Are you excited?  I am!

It is February, and by this time I am usually freaking out over taxes, payroll and what is going to happen in the coming year….But instead I have decided to be excited.  Taxes? I will get to them. Its garden time!!

Garden is in the process of going through the second stage of planning. The first being getting rid of the old garden. We don’t use any chemicals around or in our garden.  We let the amazing soil we have do all the work. However, we do have to help keep it healthy and for this we employ the sun with a practice called solarization.

We have just completed laying out one roll of plastic (100’x20′) in our garden. This was purchased from Home Depot. Then we placed it out on wet soil that has been loosely broken up, or lightly tilled. It will be there for the next month and a half at least. We are expecting 70 degree temps this coming week so I figured this is just the perfect time to lay it out as it needs to be ready by planting time.  I did leave a space for some early plantings that will take place within the next few days. (peas).

I will also be refreshing our raised beds with some needed well deserved nutrients. One bed goes to the chickens (chicken food), another is full of onions, another is full of cabbage, beets and Cauliflower. The last bed is taking a break.

Blueberries are still on the mind. My uncle and brother have worked at clearing a space, now we just need to complete that and start the acidification process so that in the fall the plants will be ready to go in.

Pruning is also in the works this fun time of year.  Because I don’t have the time to prune everything that needs it, I am simply going around and trimming all that can’t live without it. Our Persimmon trees were being invaded by an especially aggressive wild grape plant on one side and a wild blackberry plant (thorns and all) on the other side. I have to go back and make a conscious effort to cut back and ultimately rid ourselves of these nasty plants. tick tock, tick tock.

Plants-they are a common.  I will be planting more veggies and things from seeds this year…This may be the biggest mistake I make or the best, we shall see.  Planting seeds require a whole other set of skills that I have not got down yet. I have been reading like crazy how easy it is only to find that it does not seem easy at all. Mind you, I have planted many a thing from seed, but the quality and timing have never been that great. Lets hope with my extra knowledge that this takes off this year.   If it all works out I am sure I will have plenty of plants to share with the neighbors. I have to say though, I am a bit nervous because I will be spending a lot of time and energy getting this to all work out, not to mention the new expenses of seed starting material.  Sure, it will save us a lot of money in the long run, but if I fail, then?  Well, I will just plan on not failing. You Youtubers out there make it all look so simple. Sigh….