My yard and garden is a year round affair. I don't put seeds in the ground until April, so soon. We have a fairly long growing season here so I don't bother starting seeds indoors like many people. And as far as tomatoes, which need a longer growing time, I just pick up good heirloom varities at the farmers market in mid april. I let the pros start the seeds and harden the plants for me.
Right now, my emphasis is on scraping up leaves, twigs and debris and beefing up my compost piles. I've been turning them every other day in the hopes of speeding up the process. I'm hoping to rely on my own compost to rebuild all my beds this year instead of ordering good compost from a local farmer. I might need to get one small truckload just to top off my beds, but I think I'm in strong shape otherwise.
The ground is still frozen, so I'm not really able to get going on my new beds. As it stands, I have two, but I want to expand to a total of four beds. I think my plan will be to take a lot of newspapers, line them on the ground where I want my new beds, hose them down and then cover them with topsoil. This will kill the grass underneath and the newspaper will eventually break down into the soil. IN a couple weeks, I'll spread rich comost on top of them, shore up the edges and I'll have nice new beds without much struggle with the soil underneath. By the time the seeds I plant are growing strong, the newspaper will be broken up enough that the roots can pass through it. It's a great method.
This week I spent some time breaking up leaves and other debris into my existing beds. I don't believe in keeping everything immaculate. The leaves that landed on the beds are perfect organic material to work back into the soil. I hacked at the beds with a hoe and pitchfork, stirring it like a soup. The leaves will be broken down and completley integrated into the soil by May.
I've never fertilized and use only organic methods and use lots and lots of compost. I end up with incredible yields, lovely fresh vegetables and a good conscience. I find that rotating my vegetables, using a good mix of varities and planting lots of herbs keeps the insects and pests away. Using lots of compost also makes the soil easy to use, and when I harvest something, I just dump some fresh compost on the hole, re-seed and I end up with double productivity in the same spot. Many people are mistaken in believing that you can't have more than one crop grow out of a bed. Even greens in the fall and early winter are doable. Just let some mulch, leaves or hay pile up on top of the beds and just head out, lift up the mulch and pluck fresh veggies until the first real, hard frost. Many plants can deal with frosts, too, like broccoli, some carrots, cabbage and brussel sprouts.
I have a lot of writing to do this weekend so I think I'm going to chop some firewood, but not much else. Next weekend will be more productive.
