Making More Raised Beds And Planting An Orchard For Self Sufficiency
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- Fro the last week my and dot have been hard at work on the veg garden making new beds and getting stuff planted. we now have 30 square meters of growing space and we got the orchard moved and replanted in its proper place.
Dot - “this bed? Oh, yes, this is the bed I buried Kris in when he wouldn’t stop doing his Welsh accent!”
lol
No, don't Carole Baskin him!
Or ".....because he kept repeating everything I said."
I like the sketchy wood chipper. Making due with what you got.
He needs to weld on a chute, then it would be complete! And safer too!
@@jamess1787 came here to say that. 😀 It helps prevent that sudden violent swipe of the branch when it gets caught on the blade.
That was ingenious, the stick strimmer.
Brilliant Chipper. Looks like You folks have really been busy. A bit of Composting Advice. Wetting the pile between layers will help the pile compost more evenly and keep it from getting too hot. Your garden really looks great
Radish,i liked growing them for health benefit & they only take 3 weeks to grow more or less. I would grow more than needed & trade & sell them,loved growing beetro0t amongst other veg & had nearly every hen on the market,with a load of geese & ducks,oh the fond memory's.
Thanks for the video, it helps.
We have goshawk in South Africa also. Put in higher corner posts around the chicken pen, and put chicken mesh fencing above the entire area where they run. It will keep the goshawk out. You can be totally self sufficient with half an acre of veg and fruit garden. Hugs
I was going to say the same thing. That's how we do it in Ohio. :)
Just what I was going to say! A large net would work as well.
@@pippaseaspirit4415 - A lot cheaper as well.
Do the same in Minnesota. We call it a run. Good luck with your chickens. 🐓🐔
Chicken fences need to be covered all time with nets. Hawks and eagles make fast meal out of your birds otherwise. But they are easy threat to defend against. When martens find your coop you are in trouble. They can chew through solid planks and climb through every small hole + they kill every bird in one night in killingfrenzy. In 30 years iv lost my chickens 3 times to marten.
As you was showing the Apple trees I was counting the the litres of home made cider you'll be making in the future lol.
Always love when Dot is in your videos with you.
Could Dot explain the part about the plants? I would love it if she gets her own section in your videos :)
Looks good mate.
What you will have to remember is that certain foods you wont be able to grow all year round .... in the winter its best growing brassicas.
What you can do is if you have a freezer then you can part boil things like peas, carrots , cauliflower and broccoli, let them cool down and then portion them up and freeze them they will keep for months on end.
With all of your root vegetables and potatoes you can build a big wooden box and fill it with layers of sand and root veg/potatoes, put a layer of sand at the bottom then a layer of root vegetables/potatoes and keep repeating the process and they will stay as fresh as the day you picked them for months on end.
Potatoes dont need a lot of room , you will get loads out of that one square bed if you have put quite a fair few sprouting potatoes in there but if you done one more bed the same size then you will yield loads that you can store using the sand method I mentioned above.
I've stumbled across you on accident, but suffice to say I'm here to stay. And I've shared your channel with a few members of my family who're doing this kind of thing so that maybe they can pick up a few things they don't know about.
My experience with gardening is from my grandmother. She used to have a large veg garden and the thing I remember is that gardening means having produce in spurts. You may have beans but like A LOT.
You should be prepared to handle the amounts you will be getting.
My grandmother obviously gave some away but the bulk of the harvest went into glass jars. She canned for days on end for a family of 8. I recommend you get hold of both a large canning kettle (and the paraphernalia associated with it), some jars (i recommend you try to get about 100-150 of the same size and shape jars and new lids for them) and possibly a pressure canner to be able to handle the insane amounts of vegetables which will come your way...If you were to post an ad on one of the local facebook advertisement pages saying you are looking for a certain type/size of jar you will be surprised at the amount of reactions you get. Simply choose a common size at the supermarket, try to find out what they are used for (pickles, veg or sauces) and ask those types from your local people.
New lids can be found online. You can reuse many lids of they are undamaged and are not corroding.
I find even new lids tend to go three or four times if handled gently enough.
Birgit Schlegel ...I was going to suggest drying as an alternative or in addition to canning, but you beat me to it!
I would suggest that if you are just starting to gather canning supplies look for the wide mouthed canning jars. They are easier to fill, empty an
and handle
Hi, I’ve been looking into canning but here in the UK it is not that common but I will keep searching. Any one that can point me in the right direction it would be appreciated.
@@H2Dwoat not sure if they made it to the UK but look for The Ball canning book, from the Ball canning jar company
@Birgit Schlegel You can also run a string through the flat beans and dry them by hanging from your ceiling. When they are dry seal them in jars till you need them
Hi Kris,
with all your fancy tools and skills it would be pretty easy for you to built a proper wood chipper/shredder... Reason for that is your large forest property. I'd love to see building videos. I hope I could convince you :)
Greating from Germany and keep going
Can't believe how well you've developed you land Kris, been watching since the roundhouse amazing transformation it just keeps getting better and better! Keep on living the dream! 😍 Hope Pauline is recovering well!
Ash and small bits of charcoal are really nutrilicious
I would add your left overs from your fire place to your garden beds
Keep up the good work!
I'm just seeing this video in October 2020 so you may have resolved the hawk problem, but just wanted to say that in my experience, any sort of loose netting strung above the run will usually keep hawks out. It's not so much a real obstacle as an annoying distraction to a hawk. They seem to not like taking the chance of getting tangled or hindered, and they like to have clear space to take off again, so any flimsy net seems to discourage them.
For orchard management. Checkout, Stefan Sobkowiak. He’s on UA-cam also. You might want to consider planting a few nitrogen fixing trees & shrubs. The Sea berry is amazing. For keeping the grass down. Do a Mobil chicken coop. The chickens will do help with pest management. I let my pigs out in the orchard about once a month. Pigs are the best homestead animal. Just keep them moving from paddock to paddock, so they moon scape the land.
We keep ducks at work, we have run fishing line over the top above head height of thier run, we then used old cds and foil, and things that made noise. Also made sure that the fishing line cruised crossed the whole area so to deter the birds of prey. It has worked for us. Maybe worth a try?
around here on flat roof building they put fishing line to prevent birds from nesting on the roofs
Ha! We did this for our fish in the pond. Guess what, herons come walking along, get their fish, walk away and start getting airborne couple of meters further. Clever bastards!
Have you ever thought of getting a guard goose for your chickens? They can make a terrible noise, flap their wings and scare any airborne predators off.
Kris I wondered if you had thought of getting 2 smaller sized pigs? They can eat like royalty on your land and help clean it up. Another step in self sufficiency. You are one hard working couple.
sandra cunningham - Have you watched videos on The Hollar Homestead channel? They use pigs as you suggest - to clear the land (including eating kudzu, roots and all). They now are raising pigs for food, too.
Hi Kris, good effort. Some advice buddy, 1. Make 3× compost bins next to each other you fill one up, let one decompose and the 3rd is ready to use and empty.
2. You can use gypsum to breakdown heavy clay. Clay is really high in nutrients, keep adding the rotten wood and straw it will help.
3. Buy some comfrey seeds/plants. Site them in a spot that is damp and gets alot of water. Cut the plants down and make a 'tea' from the leaves. The tea is really high in potassium and nitrogen both good for alot of fruit and vegetables. Keep it up
Mitch
The leaf litter and soil underneath all over your property would make an awesome growing medium! Thanks for the video, Kris!
yes! leaf mold is AMAZING... bonus; many little critters for the chickies as well..
@@monabale8263, Yes, I missed that! Those birds will shred that litter and poop all over it, adding to the goodness!! :D
Get some squash, I recommend butternut and crown prince they will keep all winter and roast up lovely.
Kris man, make some children and take over all the world with your like minded offspring. God bless you both.
Sounds like you need a guard goose to protect your chickens!
We have had a 200 m2 garden for 2 people for years. We don't plant any grain or fruits in the space and we have an additional garden for herbs, other perennials and medicinal plants. It's enough for vegetables. Especially the workload with weeding and later with harvesting and preserving the food is doable.
You should think about a way to store the produce during winter, maybe a root cellar could work for you.
OhMyGosh... I’m pretty sure the lawn mower companies are busy revising their manuals to “DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS”, lol ... your Frankenmower seems to be the ticket for amending your soil, great job thinking outside the box
Kris, from my own mistakes I would highly encourage removing the center row of the orchard and planting those further away. Otherwise in a few short years the trees will be competing for light and space growing into each other. If you watch Stephen Hayes he's removed dozens of mature trees in his orchard for this reason. Best of luck on these projects I'll be following along!
Yup, I immediately thought "well that's a bit crowded looking" aswell, when he showed the finished orchard spot
@@DatsWhatHeSaid does Kris say what rootstock the trees are on?
@@subliminal_donkey typically if they're box store trees they're semidwarf which is too large for that spacing.
They are 2.5 - 3 meters apart, i went with the spacing recommended on the labels. none are full grown trees all are on a dwarf rootstock. i cant remember exactly but it says they will grow 3-4m tall. so the spacing should be fine.
I agree, having seen how sprawling my trees have got over the years, these look too close together
I live in spain,and have seen chicken runs covered with netting for saving the fruit on the trees from the birds
Maybee 4 high posts and some netting suspended over the chickens would stop birds of prey swooping down.
One day the chickens can run in the orchard. Net it together and protect both spaces?
Carrots and most root vegetables enjoy a fine sandy soil that has been fertilized a year earlier. From experience, they dont seem to root at all in any other condition. I mix sand and compost in a 50/50 ratio and fertilize the bed every 3rd year.
I love hearing the welsh assent
Assent Welsh to no end...
I have apple trees at home and don't use any pesticide for more then 30 years. They have become really good and large. I hope you see this as positive and you don't need to any pesticide at all.
Maybe not, but it is like getting insurance for your car...
@@JerryDodge i remember having to put pesticide on crops for commercial selling, we had wash our hands after touching the backpack container, just the container nevermind that poison. that stuff is dangerours
you couple are too good at this - people will talk uno 🙃😂💗🐱< cat is cute horse manure good find was gunna say if u know a farm maybe a red flag on chicken coup / or something alike goshawk toy wind propeller ?
Kris it might be worth letting your Chickens have a pile of the manure, they will turn it and eat all the bugs in it, and produce some fantastic fertiliser in the process, just rake it up and put it on the veg beds.
Have you looked into hugelkultur? You could adapt if for your raised beds.
I think you mighty be a homesteading genius with that old lawnmower to chipper trick...I need to try that. I have electric now for the lawn but we still have our old (and loud) petrol/gas one so I might have to try this.
CHICKENS I've been down that road. Though I LOVED letting my free range, I always lost them to fox, coyote, or various hawks. I live on the Sea in New England so we have quite a few predators for chickens, even Osprey that hunt our shores for fish, I've seen them eye them up, though they mainly eat sea life. So now my chicken run is fence in all round as well as dug down and out a foot (as foxes will dig in at night) and over the top I have been using bird netting though it SHOULD be chicken wire, but the net has worked for the past year, and I"ve gone out of a morning and seen the red tail hawk sitting in the branch over the run looking down, just wanting them.
Now more than ever their eggs are so important as who knows if food shortages are to come? At least this shut down has happened in Spring and not in the dead of Winter, eh?
I love your channel and you're inspiring me to possible just put the camera on and film my faffing about here on our property. We've only 3 acres but we are on the sea and I am trying a bit at a time to be more self sufficient, was a slow hobby up until now but wondering how much the process will be sped up with our current world. Wishing I'd already got those solar panels now :/
Keep inspiring all of us!
🤣🤣🤣🤣 your accent impersonation
You're freaking brilliant! I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to come up with a load of compost. Never would have thought the lawnmower would chip wood. I'm scared to use manure because of the widespread use of herbicide on the hay. It persists in the manure and kills everything except grasses for years. Has even shown up in bagged compost from the home improvement stores. Terrible stuff.
earth cellar next for storage! :)
Good on for wearing that PPE mate 👍👏👏
You’re so young I can’t believe how much you can do. WOW! Loved the bowl too! Would you sell anything?
Look online at like ebay, craigslist or Facebook marketplace or equivalents in UK for used/damaged bird/aviary netting. You might also try old fishing nets.
Rabbits provide ready-to-use fertilizer and a regular supply of dishes for your weekly menu from a practical standpoint, though the way you love that kitty-cat I'm not sure that would fly :) farmfreshforlife.com/7-reasons-to-raise-rabbits/
It's a pretty splendid garden! You're going to need canning jars and a shed-load of shelving to store it all! Did I forget to say, 'Thank you' for living the life we want and sharing it?
Only working idea I've seen to stop hawk's in their tracks is make a chicken tractor or you could add on to your existing posts and add on chicken wire to the sides and roof your pen area. (Just my opinion, but the tractor would be more useful as you could use the chickens to scratch open a new area of planting for you, they'd even add fertilizer for you.)
Just a thought maybe a couple of geese in with the hens work to keep predators out of the chicken run or a turkey ( heard they can get aggressive ) if there’s not enough room and you don’t feel like enlarging the pen
A covered hen pen/coop is the only way to stop birds of prey eating your chickens and not just Goshawks, but other Hawks and Owls will eat them given the chance Kris 🦅
How nice is that orchard going to be in a few years :) sitting down in the shade of the apple tree drinking a nice cider......this is what dreams are made of Kris :) awesome ;)
I was wondering pro and con of grouping them by fruit so easier to harvest in proximity but maybe benefits of interspersing
What kind of camera do you use, my friend?
You might want to pick up a cheap polytunnel to get your plants started, you're not short of space there and a 6m X 3m is about £150 on eBay. I guess the next step is to learn the language now you're getting the twang perfected 😁
“The house”? I must have missed something.
Another great video btw....thanks.
Yet again another great vlog, and not many men would admit when a woman knows better, so hats off to you. As for the frankenmucher......yikes....but as usual it works.
do some sunflowers, for your chickens. Sweetcorn will love the rich bed, as will spuds
Here in NZ we had hawks take two of our chooks, ended up stringing thin wire cross over head about a foot apart, then there's the ferret problem! Charles Dowding is your go to gardening man, no dig, awesome! Keep up the good work!
When you start explaining about the goshawk attack, you can hear it I'm the back ground screeching at you... lol try putting uo some loose tree netting... it will keep all the 'fliers' from getting in. Might even catch a few in it...CATCH AND RELEASE OF COURSE, but if you scare the shit out of them, they wont come back... best of luck.
Get some lambs to keep you orchard mowed. And then have Christmas dinner.
A couple of bee hives will help your trees produce more fruit plus the added benefit of honey. A root cellar for food storage will work as well.
Bramley apples are for cooking. You can puree these for apple sauce lovely with pork.
Absolutely wonderful. You two have it going on. You have about all your are going to need.
when are you gonna make a pizza oven? bit of cob, wood fired. Its very you
You should put chicken tunnels through the garden so the chickens can eat the bugs. It adds protein to the eggs and keeps the bugs from eating the plants
It's times like these that we are at our most inventive. Great idea with the mower. Sorry about the Hawk attack if you have something's like goal netting you could put that over the top.
That is the funniest thing, you're mad! I love it, I'm doing that for sure.
I recommend a solar-powered owl scarecrow with a rotating head perched on one of your fence posts over your chickens. They're fairly cheap online. The solar power allows the head to move... Scares the crap out of small hawks like a goshawk. I also recommend putting some spikes (metal or wooden) on the tops of your other fence posts to remove easy perching opportunities. Also trim any branches that hang over the pen.
As big a part of self-sufficiency as what you, and how much you grow, is preserving the glut crops to see you over the winter. Root cellar, preserving beans in jars, tomato sauce in jars, things like that are probably a good idea to be thinking about ready for the harvest(s), and I'm sure you are/have been. Nice work and smart to (eventually) get to talk to next door's muck mountain owner - priceless.
Chicken pen,.. roof. Make a wattle and daub bent roof using bent-over hazel, clay, sand and straw. It'd be a fun project, the roof would be secure (especially if you use reeds to thatch it) and it'd last a long time too! Win win! I realise it's more work than chicken wire 'roof', but it'd look so much better AND it'd keep the birds warm in winter if/when it snows. Oh and I think you should consider fencing off the garden with a proper hedgerow (just my humble opinion). :)
Concerning the bark you stripped from that tree, I've seen someone (on youtube) who flattens it while it's still moist, lets it dry, and used it for siding on a cabin, or shelter for the chickens--a place to hide from the goshawks. If you're using it to feed your vegetables, that's fine too.
One thing I heard keeps birds of prey away is something called a "guard goose." Just something you may wanna look into
I was having problems with hawks and also these really big crows that we have here in USA. But anyway I had to actually extend my posts so I could still stand up and I strung chicken wire over the top to form a roof of sorts so they couldn't get in problem solved !!!!
A short haircut looks so much more manly. Well that's what alot of ladies think 😉
Great video yet again, youve taken another step in your off grid lives and the fact that youre doing all this in your own way and at your own pace is commendable. Well done and best of luck.
Great when you have neighbors with handy supplies :)
Play music the hens love it in hopefully it scares other birds away
MIGardener just did a thing on what each person uses per annum
you say Pauline's fine but I think she's going to need counselling.
One idea for a crop is Broad beans. They grow easily and need hardly any care. you can plant them almost any time. You can scrape a small furrow in the soil and that is enough to drop the beans in. Harvest them when the beans in the pods are smallish they are much tastier then. Also the plants help to make great compost and if your soil has the right bacteria, the plants improve the soil for future crops by fixing nitrogen in the soil. The beans can be dried and freeze very well and they are great as a standard veg or made into a dip like hummus and they work great in stews etc . well worth the time getting a crop in and remember to grow enough to keep a bunch for re-planting
Head scarf looks good on you
On a guildbrook farm vid they ran string lines over the top randomly to stop birds
Another ace and informative videos, cheers guys!
Nice to hear Dot 👍
mix some of the manure into the compost pile you made and it will heat up for sure .
Fishing line around 7 feet above the pen will stop it in it's tracks and it's a cheap and easy solution! I use to use it for when I use to keep Koi!
Having a diverse orchard is great especially with grafting. If you find you don't like the variety of pear you could graft a new pear on rather than plant a whole new tree.
Wire weeder made from plyable 4mm wire great for new emerging weeds or an old hacksaw blade in a loop screwed on a stick, get them weeds when young is the only way
Garden focused. Co. UK, put in your nearest town and it gives timing and good information 👍🏻
Your Welsh accent sounds like when I try a British accent haha
Kris really good video. Perfectly timed with my finishing my own vegetable patch. I will refer you to John Seymore's book ' The complete book of self sufficiency'. He details how to grow all crops, lived in the Suffolk and was the grandfather of self sufficiency. He feed his entire family of 5 on 5 acres. He did keep pigs, ducks, geese, chickens and a couple cows however. I would give it a read as there is no better book under the sun on the concept of gardening self sufficiency. Hope that helps. Laurence
I'm no expert but AIUI hugelkultur would be a great way to construct raised beds with waste rotting wood topped with nitrogen rich compost.
Also pee is a good source of sterile and sustainable nitrogen fertilizer for compost bins.
Had a good laugh at your realization via Dot that there might be another way. But your own compost set up will be helpful. Also who was that Irish person?
Have been watching your back catalogue while in lock down,really enjoying them,educational and entertaining,you are a skilled man,thankyou
I'm surprised there isn't tons of usable material on that land, especially down near the hydro plant.
Belgian guy here, I live at the border of my families fruit farm. Elstar Apples are very nice, good choice! Growing conference peres will be more tricky compaired to belgian soil/climate, good luck tho, enjoy the Blossoms!
You going to do bees? 🐝
Where I live we also got a lot of flying predators. What seems to keep them away are garlands we strung across the top of the coop
Haha wonderful ideas! Congrats
I know John Jeavon's book "How to Grow More Vegetables" has a focus on growing for self sufficiency if you haven't come across that already. I can send it to you if you need. The mower-chipper is a genius idea, obviously it won't like the abuse but maybe with just the rotted wood it'll work! Either way I love the mentality. (Also check out Ben Falk on UA-cam, Instagram and he has a book, if you haven't already. Lots of great homesteading knowledge)
You should make a greenhouse. It is a much more efficient way of growing food. Weather protection, higher yields etc. Keep it up!
Salut vous tank you vidéo magnifique bravo
Loved your welsh accent and the humour behind it. :)
absolutely BRILLIANT!
you should defo dread that barnet now mate, getting looooong 😎
Garden looking great Kris... someone suggested leaf rot as a good source - a good idea. Your property is looking more and more settled and organised which is good to see - looks like a small farm.
Hi Kris - instead of peas, I strongly recommend mangetout peas.
They crop heavily, mature quickly, you eat everything that you pick and you don't waste time shelling them!
Also they make a vegetable, a stir fry ingredient, a salad ingredient etc. etc...........
Thanks Andy i will check that out
All we need now is for Kris to do an Essex accent instead, and it'll be Gavin & Stacey