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[Beekissed]

Nothing pig poo can't overcome, Bee.

That should be the case....though it was a mighty big space and only three pigs. Sometimes pigs like to poo in one corner of their lot, so the pig poo might not be as distributed over that large area enough to help. Not sure.

Just the worry wart in me doing some thinking....

 

[Beekissed]

I wanted to show the difference in my soil in the orchard after a winter of just a thin layer of leaves, a few had wood chips, and a few applications of wood ash at the drip line. I know this is just a start and may not go as deeply as the roots, but it's encouraging all the same. This orchard is normally covered in moss and has very sparse grass if any at all...usually just little clumps of clover right at the base of the trees.

In these pics you can see the lighter, golden color of the moss and the darker ring of green around the leaves under the trees. This first pic is the worst situated tree and has only ever bore a few fruits, the leaves are always diseased looking and it's the most surrounded by moss of all the trees. The darker brown you see at the edge of the leaves is the dead moss.

Under these leaves the ground is very soft and porous, and large, fat earthworms are working on the leaves and chips there. I'm hoping those worms are opening tunnels for a nutrient flow that will reach the roots of these trees and help them develop more and better crops.

I'll keep adding organic material to these areas all year...whatever I can get my hands on in the way of chips, leaves, hay, straw and manure. I'm hoping to turn around the lives of these old and diseased trees.

Here's a few pics of peach blossoms...these too are surrounded by moss and now have some leaves, wood chips, cow manure, old straw and wood ash applied to them this year. I'm hoping it also improves their yield and flavor..

And a few pics of green things in the garden...some I just planted yesterday~strawberries~and some that were planted last fall~potatoes~ and are determined to come up through the 2 ft. deep mounds of organic material heaped on the rows. I keep throwing leaves on these tops and they keep peeking through anyway...

A few of the shorter, mounded up spud rows...look like I've got dead bodies buried in the garden!

I'm really excited to see how all this addition of organic material makes a difference to this poor, acidic soil. I know this...the local worms are loving it! Never saw such fat, huge worms in this soil for the past 24 yrs...and so many!

 

[baymule]

Bee, yes I am concerned that the pine shavings might tie up the nitrogen because of the pigs turning them under and because of me discing them in to level out the garden. I am going to plant buckwheat down the rows to add nitrogen and I'll use bonemeal if needed. The pigs didn't use one spot, they applied their poo quite liberally all over the garden, so maybe the pig poo will give the garden all the nitro it needs!

Your garden is looking good. It is phenomenal what a little care is doing to your old trees.

 

[Beekissed]

That makes me feel better, Bay. I'm just an old mother hen, you know that. After doing the chips here in May and then having them tie up the nitrogen in my own garden, I've gotten a little gun shy over wood and soil meeting face to face unless they are mulched down a bit.

 

[Beekissed]

Finally getting something more planted in the garden. Today doing several hundred sweet onion~from seed~garlic, lettuce, carrots, broccoli, asparagus, sugar snap peas, and spinach. From here on out I'll be doing succession plantings of lettuce and carrots, lettuce, spinach, etc. I want to grow enough for our consumption, for extended family and also for giving away.



It's almost 70* here today with breezy to gusty wind, so not too bad of planting weather. I'm loving the soft, dark soil under the wood chips and leaves...such a HUGE difference from our usual tan, hard as a rock clay structure. You can clearly see the line where the wood chips and leaves are being composted and pulled into the soil by earthworms, making that layer more crumbly, darker and less compacted. Each year that should be a deeper and deeper layer of loose, rich soil as these chips continue to break down.
And worms....I've never seen so many worms in a garden in my life!

I'm sure that folks out there with good soil are used to seeing a lot of worm life when they dig in their gardens, but I'm not used to seeing this number or size of worms in this soil. I can lay my hand out on the soil and be on top of ten worms, most of them large but some smaller, half grown worms. Every scrape of the hoe to move the chips back is cutting worms, which I hate to do but I accidentally left my rake at my son's house and had to resort to using a hoe today.

Hope to get my seedling trays loaded today as well, with the peppers getting planted into their tray. I want to get a jump on planting this season, instead of waiting until the first of April.


I'm really loving this BTE garden method and I'm loving planting with the use of these homemade seed tapes...what a breeze!!!

 

[Beekissed]

Got a very late start due to being old, but managed to get a few things done today that's been nagging on my mind. Got the rest of the onion seed tape planted....that's three sides of the garden and two rows in the garden of mostly onions, with little blocks of garlic every 10 ft. or so.

Got broccoli, sugar snap peas, asparagus, one row of lettuce/carrot seed tape( I want to do succession planting of the lettuce and such this year), and one row of spinach and radishes planted. I'm trying to stack crops this year, so I planted the onions, lettuce and carrots below the tomato trellises, as well as some onions, snap peas, radishes and spinach under the trellis. None of these crops should feed at the same level as the tomatoes, cukes and beans I place on those trellises later on and some of those crops will be done by the time these other plants are big enough to need space. Some of these shorter, earlier crops will benefit from the shade the later, bigger plants can provide.

Now we just need a really nice, soaking rain to get these seeds off to a good start.

I know I keep saying this, but I'm just super psyched over the number and size of the worms that are under these chips.

I'm just so tickled over it and amazed, that I can't stop talking about them!!! I could have just saved my money on those sickly little red wigglers I bought...they truly look anemic and anorexic compared to the huge, fat worms in my garden. My native worms could likely have those wigglers for breakfast and not even pause for air.

I feel so very, very blessed to have evidence of a better soil structure under these chips and leaves....those worms are evidence of a growing web of life in that soil and that can only get better from here on out. I was just praising God all day for the worm load in the garden, for the fungal growth I could see in the chips, for the dark, moist layer of compost being deposited on top of my horrible clay soil.

Now...it's time for that excruciating wait and the inexpressible joy when I see the first seedlings appear.....

 

[baymule]

I am excited for you in having so many nice worms. Only on TEG could you not only brag about big fat worms in your garden, but be congratulated on them!

I dug some holes by the driveway gate to plant crepe myrtles in and filled them with water, 9 AM Monday morning. That evening, they were still full of water......did I mention that not only do I have sandy soil, but about 8" down, I have compressed sand? I call it sandstone. Fortunately it isn't all over the property. We planted 2 of the crepe myrtles Tuesday afternoon, the other two holes were still full of water. This evening the holes were drained, but DH's knee was hurting him, so we'll plant the other two tomorrow. The 4 posts my son in law and I set to hang the gate on took all day to dig with post hole diggers and a shovel. Plus multiple trips to the water faucet for water to pour down the holes so we could scrape a little more dirt out. You and I have soils on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Fortunately, wood chips, leaves and poo fixes both soils.

Oh, I never wanted to repeat that post hole digging experience, so purchased a hand held, gasoline auger for all the fence building. What a wonderful invention!

 

[Beekissed]

I agree! That thing will pay for itself over and over on a place like yours. Crepe myrtle is so very pretty! Love that stuff.

We have four apple trees to plant and I'm not looking forward to that....this land is hard as rock about a foot down. After that you are just scraping any little bits of soil off the bottom of the hole that you can. Could sure use something like your auger for that.

 

[Nyboy]

Bee I was in garden section of kmart, they had tiny bags of worm castings for sale. Be proud of them!!

 

[Beekissed]

That's certainly surprising of them. I didn't even know Kmart HAD a gardening section.

Today I can relax a little, knowing the garden is as sown as it's going to get at this time of year. The tater leaves that peeked out of the rows last week got frosted, of course. Not sure how folks grow taters early, but around here we have danger of frost clear up into mid-May.