LallyLuckFarm

"I forgot one thing about the guy who had gained the ability to fly - it was actually only for a foot or two, and only an inch or so high"

• The Vandals, An Idea for a Movie

We've had good experiences transplanting them during the early part of the growing season, maybe someone nearby would let you take a clump or three to get you started. They can spread pretty prolifically from a start like that. I haven't noticed them spreading seed very far, but their roots will spread them out readily.

I'm in love with your plans and goals! Something that's resisted a lot of wear from our dog's circuits has been wild violets, and we're seeing more clovers volunteering in those patches alongside them.

It sounds like just the right amount of ambition to me, I'm hopeful you'll see great results and will share them with us here!

We have a few small welded wire rings, roughly 3 feet in diameter and 4 feet high, that we use around the bird yard. That's about the minimum size to get the piles to heat to the point of being able to kill off most seeds that make it in there, and it's a simple thing to lift the ring and move it over so the pile can be turned. You could make it smaller if you're not too concerned with volunteer plants sprouting. I know a few folks who will line the inside with landscape felt (not the plastic stuff) to have less material fall through the gaps in the wire and make them look a little cleaner, if that's something you're interested in.

Not all poly is equally UV resistant. If your roll has branding information on it I would highly recommend checking that before using it. Cleaning up the pieces of the wrong poly is a huge pain because it fragments more while you're trying to pick it up.

If what you have lying around isn't up to the task, ask around at your local greenhouses for offcuts from their last greenhouse skins. The box stores will try to sell you rolls from the paint department, and that's no good for this. You could also try any local dance studios about tulle they didn't use - plenty of folks use fabric mesh to do their brassica low tunnels.

We got ours from a larger farm nearby a few years ago - they had purchased a soy based fertilizer and the distributor didn't have any return/recycle incentives so the farmer was selling them on the cheap. I think we found the guy through the farm & garden craigslist section but I can't really speak to how reliable that is anymore. If you've got a winter farmers market around you it might be worth asking around there (I'm loathe to suggest fb marketplace but if you're already there that might be convenient as well)

The cabbage moth solution I see everywhere is low tunnels with a fine mesh to exclude them. We were gifted a hinged low tunnel and I'm planning to use that for our frame, I'll let you know how it goes

All of this sounds amazing, I can't wait to see your results!

There's tons of ways to properly compost! What kind of setup are you considering?

You're going to do great! And the plants will help to hide things you learned from 💕

Any specific varieties you have in mind? If not, we've been really pleased with our 'Marie du Bois' cultivar - they're huge and delicious

That sounds like a great set of goals!

I built up a few new raised beds / sunken pathways for more vegetable production before the ground froze, and used them to heel in dozens of perennials for the winter. We also have some spaces along our property boundaries that have newly opened sun access, so once the soil is workable again we'll be investing in native hedgerow to replace some of our fencing. We and a few of our neighbors have had tree work done by a friend in town recently, so we're going to have another 30+ yards of wood chips from the block for pathways and mulching.