Yet more gardening
Mar. 22nd, 2009 02:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lindajToday was Part II of the Equinox Gardening Extravaganza.
Today's heavy lifting, at least, was more compatible with my pregnant state, so I felt like I was better able to keep up my share of the labor, and not leave it all to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
terse_scribe.
The day started with acquiring a few edging stones and a few paving stones from Home Depot. We laid edging stones along the neighbor's fence, and hoed some of the soil from the higher area over to the lower area by the fence. When all is said & done, there's still a slope, but a little bit less of one than there was previously.
Next, we laid paving stones to create 2 short paths into the garden. On top of that we spread 32 gallons of somewhat aged rabbit manure (mixed with bedding & hay), about 20 gallons of our own finished compost from last year's bin, and 2 or 3 gallons of ancient worm castings left over from back in my vermicomposting days. I was initially worried that we wouldn't have enough free organic matter to work into the soil, and I really didn't want to purchase any (this is Cheap Gardening Year), but now that I've seen it spread out on the garden, I feel pretty good about what we had.
I did a small amount of mixing in the amendments with a hoe, promising that I would turn the soil for real when I get around to planting each section.
With luck, this huge influx of organic matter will make the existing earthworms very, very happy, and they will grow fat and happy and produce many tiny earthworm babies to continue to work their magic. There's no rain predicted for this week, so I might take the hose to the garden to provide a bit of moisture to help this process along.
We got some approving words from our elderly Italian neighbor whose entire back yard is one big garden. His only complaint was that we didn't extend the garden enough, and that we really ought to give ourselves more space. We agreed that we would, in fact, like a bigger garden, but explained that we'd decided to do it in sections, just to make sure it got done. He agreed that this was a good plan. Even so, we have another two months before the bulk of the stuff gets planted, so it's not impossible that we'll expand the bed again this year. We'll see.
Next steps: Refill the compost bins with the removed sod, yard waste from last Fall, leaves, and the Winter's kitchen scraps. If we play our cards right, we *might* get a mid-season batch. Consider getting another load of rabbit manure from the Rabbit Lady. Think about starting to plant the cool-weather crops, which really could start going in any time now.
Yay!
Today's heavy lifting, at least, was more compatible with my pregnant state, so I felt like I was better able to keep up my share of the labor, and not leave it all to
terse_scribe.The day started with acquiring a few edging stones and a few paving stones from Home Depot. We laid edging stones along the neighbor's fence, and hoed some of the soil from the higher area over to the lower area by the fence. When all is said & done, there's still a slope, but a little bit less of one than there was previously.
Next, we laid paving stones to create 2 short paths into the garden. On top of that we spread 32 gallons of somewhat aged rabbit manure (mixed with bedding & hay), about 20 gallons of our own finished compost from last year's bin, and 2 or 3 gallons of ancient worm castings left over from back in my vermicomposting days. I was initially worried that we wouldn't have enough free organic matter to work into the soil, and I really didn't want to purchase any (this is Cheap Gardening Year), but now that I've seen it spread out on the garden, I feel pretty good about what we had.
I did a small amount of mixing in the amendments with a hoe, promising that I would turn the soil for real when I get around to planting each section.
With luck, this huge influx of organic matter will make the existing earthworms very, very happy, and they will grow fat and happy and produce many tiny earthworm babies to continue to work their magic. There's no rain predicted for this week, so I might take the hose to the garden to provide a bit of moisture to help this process along.
We got some approving words from our elderly Italian neighbor whose entire back yard is one big garden. His only complaint was that we didn't extend the garden enough, and that we really ought to give ourselves more space. We agreed that we would, in fact, like a bigger garden, but explained that we'd decided to do it in sections, just to make sure it got done. He agreed that this was a good plan. Even so, we have another two months before the bulk of the stuff gets planted, so it's not impossible that we'll expand the bed again this year. We'll see.
Next steps: Refill the compost bins with the removed sod, yard waste from last Fall, leaves, and the Winter's kitchen scraps. If we play our cards right, we *might* get a mid-season batch. Consider getting another load of rabbit manure from the Rabbit Lady. Think about starting to plant the cool-weather crops, which really could start going in any time now.
Yay!
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-22 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-22 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-22 11:37 pm (UTC)Let us discuss details. :-)
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Date: 2009-03-22 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-22 11:42 pm (UTC)As for what we'll plant...well...too much! Snowpeas, beans, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini & summer squash, probably some winter squashes, cucumbers. I'm going to try my hand at spinach, turnips, broccoli raab, and a few other things I've never tried before, but for which I've already go the seeds. The herbs go in a different bed. I may integrate some marigolds and other things in with the veggies for companion planting.
Yes, I'm ambitious...but I learned to do this stuff at my grandmother's knee, and this is the first time in my adult life that I've had the space for a real garden, so it's time to jump!
Contact me in late summer if you want to help with the overstock. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-22 11:44 pm (UTC)We had a BBQ last summer, and some of our friends commented that they could tell simply by looking at the gardens that the neighbors were Italian, and not any other nationality. It was fascinating. :-)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-23 12:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-23 12:58 am (UTC)This would be a great addition to my compost bins, however, if I can find the space. It would probably heat things up enough that I could be assured of a mid-season batch of compost, which would be awfully useful.
So...I'll get back to you, OK? I'd love to take it if I can find a way to make it work.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-23 12:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-23 01:02 am (UTC)Not the Italian Way, perhaps...but useful, I hope!