Equinox garden progress

[lindaj]

In a very seasonal move, terse_scribe and I spent the afternoon beginning the process of expanding last year's tiny vegetable garden to a more reasonable size. Being 4.5 months pregnant makes it more difficult to do some of the heavy labor, so terse_scribe was kind enough to remove the existing sod with a garden spade, while I shook the dirt out of the sod pieces.

Thankfully, our yard (at least the part of it where we're putting the garden) has some pretty excellent soil in it. It would certainly benefit from some amendments, but the texture is very good, and there were quite a few earthworms.

It's not done, of course, but we made some good progress. The garden is on a slope, which made watering a bit of a challenge last year. We're going to try to fix this, or at least diminish this, by putting some sort of edging along the neighbor's fence and along one end, and then raking or hoeing the soil so that it's more level.

Then we'll spread amendments. I've got some aged rabbit manure, some worm castings, and (I hope) some compost from last season. I haven't decided yet if I'll try to mix these in across the whole garden in one shot, or mix them in piecemeal as I plant different sections. This might decide itself, of course, depending on how much time or energy we have at various points.

But...progress! Yay!

Comments

[ingridsummers.livejournal.com]

Today it was over 50 in Minneapolis. I was tempted to go out and start gardening. But, it's Minneapolis. We still have at least 4-6 weeks before we should really be getting our hands in the dirt. I may have to get out the grow lights and start plants in the basement (even though I said I wasn't going to this year).

[lindalee.livejournal.com]

We're supposed to be getting that 50 degree weather today, but here at 10am, it sure hasn't arrived yet.

The real cool weather crops could start going in around now -- peas, spinach, lettuce, that sort of thing. We could still get more snow, of course, but most of those things can handle a little of that. Most things won't go in until at least mid-May.

In any case, the soil was dry enough (and not frozen!) to be worked, the day was sunny, and the weather was warm enough...so it was a great time to get the dirt prepped.

I need to put together my shelving for the growlights, and get the indoor seedlings started, too. It's that time!

[tigira.livejournal.com]

Sounds awesome. We have all sorts of seeds started in terrariums by the window.

[lindalee.livejournal.com]

Yay! I plan to start my seedlings over the next few days, since I couldn't pass up the good weather opportunity to get out into the outdoor garden.

[lindalee.livejournal.com]

Yay! The aloes you gave me are doing pretty well, except for the few leaves that have been chomped on by certain short furry individuals. I'm sure they'll recover, though.

My seeds will have to wait a few days, since the good weather called for a bit of outdoor work. Soon, though!