It feels like Spring...

I don’t want to say it too loudly, in case I scare it away, but for this moment…

IT LOOKS LIKE SPRING MIGHT FINALLY BE HERE!!!!

(Or at least coming soon.) We’ve been getting outside recently to start building up our little homestead!

The First Garden Additions: A 4 ft x 16 ft raised bed and a 4 ft x 8 ft hugul bed!

Last weekend, Lina and I built a 4ft x 16ft raised bed using pine wood. We decided not to go with pressure treated wood, so the raised bed will probably not last too long, but in a few years we might want to set things up differently anyway. This one is the first of two to 4x16ft beds that we are going to build.

The other bed that we’ve made is closer to the hugelkultur brand of garden bed. We used some logs that we had gotten from a free mulch drop a few weeks ago to make the outline of the new bed. Lina then used a bunch more logs in the center of the bed and covered them with mulch. We’ll cover the mulch/wood pile with some dirt and try it out!

We bought 5 cubic meters of dirt to fill our new raised beds. The dirt was a mix of 3 yards of top soil and then 1 yard each of mushroom compost and leaf compost.

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Jasper likes the new dirt pile.

We managed to haul enough dirt to fill up the first bed and put a layer of mulch on top. I started two rows (~4ft each) of peas, the first 2 feet were started indoors on wet paper towels and the second two feet were planted directly in the ground. We’re going to try to plant in succession this year! We also planted one 4’ row of Easter Egg radishes. These should be ready in 28 days!

We also moved the strawberries from the large bed that was already in the backyard (about 10’x16’) to the front yard. That makes space in this big bed for future vegetables and gives us a chance to build up the soil level without losing some delicious berries in the future.

Come along now, Spring! We’re ready for you!

Updates to come: seeds are being started inside, and we have this to fill……