Garden work

March is the time for heavy labor in the garden. First thing I did was try to avoid all the problems with the weed creeping up the hill into my vegetables. I put down water-permeable black plastic over the weed hill and covered it with mulch. I think the mulch has had the neighbors talking about how crazy I must be. I contacted a tree-trimming company about getting the wood chips they have after a job. They were pleased to come and dump a truck load for me. There was no way to get the truck around to the back so I just figured I'd move the mulch one cart-load at a time. When they came to dump the wood chips, it was about 3 or 4 times bigger than I had imagined. Chris couldn't even pull his car into the driveway. He couldn't imagine how we were going to move it and where it would go. I must admit I felt discouraged and foolish.

I started moving it back to the garden a few cartloads at a time whenever I had a little time. Chris was able to get the car into the garage after a few days. Its taken a few weeks and I'd guess I've moved about 3 quarters of it so far. But I think it will make a big difference with the weeds and the hill looks great.

Saturday was rototilling day. We got up early and rented a rototiller. Chris does this for me each spring. Here is a "before" shot.

And this is the "after" shot. Doesn't it look great! Chris tills it all until it is an even texture like cake crumbs and the sculpts it like frosting so the water won't just run down long rows and off the hill.

I hung around the garden in case he needed me for something. I weeded the hill above the garden and found some cool mushrooms growing on my "sitting stump."

This is a pic of Chris rototilling. It makes the whole garden possible. The amount of work turning the soil by hand and raking out the weeds would be much more than I'd be willing to do. He ends up sore from his fingers to his heels after this. I love the garden after it is tilled. It is such a nice thing to do for me. Thanks Chris.

Next - planting.