Spring is a tricky thing. Most gardeners would agree with me when I say gambling with the last frost is risky. This year I have challenged myself. I moved into my new house in December 2019, and by April 2020 I have been busy and achieved my goal of having a prospering garden before summer begins. I was eager to get as many plants as possible in as many raised beds as I could.
I wanted to start all my plants from seeds if possible. In the end I decided that the only plants I would buy werefruit trees Beginning in early February, I germinated my first seeds indoors. By that time I had barely started on the yard, so the pressure was on.
Early Spring Sprouts, 2020. Digital Photograph.
Over the weeks I designed and redesigned some of the preliminary garden areas. My favorite research revealed a whole world of gardening, from permaculture and food forests, to hugelkultur and water diverting systems.
Of course the base of my work has been an experimentation in mapping the yard, studying where water and sunlight tend to collect, and a lot of going back to the drawing board. Even more pressure was amped up due to a lack of funds making me resort to finding much of my resources and doing a lot of my own digging and lugging.
Early Spring Garden 1, 2020. Digital Photograph.
By April I had built two 10+ feet hugelkultur mounds that have buried decaying logs under a fertile layering of compost, mulch and soil. The high mounds help with air flow, make harvesting easier, increases planting area, and the wood inside absorbs water and slowly releases it to the plants so that I have to water less frequently. I am developing my soil and building layers of healthy microbial substrate that decompose to create an active soil. As the wood chips and mulch break down, they naturally fertilize the soil and help grow a mycelium of fungi that work with plants to absorb nutrients.
The hugelkultur mound is built up along a ditch that acts to divert the water along my fruit tree line, and away from the house. These along with four raised beds should be a sufficient start to a victory garden. Squashes, Tomatoes, Peppers, Peas among Fig and peach trees, perennial berries and apple trees should all provide this year.
As the garden soil develops the plants will be more fruitful each year and Asparagus and Strawberries will be available, all in time. If there is one thing that gardening has taught me, it is that patience is one of the most rewarding things, and time will continue to teach me more patience.
Early Spring Garden 2, 2020. Digital Photograph.
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