Rural/Farm Life

I find succession planting and the square foot method need a lot of fertilizer and good rich compost. I find that one compost bin is just not enough for any significant amount of fertilizer. I have 3 plots about 90 x 100 feet each. We plant year round except for the 3 winter months. We got a greenhouse which in zone 7a is a big fat waste of money. But that is another story.

One of the reasons we raise sheep is for their manure. It is easy to distribute and doesn't smell though it tends to have seeds so we compost it for about 90 days.

If you know a pasture raised livestock producer, you could get most of your manure from them probably for free. Be careful of using manure from non organic farms though. I swear the first year we used a neighbor's free horse manure, we couldn't grow anything in it. I thought we were the worst farmers in the world. Turns out he was spraying his manure pile with round-up to stop the weeds from growing in it. Then he added pesticides to it to stop the flies from laying eggs. It was a toxic swill. But we didn't find out until we went over for another load and saw him spraying.

Be careful about the varieties you choose to plant especially in the 6 hours of sun. I find most farm vegetable seeds from corporations are bred for full sun, unlimited water and never ending fertilizers with a heaping dose of bug spray. The more resilient plant seeds can be found through like minded farmers and collecting/breeding seeds yourself.