Look how much it changed! Garden tour Jan 2023

Here is my first 2023 garden tour of our new off grid homestead that we are building from scratch in cleared pine forestry. Despite the terrible barren soil, this garden is starting to thrive!
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[@BonesAndButtons]

Happy 17th Wedding Anniversary!!! 💚👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@elizebethparker5412]

What a joy to see your new garden. Thank you for sharing!

[@enosyodermattieyoder4298]

I love putting squash in in odd spots or even pumpkin

[@victoriajohnson3034]

I've never tried this in a greenhouse. But Borage is easy to grow. Chicken love. Great bee pollinators from flowers. And is great for your health to eat!

[@FantailValleyHomestead]

Oh that is a good idea, I have some going to seed at our current place, I will sprinkle some over there

[@esscee2520]

Kia ora from the Waikato :) Congratulations on getting your first garden in on your new land! Thanks for sharing your successes and the challenges too - really helpful. I will keep my eyes open on our rural section garden to see if we get possumed - now I know what to look for!

[@FantailValleyHomestead]

Yes those possums are sneaky! Lovely to see another kiwi

[@pollyk3328]

Get onto roots and refuge farm. They had a bad time with contaminated soil. They went on to do several things to bring life back to the soil.. hope you have a look.

[@egpteho8004]

Please do a video on different tunnel houses, redpath, Morrison and Northern Polytunnel. Get their sponsorship too. Guarantee you it will be very popular.

[@FantailValleyHomestead]

oh that is a good idea! thank you

[@peterwadham9788]

excellent video. I am enjoying watching your journey on this block!!

[@FantailValleyHomestead]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@victoriajohnson3034]

Wish winter gardening was easier here. Winters are 20 degrees and snow and ice! Even greenhouses don't produce much unless it's heated.

[@FantailValleyHomestead]

oh brrrr that is cold! We seldom get below freezing here being so close to the sea. We also (thankfully) don't get very hot either

[@mikepapa3196]

Gardens coming along, I can sympathize with starting out on not the best base dirt, just time, but you'll get there. Speaking of drip irrigation, we hooked up several beds a few months ago and were stoked but a few days later realized just how much water they actually use and being on tank with roof collection almost ran dry!! We only have a 30,000 litre tank for gardens and household, managed to get rain a week or so later to refill, now fast forward to the past month we are experiencing a drought and heat wave on the coast and water is a precious commodity again, so much for a rainforest we live in! Got to have plenty water storage or access to it when you have large gardens. Keep up the good work.

[@FantailValleyHomestead]

yes, water storage is so important! we have 2x 25,000 tanks here and while we have never run out, we do still overflow in big rains so I feel like we could add another one!

[@colezy14]

I had that tomato rot thing and they needed calcium I think, that sorted them out

[@victoriajohnson3034]

I might plant all legumes in the bad soil? Give it good nitrogen, and help heal soul faster. Just till under when done

[@carrotsandrunning]

as a brit, christmas in winter sucks. It's cold, wet, almost never actually snows, you have time off work but you end up stuck inside, everyone wants to go somewhere warm so the airports are rammed. It *sucks!* From the pest problems you're having it sounds like you need to grow an air rifle. :)

[@FantailValleyHomestead]

Yeah that is a good point! Maybe in Summer ain't so bad. Who needs an air rifle when you have a 14 year old haha. But yes, she would love to learn to shoot. She has a crossbow that she wants to master!

[@elizebethparker5412]

Would sunflowers grow in your sunny spot? Our North American chickens love eating the sunflower seeds.

[@FantailValleyHomestead]

Certainly a possibility, I am not very good at growing them, but it is worth a try!

[@martafejtkova4421]

Hi Dana, your garden looks amazing.. You have done such an amazing job on your new garden.. Please, many times you have mentioned that the plants need more nutrients.. What would you add to top them up?? Thank you

[@FantailValleyHomestead]

aww thanks Marta! We got a soil test done from seacliff organics and they made us a recipe of what we need to add. We did that last spring and will do it again this spring and hopefully then it will be OK. Plus we will add chicken manure and compost this autumn once the covercrops are ready to be dug in.

[@BonesAndButtons]

All my garlic got wiped out by rust too 🙁

[@FantailValleyHomestead]

So frustrating eh

[@BonesAndButtons]

Tree lucerne for the chooks? Would you describe that as lush?

[@FantailValleyHomestead]

ooh that is an idea, I have some seeds of them started already too

[@suecunningham8042]

Wonderful, so much work has gone into your garden. Have you tried horse manure? $2 a bag at westwood. What do you think of horse manure

[@FantailValleyHomestead]

I used a lot of it at our old place and it was wonderful! These days I am scared of getting stuff that has persistent herbicide in it, cos a lot of farmers spray their hay paddocks, and the horse eat the hay and the spray is still effective in their poop! Such a shame! Is the westwood stuff OK do you think?

[@joniboulware1436]

It is all suspect. Producers don't necessarily know if hay used or eaten is contaminated.

[@joandscotti]

How did you get your Goji berry to grow? I have some seeds but I cannot get them to germinate…..

[@FantailValleyHomestead]

It is growing! No fruit this season, I plan on moving it back into the tunnel house for the winter. I think it got too hot over the heat of the summer in there and it was struggling, so I hauled it outside. Lesson learned. Also, I sowed a lot of goji seeds and only 2 sprouted, I am not sure if they would be better with some time in the fridge first?

[@BonesAndButtons]

Did you eat the Possums? 😂

[@FantailValleyHomestead]

hahaha no, the dogs did though.