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Is your garden ready for planting? Where do you even begin?
Did you forget to pull all your old plants last fall from your garden? Maybe you simply ran out of time? Let me show you how I prepared our garden for planting. I even added some cute pathways without spending a dime!
If you are like me, time seems to slip away. Too many things to do and never enough time! If you have followed me for a while, remember last fall, I planted my garlic and it started to snow!
Start fresh!
My vegetable garden should have been cleared of squash vines, tomato and bean plants last fall. Compost or manure should have been added to this garden before the snow fell and I could have even planted a cover crop as well. That didn’t happen and that’s okay!
Check out this video to see exactly what to do!
Every year I change something in my garden to make it better! I hope it makes it better anyway! Last year I added logs/branches around my no till section so it did not get disturbed by the tiller.
The other thing I did was put straw along the fence lines to help reduce weeds. This year I am going to try wood chips or shavings. I do my best to use things we have on our property. I repurpose as many things as possible. Plus, the wood chips are FREE!
Have you heard of a ‘no till’ garden?
One section of my garden is a ‘no till/no dig garden’. If you are wondering what that is, check out the video below. I will show you how I made a no till/no dig garden last year for my sunflowers.
In a no till garden, once the old crops and weeds are cleared and the compost is added to the top, you are done! That’s it! Nice and easy. The principle behind this method is to disturb the soil as little as possible and try to mimic mother nature.
Once the no till area was completed, I added wood chips around the edge of the garden and thin pieces of wood that had been cut from firewood. It made these pathways look super cute!
The rest of my garden is a traditional tilled garden. The garden has to be cleared of any old crops and weeds first. Take time to do this step! You will thank yourself later.
A layer of compost or manure then needs to be added. We use a combination of horse, rabbit and chicken manure. This works for us because we have a LOT of manure. If you don’t have compost or manure, you can buy bags of compost/manure at a local garden centre.
IMPORTANT TIP …..
Never add fresh manure to a garden. Allow the manure to sit for at least 3-4 months prior to adding it to your garden. I always add the manure after tilling my garden and then till it again. Let the ground sit for a few weeks before planting your garden.
If you are starting a garden this year you need to have a peek around your yard. Decide if you are going to plant things in pots, containers, raised beds or a traditional garden. Pick a spot that gets lots of sunshine.
We have the space, why not make the garden bigger!
I am expanding my garden this year. Why not use the space to grow free food! When starting a garden from scratch you need to prepare the area for planting. First you need to till the area and remove any weeds or loose grass. I am trying a new approach this year.
I tilled the area, added compost, water and then covered it with a tarp. The tarp needs to stay in place for approximately 4 weeks. The tarp is supposed to help eliminate weeds. This will certainly save a lot of time weeding this summer if this method works.
If using a tarp, be certain the tarp is secured with either stakes or some type of heavy object so the tarp doesn’t blow away!
Will there be fewer weeds?
I will keep you posted on Instagram and Facebook so you can see if I liked this method for creating a new garden. The process is called occulation or weeding with a tarp. Make sure you follow me to see the final results.
Gardening is something to try this year! It gets you outside and keeps your body moving. It also gives you an opportunity to learn how to grow some of your own food. If you don’t want a big garden you can always start with some containers or a small raised bed.
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