Sunday, April 17, 2011

Improving the Garden and the Environment


We purchased 3 cubic yards of compost from Millers weighing about 1,000 lbs/yd. It took two trips to get it.  It was only $15/yd which is nice on the budget.  I also found out Millers has a prepared mix ready for Square Foot gardens.  They've already had the soil tested and made sure that the Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium levels are where they should be. Which makes me happy because my Dad is making an awesome 10x2 foot square foot garden for me out of galvanized steel.  Buying or making compost is good for the environment.  We don't have mature trees or even enough grass clippings to make our own yet so we purchased it.  And it's really helped the soil.  Not only is it rich and produces beautiful vegetables (my cornstalks triple in width when I apply it) but it also makes room in the soil for air and water.  We have some seriously dense clay here.


It's been a cold wet spring here.  You can see all the snow on the mountains in the background.  In fact it snowed last week and I'm pretty sure we'll have snow in May too.  Although we'd welcome rain instead.  They, whoever they are, are worried about flooding this year.  I guess there are two borderline rivers here in our valley.  We live up on a foothill so we won't have to worry too much.

It is nice to have this garlic sprouting.  You have to plant it in October.  And I put the wire panel up to keep the tiller out.  After it gets tilled, I'll move it to the other end of the garden so I can plant the peas and trellis them on it.  I'm buying my own mini tiller this year for sure.  I talked Tyler into letting me use the money from my last class to buy one.  I just don't have the energy to weed by hand anymore.

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