You see, I really know nothing about gardening except for what I am learning. I am not an expert, even though I have had a small garden for vegetables for many years (mostly I just love home grown tomatoes) and have grown flowers around the outside of the house. I grow what grows for me and let die that which wants to commit suicide. I have never paid much attention to soil quality, fertilizers, and some years barely give them any water. Let's just say I have not been a good plant mommy in years past.
This year is different. I want a BIG garden to grow tomatoes, squash, strawberries, lettuce, pumpkins, grapes, peppers, onions, garlic, potatoes, asparagus, rhubarb, raspberries, zucchini, and LOTS of other vegetables. I want to stay busy all summer canning and freezing and have fresh organic food that I don't have to go to the supermarket to buy! But did I mention I only have a back yard? That will change. I have plans.
We put 8 fruit trees in our fenced back yard this fall and so far, they are doing well. I followed directions to protect their little tender trunks from animals and weather by using a white plastic covering. We fertilized them organically when their leaves fell and mulched them to winter them over. Now to wait for fruit and pray!
I checked in my suburb to see if there was an ordinance stating that you had to have a particular percentage of grass in your yard... there is not. There are all kinds of "rules" about leaving your garage door open, shoveling your snow, mowing your lawn, and other things, but none about a garden-yard! Mike is "on-board" with this not only because he sees money to be saved on good food, but I think he figures he will till once in trade for less mowing and trimming each year.
So my plan is to till up a good percentage of the yard and make another garden next spring. I have 2 little gardens now in either corner of the back yard and there is an old wooden swingset in the middle of the yard that Journey has outgrown so we will place a garden smack in the middle of the yard right under and around that swingset!
Since I want to be a serious gardener and really want my food to grow well, I decided to research soil quality and testing. The soil needs to be the proper pH and have adequate supplies of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. You can buy a soil testing kit (I got mine from Earl May) and it will do all 4 of these tests 10 times each. It was $20 but I figured it was money well spent. No sense trying to grow something in depleted soil, only to be disappointed in the yield after months of watering, weeding, and toil.
I figured I would have to check 5 areas of my yard. I am glad I did because each area tested out differently on its quality and so I will have to treat each area differently and perhaps plan my planting a bit more carefully this year.
As I feared, each area came up with different results, which I won't bore you with. Suffice it to say I am glad I started composting last spring and I spread some of it around the areas that needed more nutrition but will amend some of this soil next spring as we till and plant. Surprisingly, the area under our grass that will become my newest garden is very deficient in proper nutrients so I have an opportunity to fix the problem before planting there next spring.
I kept careful notes about the results from each area of the garden too... in a garden journal book that I have had for 8 years and never written in. See, I told you I was not a good plant mommy. If I can stay disciplined to keep that journal up, I am sure it will come in handy!
I am also glad that I bought a couple of organic gardening books last week. That helps a lot... this is the information age and it is possible to learn anything if you study. I know that because I can now actually cook!
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