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Mary Chris
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| Posted: April 25 2008 at 6:51pm | IP Logged
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Last year I had a nice veggie/ herb garden, basil, tomatoes, rosemary you know the good stuff. I also put in a 4x8 flower garden. It had some lavendar, tickseed, clematis, sunflowers, verbena and portaluca. Well today I made the bed 11x14. What was I thinking? It is huge!!!! I don't know how I am going to fill it. And I want to put in two more beds, one a butterfly garden and another out our family room window, plus I have two 4x4 square foot gardening boxes. Let's hope no one needs new clothes this summer, I need to buy dirt and plants  .
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Blessings, Mary Chris Beardsley
mom to MacKenzie3/95, Carter 12/97 Ronan 3/00 and wife to Jim since 1/92
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lapazfarm
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Mary Chris wrote:
| I need to buy dirt . |
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LOL! For some reason this just cracks me up!
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Theresa
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LaPaz Home Learning
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Mary Chris
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| Posted: April 25 2008 at 7:01pm | IP Logged
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I have to make raised beds, we don't actually have dirt, it's more like clay. I can see how buying dirt sounds nutty.
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Blessings, Mary Chris Beardsley
mom to MacKenzie3/95, Carter 12/97 Ronan 3/00 and wife to Jim since 1/92
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CathinCoffeland
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Mary Chris- buy 1 mint plant aND It will be full by the end of May! 
Ive envy your space we have a 4 by 4 porch but ive already got peas and 2 mints AND LOTS OF LETTUCE AND ONIONS.
hAPPY PLANTING- mAGGIE
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: April 25 2008 at 7:11pm | IP Logged
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Mary Chris wrote:
| I have to make raised beds, we don't actually have dirt, it's more like clay. I can see how buying dirt sounds nutty. |
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Oh, I understand. I was just thinking about all the dirt I wash down the drains after my kids baths every day, and it struck me as funny, that's all.
Guess my sense of humor is a little warped.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Mary G
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| Posted: April 25 2008 at 7:31pm | IP Logged
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Mary Chris -- perfect -- we'll be able to live off your garden when we first move to Virginia!
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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JennGM
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Mary Chris wrote:
| I have to make raised beds, we don't actually have dirt, it's more like clay. I can see how buying dirt sounds nutty. |
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GOOD FOR YOU on your GARDENING!!!! Yeah! Working in the dirt is so therapeutic and relaxing.
The red clay is pretty, but not practical. I just was at Southern States pricing my dirt mix, too. Are you doing "Mel's Mix" with manure/compost/humus + Vermiculite + Peat moss?
I need to get the weeds out of my garden, and am having trouble sheltering the baby from the sun so I can work, so I haven't don't anything! But I bought 3 heirloom tomato plants and a butterfly and hummingbird seed mix. Wait -- I'm not growing butterflies and hummingbirds, I'm trying to attract them.
But why don't I just come over and eat your tomatoes?
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Elizabeth
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Mary Chris and I live across the street from an active quarry. We have rocks embedded in clay. Truly, you can't dig it and you can't plant in it.And yes, we have to buy dirt and haul it where we want it to go. Not for the faint of heart or back.Lasagna gardening was designed for us.So...since she's gone and made her beds bigger, maybe I won't make mine bigger--and then I can just stick some plants in at her house.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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missionfamily
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Hey--I think that's a great idea...split the cost of dirt and plants, alternate days to tend the garden and share the harvest. Then Mary Chris' kids can have clothes and tomatoes !
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Colleen
dh Greg
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Leslie
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Here we were, all this time, thinking our army post was just "cheap" and stuck us with clay and rocks covered by mulch in the backyard. We've just started gardening and I feel silly saying we weren't sure if we could just add dirt on top and have it work. That's what we've done, though, and so far the dirt (and my black thumb) haven't done the flowers in yet. How much dirt (how many inches) do you add on top for a flower bed? (I told you, black thumb here). 
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Leslie
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Mary Chris
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Leslie, do you have a wooden frame around your bed? For my veggies I aim for 8-10 inches. I think my square foot boxes around 10 inches wide, I fill it up all the way.
For flowers, I think beds with annuals don't need to be so deep. If you are planting perennials you might want more.
Jenn, the nursery I went to today sells something called Bumper Crop, it supposedly has it all mixed in. I will probably add some topsoil and compost also.
We hauled 19 bags today, that was what I could fit in the Jeep. I probably need at least another 20 bags.
Elizabeth that works for me, the children can weed all summer....who needs the pool?
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Blessings, Mary Chris Beardsley
mom to MacKenzie3/95, Carter 12/97 Ronan 3/00 and wife to Jim since 1/92
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teachingmom
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Elizabeth and Mary Chris are not exaggerating about our rocky clay. Last weekend I picked up two new rose bushes to place on each side of my front porch steps. They need a hole about 15-18 inches deep and almost as wide. It took dh around three hours of serious labor - I mean using a long, heavy metal pike-type thing and pounding it into the hole to break up rocks that are up to the size of a medium sized watermelon! It proceeded to rain on Sunday, so he only got the first rose into the ground. My front entryway has looked very lopsided all week. 
I bought two of these grow beds this year in order to try some square foot type gardening in my very small yard. I have strawberries and raspberries in one of them and will be putting tomatoes, peppers, and maybe some lettuce or an herb or two in the other. (Mary Chris, I still have those two extra raspberry plants for you in the vegetable crisper drawer of my fridge.) Jenn, I went to Meadows Farms Nursery and they suggested I use a combination of half top soil and half manure in the beds.
I have been known to have a thumb that is anything but green. My only luck has been with trees and bushes. (My two lilac bushes look great this year!) But I am determined to succeed with gardening. St. Fiacre, pray for me! 
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Kristie 4
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My oh my. I am looking at fresh snow, that is thankfully melting in my garden beds.
I am looking at raising my beds up to. Easier on little ones!
What is lasagna gardening?
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Kristie in Canada
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Erin
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Leslie wrote:
| (I told you, black thumb here). |
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Well that makes two of us.
When we were planning on moving out here I shared with my family that I was planning on a garden, dc thought it hilarious and suggested I plan a 'coffin size' plot, PC wasn't much better with his jokes.
Good luck Leslie, I'm barracking for you. 
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Erin
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Molly Smith
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CathinCoffeland wrote:
| Mary Chris- buy 1 mint plant aND It will be full by the end of May! |
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Oh Maggie, no kidding! I had this happen a few years ago and it was a disaster! The mint spread faster than the weeds. A green-thumb friend told me (after the fact) to plant the mint in a clay pot and then plant the pot. Mostly, I grow weeds, and I'm very good at it!
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Molly Smith in VA
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Elizabeth
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Lasagna Gardening is a method of putting several layers of newspaper down and then putting good dirt on top and planting, instead of digging beds. It's the ultimate gardening method for bad soil and absent husbands:-). There is a big thread on it here. I blogged about our first experience with it here.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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JennGM
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I built boxes following the very easy directions from the book of Square Foot Gardening. I used the Lasagne Gardening method of the wet newspapers on the bottom, to kill the weeds and grass, or you can use the black weed cloth at the bottom.
This will be my 3rd year using the boxes, the two previous years I've been very pleased. I was referring above to the Mel's Mix that he recommends.
Last year Mary Chris did a work of mercy, bringing vegetable plants and her oldest and a few of Elizabeth's children to help plant, as I was on moderate rest in early pregnancy. I wouldn't have had any garden if she hadn't come out.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Paula in MN
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FYI, I've got about 70 acres of peat if anyone wants it. I'd love to deliver it, if it means getting a chance to meet some of you!
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 Paula
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Cay Gibson
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Molly Smith wrote:
CathinCoffeland wrote:
| Mary Chris- buy 1 mint plant aND It will be full by the end of May! |
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Oh Maggie, no kidding! I had this happen a few years ago and it was a disaster! The mint spread faster than the weeds. A green-thumb friend told me (after the fact) to plant the mint in a clay pot and then plant the pot. Mostly, I grow weeds, and I'm very good at it! |
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Garrett finally dug up my flowerbed next to the house. Kayleigh and I have big plans for an herb garden there. Oma told me to plant mint as a spread because I wanted something that would grow like this plant Marcie gave me (ie: little upkeep with just a watering here and there ).
The rest of the herbs will be grown in stone pots.
So I'm, literally, enhaling all this info.
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Cay Gibson
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Elizabeth
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Leslie,
Irene's idea might be perfect for you. Those beds can be assembled here in Virginia and then, if you really wanted to, you could dump the dirt before you move again, dissemble them and take them to the next post. At least I think you could. And Rachel has been gardening over there too, maybe she's got some ideas for getting around the challenges of Virginia Army clay.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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