Natural Excellence Farm and Gardens

Well we're finally, in the garden!

The weather has been mild enough the last two days to work the soil and I don't have to spend time and energy gathering firewood.

I sure love my bcs. I'm nearly done with the tillage, it goes very quickly with the bcs.

I made some off season modifications to the plastic mulch layer. I bought pneumatic rubber tires for it. They're wider and hold the plastic better, and reduce the curling on the outer edges. This allows better burying of the edges of the plastic. I made three beds today and it worked great. The soil was still a bit wet and pasty in spots, so I still had to use the shovel to manually cover edges. But it was a vast improvement, and was a stress reducer.

I'm also planting the cover crop in the walking paths immediately upon finishing two rows together. I'm hoping this will limit weed growth and present a more professional and appealing appearance.The mix is an annual rye, field peas, and two low growing clovers. There may be some field turnip seed in there as well; This mix was prepared in the Fall last year but didn't get planted. This won't be a problem though, because the field turnips put down deep roots that can break up any hard pan, and bring up nutrients from below.

We're excited about the upcoming season and to be biological farmers, growing organically, nutrient dense food for our share partners and neighbors!!

John  :)