A Tornado Eats My Hunt Camp Garden
- I’m on garden #2 at camp , I wanted a garden so that when we went down we would have a supplemental food source to add to our meals and hopefully take some home as an added benefit .
- It wasn’t pre-planned to any great degree, not that it would have done any good . It was more a case of finding a level spot and the quality of the soil being so good , The spot had once been a barn that was plowed down to make way for the tree farm and the soil was great and retained water from rains .
- I even went so far as to order some Arabian coffee plants on amazon hoping they would grow and I could have some really Home made coffee at camp .They did great the first year and survived the first winter and made it till end of second year but did not survive the next winter.
- When I bought them they came in a paper bag and were only a few inches tall but I separated them and planted them in a area off from the rest of the garden . By the end of year #2 they were about waste high and doing great so i thought for sure i would have coffee by the end of the next summer but it was not to be .
- I planted peanuts that were from New Mexico so I thought they would do great in South Georgia having more rain and a better soil and having been a top peanut producing area to begin with but I guess a Georgia peanut and a New Mexico Peanut are just not 2 peas in a pod .
- They just didn’t do so well. I had tomatoes and they started out really well and then didn’t do so well after the vines began to cover them , Not being able to get down to camp all the time didn’t help either .
- The area I made the garden in had fantastic soil and it was because of this that I decided to take a chance in the first place but I had no idea that there were vines in the spot I chose when I began tilling the soil . The vines seem to have begun growing weeks after I planted the first seeds and seedlings of a variety of produce , I had radishes, beans, squash, peanuts, potatoes of 3 varieties, onions and some herbs .
- Everything did great in the beginning but after about 2 months I went down to check and realized what a problem the vines had become , even though I had cut them back they seemed to proliferate , I’m not sure what species they were but they were not Kudzu .
- It was again a while before i made it back towards mid summer and it looked pretty gloomy this time . I did the usual cutting back vegetation, cutting branches from other surrounding trees and clearing as much other vegetation out as I could in order to help get more sunlight into area .
- It did no good as I slowly watched insidious vines creep closer and closer to my vegee’s and soon engulfing them almost entirely .
- The end of summer came about and this time was different . There had been a big storm and I went to check on camp and also garden for damage . Camp was fine but a Tornado had landed directly on garden and wiped it out along with about thirty trees but with all bad things there are good they say and this was the case with garden as the tornado also wiped out all the trees that held vines so the vines are now gone I hope . I haven’t been there lately but will go soon and if its all good as far as the end of the vines from hell then I’ll try another garden in same spot .
- The Coffee plants survived the storm and that winter but not the proceeding winter. I’ll try again but am considering a mini green house just for the coffee plants and nothing else .
- I moved the garden location to other end of hunt property to our opening at main camp where it can more easily be maintained .
- This spot had even better, richer, more loamy soil and was at camp so was easier to build and maintain. This time i built a fence around the garden using tree branches from all the trees that i ripped out of the ground using a chain hooked to my jeep .
- It was oversized to begin with but had plenty of area to set all the mounds for separate plants , I had potatoes of 4 varieties , onions, radishes, 4 different tomato varieties,and a lot of different peppers ,
- Once again the garden was a flop .
Deer Kept Getting in, Over, Or Through The Fence
- Deer kept getting in, over, or through the fence and the weeds kept taking over even though I got down there to tend the garden more often that the preceding year .
- Some of the plants made it through the year but not much . I guess if your going to be a dirt farmer you need to stay and tend to your dirt.
- I haven’t given up yet though , I have new plans for a new year of gardening .
- I found a plastic construction fencing that is 100 feet long by 48 inches tall and 2 or three of these should keep the deer out if I do all my corner and opening supports as high as I can get them and as strong as I can make them .
- I also plan on rebuilding all the individual mounds but this time with wood borders surrounding them as in extra large planter boxes .
- To further help keep the weeds out I’m going to lay black plastic down with individual holes for each plant . It took me forever to think of a way to punch or cut or possible even burn each hole but to do it the easiest way i can think of and i have decided to try a 4 blade arrow head . I should be able to use the whole arrow and go along and punch the holes where i need them .
- I suspect I’m going to have problems with unsteady rain fall so i intend to lay down about 7 inches deep layer of hay in the bottom of each planter box to absorb water .
- This means I will have to drill holes along lower area of each box to let any excess water drain out and allow soil to breath.
- I’m also considering wood pallets , I’ll cut them in half and stand them on edge with a 2 by 4 around top edge to hold them together, then fill bottom with hay then a covering of soil , This idea should let the soil breath and still hold enough moisture to allow plants to grow and be higher up away from the weeds.
Make Really Great Meals At Hunting Camp With Vegetables From Your Own Garden
A Greenhouse made From Bamboo at Hunt Camp
A really cheap and easy way to get a green house at hunt camp is to build one out of bamboo. It will last a long time and if it becomes a problem for property owner or hit by a storm or forest fire it won’t be too big of a deal to tear it down and replace it or do repairs or rebuild from scratch ,
It’s starting to look more and more as though I am going to have to go with a greenhouse at camp if I want to secure my food supply from deer and other invaders like hogs .
I’m not sure what will be able to force it’s way in but if I make the green house strong enough and layer it with a fence around the outside I may be able to keep it from being torn down or ripped open .
There’s a plastic construction fencing at home depot that’s 36 inches high by 100 feet in length that may be able keep deer out if i zip tie it enough.
You'll need to get water to your garden
A Ram Pump is A good Method To Get Water Without Power
Ram Pumps work great and need no power- just a stream or being downhill from a pond will work .
You can build your own but it will cost almost as much as this one from amazon but once you set it up you will not need to do anything else.
It will keep running on it’s own and pump water up hill to your green house location 24/7
