country n news-more prep and produce

COUNTRY N NEWS-MORE PREP AND PRODUCE

this is the time of year when i start prepping my garden
for late winter and early spring and even early summer
if you get all your beds ready weeks ahead of time
then as it sits it is like a good stew or soup or pot of beans
it tastes better as it ages
or
like a good wine or beer or whiskey
aging makes it better

so it is with the soil

here is my bed for my onions which i will plant in
late january
i start with young onion plants
you know the ones you get i a bundle of about 25-50

this bed was the bed for my potatoes i planted in feb
and harvested in may
then i planted blackeyed peas which we harvested
shelled and have frozen in the freezer
we plan to have them for new years day
for good luck the rest of the year

then in mid july i planted my summer tomatoes deep
into the growing blackeyed peas
later when the blackeyed peas started aging
i covered the bed with a thick thick layer of leaves
your leaves of course that you gave me

then just before our first freeze we picked all the
tomatoes
wrapped them in newspapers

as of yesterday heres the ones we have that have ripened
looks like we will have tomatoes for christmas

note those are poblanos in the dish in the upper right

then i added the stuff below like on my spring bed
covered it all with a layer of pine straw
it insulates allows water through keeps weed seeds off the bed
keeps in the heat

as all those goodies i put in there percolates

then i attacked the bed that will be used
for my spring summer fall garden
bell peppers jalapeno peppers sweet banana peppers
poblano peppers eggplants basil

this bed was where my spring tomatoes were
i removed all the debri like old plants
leveled it off
added the soil that i dug up from my 12 inch trench
on either side of the bed

now that was half old leaves and soil
raked it out
then
added a 4 inch layer of compost my chicken compost
my oh my it smells good almost sweet
no i didnt taste it but i wanted to

added my organic fertilizer
added my cottonseed meal
added humates and molasses
then covered it with a thick thick layer of your oak leaves
then between the beds on either side
i laid 6 inches of native hardwood mulch
then 6+ inches of your oak leaves

later this winter
i will dig up two long trenches a foot deep
in my bed
lay in a 3 inch pvc line with holes in it
connect them to a elbow of pvc
where i can water deep into the soil especially in the summer

here is a picture of what it looks like on the right
i even took my stethoscope
listened to the surface of the leaves
you could actually hear all the activity under there

no i just made that up

so when i finish doing all my beds and the walkways
my garden will look like 900 square feet of leaves
some covering my beds
the rest filling up the ditches i dug
for next year garden
i calculated those ditches will hold close to
500 gallons of water
which will help keep the undersurface of my garden
moist even in the summer

im getting the garden where i want it to be

yes it is time to get your garden
ready for the spring
do it now
the soil will be richer for it

the organicgreen doctor