Garden has returned!

We interrupt the China & Japan diversion to momentarily get this blog back to where it usually goes.

Between the crummy weather, a bout with pneumonia, and the crummy weather, I was feeling very questionable about reviving the garden.

It's chive time again!

But as I looked out and saw the chives all ready for tonight's fried rice, I took heart.

Oh... and it was really sunny - with blue sky and low wind - high enough temperatures to make me pull off my jacket as I beat the encroaching weeds back (Back! Back I say!).  The warm spell lasted long enough for me to pull up the weed cover, and add some soil goodies.  I need to a bit more compost to the dirt to loosen it up and feed it for the new crops.

Amazing what sun can do.  And not just for the plants.

One kale that held on over the winter.  I'll keep it until new stuff comes in.

Start a Garden NOW!

At least, that is what I need to do if I am going to make the jump out of herbs in pots to some real food of my very own.

Step 1. Choose a Spot. In this case it is a nice chunk of land with ideal SW exposure. Since this was part of the housing packag

e we didn't appreciate before. I though I might as well claim it now that it matters.

Step 2. Stake it out and live with it for awhile. Check for walk around space. I had to move my stakes out from the wall a few times, and away from the deck. Changing my mind now was easy.

Step 3. Too late to turn back now. This is when changing my mind got hard. I have a hole in my yard.

Step 4. Now, like I mean it. Did you know that I have good soil only about 1.5 inches down?! I do now. A trunk full of reclaimed cinder blocks, and another of imported soil and organic material is part of changing that. First I dug down, added compost to the sand I found there (the good news is I won't have anything growing under my garden that I have to block out). Now that I have down taken care of, I am working on up.

Step 5. The bare bones. This took me 2 weekends, and only really a few hours on 3 days. I was surprised. It makes the hours of weed pulling seem especially frustrating. Look what I could have built with that time. To that end, weed cloth will soon be joining this dirt, so I can mostly grow what I want, and reduce the interlopers. Stay tuned for the adventures of seeds. My son picked out rainbow carrots.