Our Garden start to finish, pig tillers and bountiful
Our garden adventure has been quite amazing. Where we moved to is very unforgiving. We live in southern Missouri. It's rocks, clay, and very very little top soil. We moved here nearly 4 years ago and the first thing we did was carve out our garden area. We literally carved out a section of forest that was going to be our open area. We clear all matter of shrubs and trees to open up a great area. We had just a couple of things to with our decision of where to put it. We had a giant tree that we were not going to cut down and then we had the property line. We also had buried trash. It seems that the previous owners from however long ago thought it was wise to bury their trash. So while we are digging we would literally dig up a black plastic bag of trash. That is not the best place to plant a garden. We cleared the area and a new friend offered to use his tractor to pull roots and stumps. We then built a large pallet fence around the entire garden. We knew that things would change around the homestead, but we knew that we could not sacrifice the space that we grow our food. After a struggle with the lack of soil and the constant weeds we were getting pretty burnt out. We were adding old manure and other sorts of organic matter, and it was impossible to till it all in to mix it up. We were at a bit of a loss until we heard someone recommend using pigs as a natural tiller. We didn't know much about it or anything about raising pigs. We were advised to put a couple of feeder pigs into the garden and feed them whole corn directly on the ground to encourage rooting. We got the pigs from a local farmer and started the process. It was pretty exciting learning about pigs. We also raised rabbits, so we would clean out the rabbitry and put it all into the garden for the pigs to mix in. I quickly learned that the pigs were very curious and wanted to know what I tasted like! One day while carrying rabbit manure into the garden the pig bit my pants leg! We left them in the garden for 4 months, well, over winter here. When February came we knew it was time to get rid of them. They were getting very big and pulling our chickens through the fence and eating them. After the pigs were gone we had very little issue. We lined out raised rows using firewood and logs and moved the black dirt around. We have had very little struggle with weeds since then and were actually able to grow some proper tomatoes! If we ever move to a new homestead, this is the first thing I'm going to do. I hope you enjoyed this little tip, and enjoy the pictures. I would love to hear your comments and adventure stories!
Our friend using his tractor to clear stumps and roots
Our first round of raised beds full of organic matter
After we "lost" our garden to rogue weeds...and the donkeys are another story wink
Our two pigs, Mery and Pippin
After the pigs cleared it all and turned it all under
Our beautiful garden this year after the pigs
Great work! I love that pig gif!
Thank you! I've been having trouble with my posts not showing a picture, so I have been finding stuff online that makes me smile!
Wow! Looks great in that last photo, but it sure took some work to get there!
Oh man, a ton of work. Just last month we got a loas of wood chips from the utility company, and deep mulched the whole thing. It should be even better this year! Always worth the work.
Congratulations @freedompoint, this post is the eighth most rewarded post (based on pending payouts) in the last 12 hours written by a Newbie account holder (accounts that hold between 0.01 and 0.1 Mega Vests). The total number of posts by newbie account holders during this period was 1950 and the total pending payments to posts in this category was $439.86. To see the full list of highest paid posts across all accounts categories, click here.
If you do not wish to receive these messages in future, please reply stop to this comment.
Thank you for this on using pigs for tillers @freedompoint I've often considered that idea but have never implemented it. I may just have to get me a couple of wiener pigs come spring.
It will be time to clean out the chicken coop after winter is over and those little piglets may come in mighty handy. The garden spot I want to use is already fenced but is overgrown in weeds. I would think that pigs would root those roots right up.
Great tip, thanks again!
If its already fenced in, it sounds great. I recommend it! It looks over grown, but you will be in fir a treat. I heard you need atleast 2 so they compete with each other.
That is a great tip, I wouldn' t have considered them competing but makes sense now that you mention it.....Thanks.