I started the garden based on a article that I read… it was something like “easy way to start an organic garden” or some such.
Basically, it said to take bags of garden soil and poke holes in one side for drainage, lay the bags out into “rows,” and then cut the tops off and plant your seeds. Kind of like an artificial raised garden. It looked interesting and quick so I thought I would give it a try.
With a twist. Topsoil costs around $.77 a 40 lb bag. Garden soil costs around $7.00 a bag. Being newly-unemployed, I decided to use the topsoil and some of the manure that I got earlier in the year, and some of the compost that I have made in the past. Topsoil is different from garden soil in the fact that it’s more humus than soil, and it has less nutrients as well, (I think… I need to check up on that…) The way that I worked it was I put some “raw” composting material on the ground first, (leaves, grass clippings, sawdust, etc.) Then, I put down some of the mostly composted manure, then the bags, then I put the seeds in the topsoil material, and covered them with the fully composted material. The reason I put the composting materials down first was because they will start to decompose and kill off the grass under them. Then the reason I used the mostly composted manure was to give lots of nitrogen to the seeds that I would be planting. And lastly, the reason I covered them with the fully composted material was because it will protect the seeds by covering them, and it will drain well, and add nutrients into the topsoil bags.
Basically, I planted some salad ingredients… lettuce, tomatoes, onions, as well as some beets and basil. (Kim and I love caprese salad… it takes us back to Italy.) I happen to have a bunch of quart mason jars, so I think if the beets come in, I may just can some pickled beets this year.
Yum!
Anywho, I have a couple of things to do today, I will try and get on this evening and post the pics of how it all went down, so to speak.
-D
It’s the beginnings of fall here in GA, and I’m afraid that the garden didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped. There wasn’t enough light for most of the plants, and I have to do something about the dang squirrels that we have around here. They dug up and ate pretty much all the seeds that we planted, and they ate whatever plants we had come up. Next year, I’m getting an airgun and taking them out in the spring.