Gardening Season has begun



We worked in the garden all day yesterday. That's right. I'm trying again this year. I think maybe the weather will be slightly more cooperative. Maybe?
Michael has mastered the tiller and has been prepping my soil. (heh, heh, heh, prepping my soil)
ANYWAY,
I tested my soil a few weeks ago and found I had NO nitrates and very few phosphates. This actually makes me feel better about my failures last season. In order to rectify this situation I did a LOT of research and finally decided I needed to add 3 inches of mushroom compost to my entire garden. I ordered a truckload (15 cubic yards) to be delivered last Friday. The dump truck impressed both Sam and me.
On Sunday, Michael and I spread the compost all over the garden. This took a lot of raking and shoveling. It would have been impossible if we hadn't had the tractor. Michael worked it and was flinging compost in all the right places. The kids had a great time for the first few hours, running their dump trucks back and forth full of compost and digging and playing in the dirt. After a while they gave up and I set them up in the house with a movie and snacks.
Then Uncle Larry came over and advised us to take down the middle wall of the compost pile so that we could access it with the tractor. This was a great idea since we had a lot of compost left over and needed a place to put it.
Michael and Uncle Larry worked together and took out the middle section of the bin and then quickly dumped the rest of the compost into the bin. So now I have a working compost pile! I'm so excited. Please feel free to give me some compost hints, since I've never done it and Uncle Larry isn't familiar with it either.
Michael then spent the afternoon with the tiller, tilling the compost into the soil and then making my rows. I have six long rows in my 20x50 foot garden. I'm so excited! He also made a culvert on the uphill side of my garden in order to divert the water around the garden and protect any future baby seedlings in the runoff area. This was not a problem last year because we had no rain, but I have hopes that rain might happen this year.
I also ordered some sugar snap pea and lettuce seeds that will arrive any day now and some sweet potato slips that will arrive later this spring. I plan to pick out some onion sets tomorrow as well as some kohlrabi and radish seeds and plant them right away.
I found a great Travis County Planting calendar online and plan on following that.
Have you starting planting yet? What are you planting? Are you familiar with mushroom compost? Used it before? What are your favorite nurseries? Let me know.
XO! Amber

Comments

Mama Deb said…
My fabulous elderly neighbor in Bastrop is one of the most amazing gardeners I have ever known...even now at the ripe age of 83!
She always told us to use turkey manure...swore by the stuff.
And she was a devout follower of John from Natural Gardener. Good luck...it sounds terrific!

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