Wifes New Garden Spot

My wife has been wanting me to clear out an old cattle working pen for her new garden spot. Just can't keep up with everything and let the trees grow up around it when I changed my pens around.

I've got most of it cleared and mowed. I'm about to drag all the coastal off of it and get ready to till it. I bit the bullet when I bought my tractor and added a JD 673 tiller to the bill. Sort of a gift for my wife. I'll be using it soon.

This should make a good garden spot as far as the soil goes, but my wife won't let me take out the trees on the West Side, at least this year. We have a pipeline coming through in 2011 and the trees will block the view of it. Watching pipelines go in, even from a 1/4 mile away is a depressing experience.

She insists the garden will be okay with no evening Sun. I guess we'll see. I expect that this time next year I'll be taking THAT row of trees out.

I'll post pictures once I get it looking better.

Good luck to you friend.

Is the coastal in the pen growing or the remains of hay from feeding the cows in there? If it's growing, spray it with round-up and till it in. If it's hay, still till it in. It'll be good for her garden, apart from any seeds that is. You may have to till it a couple of extra times but I think it may be easier. That's what I did a few years back when I built my garden.

It's depressing watching them tear up the land to put in a pipeline, isn't it? Still, if it's a buried line, in a few years you won't even know it's there. A few years back, THEY built a loop that ran through our farm. We're still living with that.

I'm with your wife. I don't think that the trees will be much of a problem. Both my wife's garden and mine are shaded by big pines and oaks from the late afternoon sun and it doesn't seem to do any harm. We still grow a lot more than we can use and that shade can be nice when you're working on it in the late afternoon.

Shoot us some pics when you get the chance. It's always interesting to see another gardener's handiwork.

No, there was never any hay fed in that part of the pen. I used the pen when I was working 'em and ran them from there into a small pen that had access to a feeder in the end of the barn and access to the chute, so even when I had a sick animal or some such, they were fed in the end of the barn.

Yes, it is a huge depressing thing to watch them put in a pipeline. This is the fifth one through my place. There was one put in before we bought the place, then one in '90, another in '08 and then '09.

As far as after awhile not knowing it's there, they are supposed to double ditch so that the top soil goes back in on the top, but they never have. The one in '90 was a huge mess and wouldn't grow grass when they were done. It took over five years of feeding along the pipeline in the Winter to get it where it would grow grass. The ones that went in in the last few years still won't grow grass.

As bad as anything, is that they take it away from you whether you want them to or not. My Grand Dad told me that no one owns land. You just buy the right to use it until the government wants it back. I have learned more about how to deal with the pipeline gangsters than I knew on the first one, but it's still a terrible experience even when you can squeeze a decent amount of money out of them.

I'm glad to hear what you say about the shade on the West. I don't want the garden to fail so that I can tell her I told her so. I want it to be a success. I'm planning on dragging as much off as I can and mow it with an old Cub Cadet mower I have that has a bagger. After that I was going to drag the chain again, then turn it with an old mold board plow that I have hoping that a frost this Winter might kill some roots.

Thanks for your comments. I'll try to post some pictures along the way. It's such a mess right now it would probably break the camera.

I too want to see your new garden. I'm working on one myself. Instead of posting it here, here's a link to where I posted it on one of Doc's other forums.
http://www.forumsforums.com/3_9/showthread.php?t=41453

I'll pile on and say don't worry about the amount of sun. I live in a deep valley and don't have any problems with plants getting enough sunshine.

MBDiagMan said:

My Grand Dad told me that no one owns land. You just buy the right to use it until the government wants it back. I have learned more about how to deal with the pipeline gangsters than I knew on the first one, but it's still a terrible experience even when you can squeeze a decent amount of money out of them.

Click to expand...

Man, isn't that the darned truth. Those ol' timers knew a thing or two.

Oh, by the way, you should try dealing with TxDOT. That's not an experience that I'd recommend to anyone. Five years later and we're still fighting with them. I joke that they closed down their local office just to stop me from complaining. I'm not finished yet. It's only 30 miles to the Tyler office.

I'm really sorry to hear about the pipeline. Our governor(R) is in favor of imminent domain. This form of it would let govt take your land for private businesses to use. Our Farm Bureau is trying to get it on the ballot to repeal it, but some folks have a "it doesn't concern me attitude" so I don't know if we will get enough signatures.We( locals) fought a road several years ago and put the "snake to sleep" for a while anyway. It would have been a limited access 4 lane interstate to replace a country road that sees less than 500 cars a day and would have cost taxpayers well over $500 M. It would have displaced us and the neighbor farmers - destroying much of the Big Black water shed and would have opened land for development for a few influential developers. That was the prime objective and how we defeated it for now.I ranted about this years back on the old Compact tractor review forum before we moved here. So after letting off a little steam (thanks) just want to say that I truly feel for ya'll and good luck with it. The trees should do fine and actually will make working in the garden a little nicer. I sprayed my garden site with round up and let it set for a few days then repeated and later tilled . I also move the chickens over it in the winter (temporary) electric fence and wow do they eat the grass seeds. Other benefits of chickens too!! Bordercollie

I've finished the cosmetic work around the new garden spot. That means that I have trimmed the overgrowth and pulled probably a couple of hundred thorned vines out of the trees.

I brought my old Cub Cadet out of a deep sleep, about six years and mowed the Coastal with the bagger to clean it off. That was Monday and we got several inches of rain Tuesday. It MIGHT be ready to till Saturday or Sunday.

After I retill it and bed it in January or February I will post some pictures.

I did end up with a tree line on the West side that from all accounts, mainly from my wife, will not hurt the garden since it will get morning and mid day Sun.

Looking forward to those pics. I plan on doing some gardening next year as well.

Update! After tilling the garden, warm weather seemed to set in and it has a beautiful stand of grass. If it stays warm I think I'm going to have to hit it with Roundup before it lays out 'til time for retilling and planting.

I've tilled the winter grasses in once since my Fall tilling. It was before the snow piled on heavily. It is still much too wet to till again.

I got a field cultivator that will cultivate two rows, three feet apart between the wheels. I don't have a way to throw up beds, so I guess I will row it up with the cultivator and then build the beds with a hoe. I'm thinking about building a two row bedder. If I had four discs with bearings and hubs, I think I could build just what I need.

My wife and I are looking forward to Spring. Our youngest graduated from college in December, so we're ready to move this empty nest thing to the next level.

Yes ,You can build a row builder!!

MBDiagMan. You can sure build one . All you need is a 3 PH and a bar the width you want. A square bar tube or heavy angle would work well . Then you can make a bracket with flat bar and a vertical piece of pipe and bolt it on the bar . The piece of pipe would hold the the rod you intend to mount the disc hiller.to. There would need to be a hole drilled in the pipe and a nut welded to it to tighten and adjust the rod by tightening a bolt there. The hiller would attach to the rod and could be adjusted up or down and the amount of throw. Google; Bayou Gardener - hiller or bedder and you may find some great info on building one. If not I will find the actual link and send it to you. Bordercollie