Getting Off The Grid - Preparing The Fall Garden

Grown  over garden area

August 23, 2017

I planned today. I knew I would mow an acre of the grass an then I would start in the over grown garden area. I am preparing a spot to be tilled so that I will have a fall garden of greens.

Here in Central Alabama the weather usually does not get cold till around January with February being the coldest so I have four months to grow and reap the benefits of kale, collards and turnip greens. And as far as collards are concerned they sometimes will last until springtime. I am in hopes of home canning a few cases of kale for the coming year(s) as I am down to just 10 quarts from the last planting in 2015 / 2016 season, I did not have many to survive the 2016 fall planting due to the drought. 

2016 fall kale

This time it was harder to prepare since I have not had a mower for the whole summer, it just was not feasible to push mow that area, but today I took it slow and easy and mowed down a wide section of the four feet tall grass and weeds. I had left a rolled up older water hose in the garden, last year was the drought and I did try to save the plants and the grass had hidden it, I knew about where it as so me and Tony walked that area and he found it. 

It was impossible to pull up through all those weeds and grass by hand so Tony got his truck and drove to the garden up to the hose pipe and looped it around the towing ball and he pulled it out. It had already dry rotted and it was old and now out of the way. I was glad to see the truck had more than enough room to fit between the grow over grass and the okra plants, the area I took a lot of time to prepare.

It feels strange to mow grass in August, usually this is a dry and crispy month but this year its as green as Springtime. 

But before the tiller can be used it needs a simple repair and my uncle agreed to do it for me tomorrow and then that area will be ready to be tilled, raked and planted. 

I picked another pint of okra and four cucumbers, one red tomato. I seen plenty of bell peppers but I want them to get bigger so I left them for a couple more days.

Looking back two years ago at what I wanted was a shock to me. I still have not got that greenhouse but I do have many windows to make a wood and glass greenhouse, or I could go the cheap way with plastic everything and I would buy it all.

This is what I wrote in my journal :

Getting Off The Grid- Those Bushes And A Greenhouse

There are two things that I have been wanting since forever and thats a clothes line and a green house . 

   After thinking about it a very long time I know now exactly where I want the green house . No I have not said much about it to Tony or anyone  . I will just have to start buying a few building items here and there . I know how and I am sure I can do it but with a project this big I will need another pair of hands . I may do a single side slant roof so that I can add on later if I want a bigger place .

   I mentioned that I was going to begin to clear out a spot of bushes that are grown over into this yard by 10 to 12 feet but thats all I said and he replied " you will see how much room is taken over when they are gone " . . I would love to start my green house as a 10 x 12 room and grow food all Winter inside . 

   Clearing bushes is no problem for me as I used to own a landscaping company , I even cleared out the lot that my sister bought and now lives on , with her help . I have a spot we want to burn out so I can pile the brush there , its a wad of honeysuckle and poison ivy vines .

   Now the clothes line ! The last rental house that was repaired I had two posts left over , 4 x 4 x 8 and we had cement left over from these posts for the fence .  You guess right if you was thinking I am going to dig me a couple holes and make my own clothes line .

    Using solar to light the house , dry the clothes and heat water is my goal . A clothes line is considered a solar clothes dryer :) its as green as you can get ! Here in central Alabama we only have a couple months of super cold weather around January and February so it`ll be used a lot .

     It is the perfect time to put in a clothes line too because I am putting Rosco in the fenced area and he wont pull all my clothes off the drying line .

By Andria Perry

So much has happened since I wrote this but it shows that I am trying to get to where I want to be, even 2 years later. Well, Last year I did get one thing I wanted. 

Read more about that here : The benefits of hanging out laundry 

I am guessing that I did not get my clothesline till Spring of 2016 by the date on the article but that is how life is, things come at the right time. 

Do you plant a fall garden where you live? 

By Andria Perry

Photos By Andria Perry