Groundwork

With warm April weather comes lots of hard work. For us the season begins with feeding the soil. We are expanding this year, so opening up some new plots from pasture. For this we use a Berta plow, after a generous covering of compost, rock powders, and leaf mold.

In beds that were formed last year, we use a no-till approach, simply spreading compost on top and planting into it. Avoiding tillage allows the soil structure to improve and earthworms to thrive, and of course requires less work and fossil fuel use on our part.

So far we have seeded carrots, parsnips, turnips, spinach, lettuce, mesclun, and arugula, with peas, radishes and many more on the way. Our overwintered spinach and kale is a bit battered from winter, but deliciously sweet from the cold, and our garlic is up and looking good!