docs/Plants/Weeds/Weeds_Guardians_Of_The_Soil_1980.pdf

Or... you could just purchase the book... lots of sites offer it.

Interesting that you always put weeds in quotes. Of course, weeds help prevent erosion, which is why continuous cropping and using herbicides is not good. You may not worry about "weeds" if you like, but I don't like to grow weeds. I prefer vegetables. And I prefer organic matter and cultivation over sand and herbicides. Building up the organic matter in the soil makes a big difference in water retention and fighting erosion. Not everyone agrees, which is fine by me.

 

[Orchardsmith]

God didn't make "weeds".
Those plants have a purpose...
At my house every plant has a name and something that it's useful for... no weeds.

Did you check the book?

At my house, every plant has a name, too, including the weeds. BTW, what are tares in the Bible? And what do you use poison ivy for?

 

[Orchardsmith]

Actually, I did look at the book, which I had seen many years ago. Here's the final quote from the publisher's intro: "No, Professor Cocannouer does not believe that weeds should be allowed to go rampant and take over our farms and gardens. The function of this book, a pioneering work, is to demonstrate how the controlled use of weeds can be sound ecology, good conservation and a boon to the average farmer or gardener." I don't have a problem with this statement. Weeds are just plants that we usually don't grow on purpose, or wish to have competing with the plants we do wish to grow. But the author calls them weeds without using quotation marks, as do I. To paraphrase Orwell, 'Some weeds are more equal (or useful) than others.' It's all good.

 

[Orchardsmith]

Would it be better to add a layer of compost to the soil prior to tarping it, or just before planting? I've read conflicting advice on this.

It's going to depend on your circumstances and your needs. If you're tarping to solarize and kill WEEDS, then adding the compost can come any time. If you have huge quantities of compost, then add when it's convenient. If you have very limited quantities of compost, you might want to side dress with it when new plants are emerging. I like to spread rotted manure around because I have quite a bit of it, but keep some well-rotted stuff handy to make manure tea for side dressing. Perhaps when you're going to be removing the covers it will be rainy. In that case it might make more sense to spread the compost out when it's drier. My main concern with putting on compost is that it work when plants need it. I don't want heavy rain to leach out the nutrients before the plants can use them. The covers should prevent leaching, so that's another reason why putting on the compost should be a question of your convenience. What ever you do, note the dates and note the results along with rainfall, etc., in your garden journal. Next year you can look back to see what you did and when. Good luck on this.

 

[Orchardsmith]

Black or clear plastic solarizes the soil and kills weeds, too. I doubt that anyone would use a genuine canvas tarp to do this, although it would work. The blue plastic tarps would work, too. Feel free to use plastic covers to kill weeds and keep the soil weed free until you're ready to plant. Using plastic row mulch between rows suppresses weeds there, too, of course.