In the Spring of 2011 we are following the prior
recipes. This year we will also spray a "compost tea" to
add necessary microorganisms to the soil.
Here we are in Spring 2010.
We have a bit of grasspulling to do, as it seems one of our
2009 ingredients had some foreign seed in it.
We will cover the beds with a fresh layer of compost and then mulch
in areas getting transplants, and just compost for seeded areas,
to be followed by mulch as seedlings mature.
It is October 2009 now, and we have decided that
we'll prep this fall with a soil layer covered by compost, fertilizer, straw, and mulch to get through the
winter. This should greatly improve the root-zone soil quality
and get us on the way for more abundant growth. The soil-compost
arrangement will quicken the breakdown of the layers below it,
and we add organic fertilizers to offset acidity and nitrogen loss.
In this 2009 planting season, beds will start with at least an over-wintered
newspaper/mulch covering, while some that we planted in 2008 will have mulch/newspaper/mulch.
Here we are preparing seedrows by removing a 1"-wide line in the top mulch layer.
We will punch a small hole through the newspaper for each seed.
New beds that we prepared in 2008 for the 2009 season
are mostly be 3' wide, and
use newpaper/mulch application rather than digging out the sod.
The width will make harvesting and maintenance much easier
and the change in method should be better to keep soil
structure and organisms intact.
Here Barbara and Mary are working on a future bed.
Methodology for original 2008 planting beds.
We have finished dressing all 4 initial beds - as you can see we used a
different (and better) compost ingredient on the latest installment.
We had to add 1/2 a bed to contain overflow.
Of available plants, that is.