Tuesday, May 01, 2007

GONE TO SEED

Hello kids. I haven't posted anything in while because, well...because i've been busy damn it! We finally planted the seeds in the garden and there is still room for more...we need to plant corn and beans and especially strawberries. Sigh. I remember picking strawberries with my mom at Greig Farm in upstate in New York and eating every other one (I was a slow picker). There is nothing like fresh strawberrries warmed by the sun. After lots of reading up on the subject of planting a garden, I decided to just put the seeds in the ground and see what happens. No fancy compost, no miracle fertilizer. Then, if it grows, great--we will have saved ourselves the trouble of getting all of that stuff. If nothing grows, then we know we have to get creative (I draw the line at manure though) I started a compost pile but that will take a few months.

Here I am in the field of weeds that was destined to be the garden.


And here it is now. One thing I did read that i found helpful was that you should at all costs not walk on your garden beds and keep others from doing so as well to prevent the soil from getting compacted. Paths and smaller beds make that a reality.


Another view. I wish I had the "after, after" shot where everything is green and growing. In a few weeks hopefully!

5 comments:

baffle said...

This garden is going to be awesome!
From looking at the pix, I can see and almost smell the richness of the soil.
The paths you created will definitely make for easier access to tending the plants - and harvesting as well.

Wonderful!

P.S. Did you use a rototiller to clear all those weeds?

Parnell Corder said...

Dear Farmer John,

Manure is really the S*** when it comes to having a killer garden. It looks amazing. Just "plowing " into it sounds like a good approach. Whatever happens, happens.

Are you going to get a scarecrow or will you just make Conn stand in the garden for a couple of hours everyday?

Aloha

John said...

Actually, we didn't rototill. We either dug up all of the weeds by hand or just flipped the smaller ones into the soil with a spade and then raked them out. Digging the paths produced enough extra soil to cover all of those beds with a good 2 or 3 inches of topsoil to smother out any remaining stragglers. I wish I had some old 2x4's to really create that raised-bed look. Next season perhaps.

kr said...

John, You already have a farmer tan! Congrats!

Anonymous said...

Wow - I am SO Jealous of all that space. Makes my tiny little community garden pale by comparison!

I totally agree on the Manure thing - that is - you should most definitely use it! It actually smells kind of good. You know . . . like nature!