So much for getting the blog updated last week, huh? Seriously where does the time go??
Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day so we were able to get a lot of work done in the garden. Until yesterday I have been a little ho hum about our new garden at our new house. Here it is:
It is a raised bed surrounded by rock in the corner of our backyard. Previously it was landscaping, though it was quite a bit overgrown when we moved in last fall. The reason I have been feeling glum is that there are a LOT of roots and vines and other plant stuff still in there buried under the dirt. They keep poking their green heads up even though I keep pulling them. I was afraid we would never get it cleaned out to make room for veggies to grow.
The picture below is a bit closer shot, where hopefully you can see that there are three “tiers”. We set up a fence around the first “tier”. We originally were going to fence the entire thing with one go-round but it didn’t work with the rock border. Separate fences it is!
We started turning the soil by hand, working slowly but surely throughout the entire fenced portion. Benzo had done a small section awhile ago so we planted a short row each of lettuce, radishes and kale two weekends ago. They are starting to come up now! Then yesterday was a gorgeous day so we got back out there, turning the remaining portion. I used a small hand shovel to dig up all the bulbs and roots that I could find. It was tedious but rewarding work.
Before we knew it, the whole bed was almost cleared! We raked a couple bags of compost mix into the top few inches of soil. Then we planted another row of radishes and lettuce. I also planted marigolds all along the outside of the fence to hopefully keep the critters out. The critters will be our biggest battle by far with the new garden. We have seen lots of bunnies, squirrels, chipmunks and deer in our yard.
Having the first tier cleared has renewed my energy for the garden! The soil is not great but it’s not terrible. We found a lot of worms which is a good sign. After a year or two of gardening I’m sure it will look a lot better. Now we just have to move on to clearing and fencing the second tier before it’s time to transplant our seedlings.
Speaking of seedlings, the tomatoes are doing well and although the peppers finally came up they seem to have stalled out. They refuse to get their second set of leaves. Same for the basil. We may be purchasing quite a few transplants this year as we are due to transplant in only 2-3 weeks. We have been using all our (very) old seeds from years past so we have already agreed that next year we will buy all new seeds and start fresh.
I’m really excited for backyard gardening again. Can’t wait for the summer!
Everything Is Homemade 