Get Started Early (NOW!): Spring Garden Projects and More

My first ever blog post... Who knew I'd find the time to put down thoughts into word form outside of a journal, business plan, or the always evolving to-do list?! I'm excited to share the knowledge, family fun, and the love of gardening with the world. As they say, there's no time like the present, and right now, it's an exciting time of year in the Northern Hemisphere! If you’re visiting from the southern hemisphere, welcome and may this inspire for next growing season!!

It's March, and in Colorado, the temps are quickly rising. Just enough for us to work the soil, plant a few early spring crops, and give thanks for getting back in the garden. Over the past couple weeks as night temps begin to rise above freezing, we have been slowly amending with worm castings, fresh top soil, turning compost, adding manure, and taking off the layer of straw that protected small garden beds from the harsh winter winds. The soil is looking so fertile, and there are TONS of worms when I turn a small area of the garden beds! Garlic that was planted in October is coming up, slow to rise from being under a couple inches of straw mulch. Now that they are in the sun, I have no doubt they'll be quick to rise!! 

Spring Projects and Tools

Now that it's time to get back into the garden, here are 5 ideas on projects and tools needed for this early spring: 1) A broadfork works great to loosen the grass roots around the garden plot fence line. Meadow Creature broadforks are fantastic quality and are easy enough to handle for small-scale garden projects. It may be needless to say, but in the community garden, we are often battling grass roots from the walkways that tend to creep into the beds... How to conquer it for more than one season, well, that's a whole other blog post! *Hint- we rely heavily on cardboard and wood mulch as shown in picture below! Grace enjoys using her 2) Hori Hori garden knife that's a fairly small size, and it works well for pulling the few "weeds" that found their way through the straw mulch. I say "weeds," in quotation, because we know that most opportunistic plants have medicinal properties and can be used for a variety of remedies, however, while we may enjoy Dandelion, our 200 neighbors may not. It's good to control the pollen and seeds from these "weeds" for now! Also, did you know that the term ‘weed’ is defined as an unwanted plant in the yard, and they sure have gotten a bad wrap in the past 100 years.

To plant in the spring, we do not mechanically till, but we do turn 3) fresh compost, top soil, and worm castings into the soil with the broadfork where we are about to plant annual vegetables. We love perennial plants, including vegetables, fruit, herbs, and flowers, but there are just some crops that we LOVE that have to be planted every year. According to multiple sources, such as Bill Mollison's Introduction to Permaculture, tilling over the long-term degrades the soil and makes the gardener work harder over time to replenish key nutrients required for successful harvests. Plus, we all prefer less pests, more beneficial bugs, and overall better soil health. Every fall, we layer about 3 inches of leaves in the soil, as well as, compost from the family food waste, garden materials, newspaper, and cardboard (no ink, staples, or tape!). Come spring, these have all broken down in the soil, making it gardener's gold! This gardener's gold is also known as sheet mulching. More on that later. To serve multi-purposes, we created 4) swale-like pathways, where rain runoff can seep into the straw mulch. This reduces weeds in the pathways, and when the garden beds are full of lush vegetation in July-August, the pathways have been some of the only places where weeds find opportunity to take root. 

I thoroughly enjoy the small-scale garden, because it allows me to work more with my bare hands. For example, I LOVE to 5) sew seeds by hand, and I will carve their paths with the side of my hand. Acting like a hoe or trowel, my hand cuts into the plush soil to the depth needed, depending on the seed variety. This also requires the Forgotten Art of Squatting! True thing!! And it's an incredible practice for women, and men, to practice while gardening. It's a sacred connection to the earth, and it is an honor to garden. Our body movement matters, so I (we) like to stay conscious of this while gardening.

Spring Plantings and Tips on How to Plant Them

If I didn't just lose you on the Forgotten Art of Squatting, next I'll fill you in on a few types of cool-weather crops that can be planted in March. Depending on your zone, the following can be planted from seed directly into the soil as soon as it can be worked:

• dark-leafy greens like kale, chard, spinach, mustard greens

• peas

• carrots

• beets

• radish

• chervil

• broccoli, kohlrabi, cauliflower, brussel sprouts

• cover crops (we use a red crimson clover and a legume/oat mix).

We have tried two methods to growing snap peas, one just direct seed and another method where I was taught to soak the beans overnight in an unbleached paper towel that has been lightly soaked in filtered water. It speeds the germination rate, according to my mom. After testing both methods, I would have to admit that the soaked peas (and pole beans) sprouted sooner. However, the directly-seeded plants still sprouted and produced wonderfully! In this case, do what makes the most sense to you and if you’ve got the time and memory to soak prior to planting!

On March 8th, we planted the soaked Sugar Daddy Snap Peas, along with establishing a brand new patch of raspberries. Our community-garden plot neighbors gave us two varieties of raspberries, and now I'm attempting to have our very own!!! We simply cannot wait for fresh berries, berries in cream, raspberry syrup, raspberry crumble, and homemade jam! I feel a bit like Forest Gump and Bubba-Gump Shrimp with all the options!! :) 

On March 12th, we planted celery, carrots, and beets. Carrots love consistent moisture, so we cover these with one of our row covers and check the moisture frequently to make sure they don't dry out! The late winter/early spring rains are scattered and can never be counted on to actually produce enough to cover the ground. 

I'm beyond thrilled for all the new things happening this year. New ventures, new opportunities to learn, new plant varieties in the garden! I hope this is the first of many great posts about our garden experiences. 

Happy gardening, friends!

G

In 2014, we had to turn over a fully-grown grass patch to fertile gardening soil. Sheet Mulching works wonders in a short amount of time! Think lasagna, but with organic matter ranging from cardboard, newspaper, compost, manure, moss, top soil, and other organic matter in layers. The goal is to transition an impossibly uninhabitable growing space into one that you can grow anything in! 

Did you know that straw as a mulch attracts slugs? They love the cool, moist, and shade.. and they ended up going after certain crops last year. We've successfully used it in the pathways to reduce opportunistic weeds, instead. The idea behind permaculture is to always have multiple functions for an element. In this case, the straw (not hay due to reseeding) absorbs rainwater and helps the nearby plants! Plus, then our walkways aren't muddy!

Work with what you have. Our community garden organization gives free wood mulch every spring, and we use it, along with cardboard that was free from the recycling center (we're all about precycling!), to border our exterior fence line in a solid attempt at stopping grassroots from entering the fertile garden beds. It works for 2 years, then needs to be revamped. The cardboard attracts worms to the garden, and the wood chips make it pretty tough for the grass to get through, so long as you put it down at least 6-8 inches deep.