InsaneJournal

Planning
I am planning for the spring.



We have some small garden already, but I think we need to dramatically increase our production of food. While considering our options, it occurs to me that while I intend to plant a fair amount of the lawn around the Castillo, we also have a great deal of growing space on the roof of the building.

It's flat. It's exposed to the sun all day. A great many plants can easily be grown in containers--buckets, barrels, and larger purpose-built raised beds. Staples like tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, lettuce, radishes, beans, peas, zucchini, cucumber, and others. Spices also grow well this way.

A rooftop garden will be much more secure--from weeds and pests as well as attacks by the locals--than whatever we raise on the grounds. We will need water, but running a pipe from the wells in the fortress, ideally with an electric pump will provide water. A manual pump will also work if all else fails.

Not everything can be grown on the roof. I also intend to plant the 3 sisters (corn, beans, and squash/pumpkins) on the grounds. It's a centuries-old combination of plants that grow well together and fertilize the soil. All of this is going to take a lot of work, so I'm looking for volunteers to help.

Acquiring/building the containers for the rooftop, building a cistern and piping to water the plants, digging a well on the grounds (the water table here is only 6-8 feet down, fortunately) to water the plants there, and making sure we have sufficient seeds of the right sort (heirlooms, and the hardier the better) should keep us busy over the winter (such as it is here).

I'm also looking for suggestions, advice or critiques.