It's been a crazy journey jumping into permaculture and homesteading from absolute scratch. We've had some serious bumps in the road that derailed our plans and ate up our time. But this year is on track to be the most productive since we first pulled up the sod and turned our lawn into garden. I'm excited and more motivated than ever, now that I can share my successes, failures, and revelations with others here on Steemit.
1. Double Our Gardening Space
Our first garden we established 5 years ago was 30 x 30. Pretty much our entire front yard. Since then we've expanded grow bed by grow bed, slowly and cleared out trees to gain more access to light. But this year, I have much bigger plans. I really want to start making a dent in our grocery bill, and simply need more growing space. This is going to be a lot of work, I'm hoping to etch out a new 60 x 60 plot. To do this I will need to clear out some pine forest. I'll need to figure out what to do with the stumps, and how to make use of the logs and brush, as I hate wasting resources. From there, I'll need to shape my beds and try to get as much organic matter in the soil as I can before planting time. Stay tuned!
2. Cover Crop
We haven't yet dove into cover cropping, but this will be the year. We've purchased straw before, and we usually mulch with leaves, but it seems like such a better option to grow our own straw, mulch, and fertilizer all at once. We'll need to purchase a few tools (a broadcast spreader and scythe) but it's well worth the investment.
3. Propagate our perennials and shrubs
I had some success last year with propagating currants and lavender, but I started way too late in the season. This year I'm hoping to expand my perennials through a massive propagation effort. Ribes, raspberries, honeyberries, lavender, sage, hyssop, to name a few
4. Store a years supply of pickles, krauts, jams, sauces, and onions
This year we were able to turn 40 lbs of cabbage into sauerkraut. It came out really great. My pickles all turned mushy though, and we just finished our last jar of tomato soup–so good! I want to make sure we're able to grow and process a full year's supply of jam, relishes, pickled veggies, tomato soup, sauce, and paste, and store enough onions to last us until next year's harvest. We've made strides, but this is the year to make a serious go at it.
5. Save seeds from the majority of the annuals we grow
We have successfully saved seeds for Spinach, lettuce, corn, pumpkin, cilantro, and a few other veggies. But I have yet to get serious about the effort. This year I'm going to attempt saving most of the seed from the veggies we grow, and diligently keep unwanted cross pollination out. This will save us a ton of money next year, especially as our garden expands. It will also begin the long term goal of breeding plants specifically for our climate, soil and needs.
6. Extend our growing season into winter
We have yet to do any successful winter gardening. At the bare minimum I'm going to build a few cold frames and use row covers with greenhouse plastic. If I get really ambitious, I'll build a small hoop house.
7. Beautify the landscaping
With the focus being on growing food for the past 5 years, the landscaping around our house has suffered. We're going to mulch with woodchips, cleanup paths, fill in empty spaces with beneficial perennials, propagate and expand ground covers and hopefully grade and restore our long beat up gravel driveway.