Latest update: 7 May 2024.
If there is growing related info you don’t see listed below, but would like to know,
feel free to contact me and ask. I’ll post it if I’m able to get it.
Location: Gardner, Massachusetts–U.S.A.
USDA Plant Hardiness Zone: 5b (we did not get shifted with the recent new map)
Terrestrial Biome: temperate broadleaf forest, Olsen map: temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
EcoRegion:
~ EPA: er58g – North America–>Northern Forests–>Atlantic Highlands–>Northeastern Highlands–>Worcester/Monadnock Plateau
~ USDA US Forest Service: M211Bd–> New England Piedmont Section, Worcester/Monadnock Plateau Region
~ Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife: Worcester Plateau
Soil:
~908C: Beckett-Skerry Association, 0 to 15% slopes, extremely stony (Worcester County, Massachusetts, Northwestern Part (MA614))
[There is a lot more detail that was included in this search, but I’m still trying to figure out how best to include it here.]
Lot Size: 7,405 sqft (a smidge over 1/6th of an acre) House size: 1,531 sqft
Compost: moderate sized, above ground, daily turn, wood fenced, deciduous tree cover
Leaf mould: small, above ground, weekly turn, wire fenced
Weed Bins: 2 metal trash cans w/lids in full sun, lined with contractor bags, emptied each spring into the compost
Wood bin: small, above ground, contents shifted as needed for space, wire fenced
Food Animals: none through we do get some help from skunks, squirrels, shrews, chipmunks, birds and bunnies
Food Insects: usual worms, natural pollinators, et al typical to this area.
Pesticide Use: none1.
Herbicide Use: none.
Water Source for yard/gardens: sky, 2 rain barrels2
Footnotes
1. A neighbor we share a 50′ southern border with sprayed for ticks in spring of 2017 and 2018. We are also subject to a county based Mosquito prevention program. (One can opt out, but wind still spreads it anyway.)
2. In 2017, we first used water from an external tap off our city water until we purchased our first rain barrel in mid June, set it up June 16th. After the first rain, we no longer needed the tapwater.