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Re: 1?=space, 2?=water

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

Another option to consider is cover cropping or green manure (two names for
the same thing.)  You plant crops that improve the soil, such as clover,
vetch, or alfalfa, so that you are spreading some solar sail to harvest the
sunshine for soil building.

Of these, alfalfa is a long term cover that will allow you to cut it several
times a year to mulch other parts of your garden.  All of the above covers
are legumes, meaning they will fix nitrogen (with help from the right
bacteria in the root zone) and give you free fertilizer while they improve
your soil, that is awaiting a more intensive use by you....

Of course if you have plenty of mulch or can put in a Three Sisters patch,
that'd be good, too

(Three Sisters--corn, pole beans, and pumpkins/winter squash, grown as a
group---if you choose varieties of corn and beans for dry beans and corn,
then you only have to harvest at just before frost for the
squashes/pumpkins, and at your convenience for the corn and beans....

Beans will fix some N but when you let them grow for dry beans it mostly
ends up in the beans, but corn does produce a lot of brown stuff for
composting.....

Re water, it helps to realize which crops will need it most, then set aside
low areas for them. As a Scout I have hauled water and hewn wood; no easy
way to do it but a good cart, wheelbarrow, or similar aids will help alot,
as will mulch and proper placing of the plants (e.g. celery needs a low wet
place; many herbs do better on dry soil).

Frank---of course, you could find a magic hat and make broomsticks sprout
arms, but this method of hauling water has been shown to lead to
trouble....one of them Mickey Mouse methods best avoided.....:-)


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