This is a journal of my vegetable gardens. Skippy was my first dog and he thought the garden was his, even though I did all the work. Now Suzie and Charley follow in his footsteps. We're located near Boston (USDA zone 6A). I have a community plot, a backyard vegetable garden, fruit trees, berry bushes, chickens, and bees. I use sustainable organic methods and do my best to grow all of my family's vegetables myself.
peas planted!
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Wednesday, March 14, 2018
a gardener's lament
My muscles are sore. My hands from holding the snow shovel. My shoulders and arms from lifting the sticky snow and throwing it off to the side. In better weather, I park my car out by my mom's garden to unload seedlings and compost. This time, I parked my car out near the garden to avoid trees falling on it. I shoveled off the 2 feet of snow piled on top. Shoveled the 20 or so feet around it where the plow couldn't reach. Shoveled my mom's walkway and the driveway edges. Of course the feathery white wonderland after a snow storm is beautiful. But I look forward to blisters from turning in compost and pushing a wheelbarrow. Sunburn instead of soggy cold wet clothing. And rich brown soil instead of all this white.
And another storm coming on Tuesday?
ReplyDeleteYuck.
Maybe we’ll get rain?
ReplyDeleteWe want to build a raised garden bed using 2x8 lumber or double up on 2x6's.
ReplyDeleteWhat do we fill it with? Topsoil, compost?
Fill it with as good a quality topsoil as you can find. Then top it with two inches of good compost and turn that in.
ReplyDeleteJust be as careful as you can about the source and quality. When I filled my raised beds, my tomatoes wouldn't grow in the soil for the first year. I think there may have been an herbicide in the topsoil or the compost I bought. But the soil is fine now.
Have fun!! I love a new garden!