Gardening · Live Simply

2015 Garden Start

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Today was the start of our 2015 garden!

It’s been so long since I’ve blogged on a regular basis. Starting the garden is always an exciting time. It gets me back into a blogging mood. Being an avid photographer I enjoy keeping pictorial journals of the garden progress and I like sharing the failures and successes here so others can learn from our mistakes and victories.

When I began this garden I called it my 5-year plan and guess what? This is year five! So excited about all that will be happening in the garden this year. I know I still don’t have the first 4 years documented on the garden page yet, but hopefully I’ll get that done this summer too.

So, back to today…

The weather is warm with a slight breeze and it’s due to rain over the next several days – plus I’m on spring break – so I knew it was time to begin the 2015 garden.

The kale and broccoli bed needed to be rotated this year and it is the cool weather crop, so this is where I began. I am trying it in the bed along the garage that I began last year. The plan is to cover it and prevent the cabbage worms from taking over. Hopefully it will get enough sunshine. Gardening is always an experiment and with the battle I had last year, I have nothing to lose by giving it a go in a new location.

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I turned it over and added some new top soil and mushroom compost. [Love mushroom compost! – It really makes things grow.] I planted some cauliflower, broccoli and swiss chard and will be adding some kale and lettuce soon. Can you say salad bar? YUM!

Then I moved to the raised beds. The first thing I do each spring is turn the soil over with a spade and add compost. We have a home composter where we toss kitchen scraps and yard clippings and it is always ready by spring. After turning the soil I add a big bucket full of the home compost and you guessed it – Mushroom Compost! We will also be adding some fresh top soil to the beds.

The soil turned so much easier this year! I am truly amazed how each year the soil improves with the amendments we are adding. This winter we put our wood-stove ashes in the beds as well and the sand I put in last spring is making the soil nice and loamy. You can really see the difference in the before and after photos below.

BEFORE TURNING
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AFTER TURNING & COMPOST
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It was a good afternoon and a great start. I’m sure I’ll be feeling it tomorrow. It’s been a long winter, and I need to get back in shape about as much as my garden does. Happy Gardening!

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