by A. Jill Gaebel

Created on: June 25, 2008

How to Make a Garden from Scratch in the Missouri Ozarks

One of our motives for moving to the Ozark Mountains in Missouri was to become as self-sufficient as possible. A major requirement for self-sufficiency is to be able to raise a garden. That can be more easily said than done, especially if you are a greenhorn who buys an undeveloped plot of land and who has the barest essentials of tools and equipment. Such was our experience and the following is what we learned along the way.

As your work on developing the garden progresses, most of the tools will vary, but there are some you will need from start to finish. These are: generous amounts of determination, stamina, stubbornness, and patience. It is also helpful to have a dollop of ignorance, a pinch of innocence, and a hearty helping of optimism. With these basic and useful tools, you are ready to begin your Ozark garden.

Starting with the ground closest to your dwelling, search for an area with the least amount of slope. This is important because it always rains after the peas are planted and washes them into the gully. It is unlikely that you will find a totally level spot, unless you brought along a bulldozer.

Once you have located a semi-flat plot for your garden, you will need a chain saw for felling trees which you can then cut into firewood, and you will also need a bow saw for cutting brush. We found it useful to also bring along two or three children. They are good for dragging away brush and loading the firewood. You may wish to have some tick repellant handy, although masking tape will work for the later removal of the varmits. You will also want some sort of poison ivy and poison oak remedy and probably some tweezers for removing thorns from various parts of your body.

After you have spent a few weeks clearing the woods, you may be tempted to stand back and congratulate yourself, thinking the worst of it is over. This is premature. Your innocence, ignorance, and optimism are at work, but without them you might not continue.

If you look closely at the open space you have created, you will see that there are a lot of rocks and stumps protruding. These must be removed. The stumps can't be burned because green stumps smolder forever. You will have to buy or borrow a tractor and get a sturdy chain. With these you will be able to pull out nearly all the stumps, although you may have to plant around some of them.

We used an antique, hand-cranked tractor that was thinking of retirement and didn't really feel

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