Gardening Methods

I’m making a ” Kitchen Garden” this spring any ideas on what to grow?

I live in Newfoundland and the soil in my end of the island is pretty rocky. My back yard is a steep hill and I would like to dig into the hill and make some gardens for the kitchen.

How nice. Grow some chives, they’re amazingly sturdy, need little care(none, really), and as the years go by you can divide the clumps and get even more chives. They’ll go well with your potatoes.

Check some designs for rat-proof compost bins. I haven’t had to use one yet but I know they’re out there. You can certainly buy them already made but they’re pretty expensive, or perhaps you buy the one to use for food compost and make a larger one of wire mesh or boards that’s only for brush trimmings and other inedible things. And keep the compost as far from the house as possible if you think rats will be a problem. Just look up “rat proof compost” and use what ideas work for you. There are also composters made to use indoors, using worms. Rats rarely bother vegetable plants in my experience.

How about onions of any kind? Leeks, maybe, which are versatile but expensive in stores which plain onions are not. Various kinds of beans, perhaps, many of which grow tall and so can produce a lot in a small space. Look at broad beans if you like lima beans. The leafy things all like cool weather–lettuces, spinach. Peas like cool weather, though I find them more work than they’re worth with the shelling. Edible pod peas(sugar snap) get around that. A few herbs are always nice, for looks if nothing else, and many grow well in tough conditions. You might be able to tuck them in where nothing else will do well. If you have a rocky hillside with a lot of sun, consider that it might get warmer than you think in summer. You might have a micro-climate. Give them the right protection and pick a fast maturing variety and you might even get tomatoes in a short season.

Consider container growing for some things, or use a bunch of small terraces on the hill as “containers”. Potatoes don’t need a lot of space if you can get vertical space. Plant a potato, and as it grows you keep hilling up soil around the plant, which will grow roots and poatotes from the stem which is now underground. You can even grow them in a barrel this way as long as they get enough light at first when they’re small. Investigate Deep Bed gardening, because that might essentially be the method you have to use on a hill. Beg borrow or steal all the compostable material you can to build up your soil.

Beginners Guide to Composting!