This week we did a lot of much needed work in the garden. And managed an accidental "harvest" of 2 pounds, 81/2 ounces of Cherokee Purple tomatoes. We put a new and taller cage around the floppy CP plant, and lost a few limbs and fruits, but they will ripen on the window sill and we will enjoy them.
We also FINALLY added soil (um.... compost) to our 4x8 bed. My ONLY raised bed. I am so excited and cannot wait to plant it up! AT our Memorial Day cookout, one of my friends mentioned that the city landfill also has a greenery section that you can acquire soil, mulch and compost from, at very low prices. SCORE. I was looking online and found a place that had "container soil" -- for raised garden beds, for $35 a cubic yard, with an $80 delivery fee.... So we asked our friend to borrow his truck (which led to the soil conversation) and managed to get a cubic yard of material for $12. When we went to the landfill, they let us know that they did not have top soil, only compost or mulch. Well, we were going to need compost anyway, so we went ahead and purchased it. A quick search showed we could grow in pure compost (anyone have any negatives on this? I've seen various posts about things accidentally growing up in compost piles.... so it's ok for plants right? Compost is added to soil to amend with nutrients and lighten soil....so this should work, right?). The city kindly loaded up the bad of the truck and we worked the rest of the afternoon on moving it from the truck (front yard) to the back. The boys "helped" get the soil in the bed and break up any soil clumps from the original bed soil by throwing them against the house.
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| Before |
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| After |
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| And the compost that was left over |
Now I need a drawing of where everything will be planted and apparently some more trellises if I want as many climbing plants as I envision. Oh, an if I never have to add most of a cubic yard of soil to a garden again it will be too soon....
Happy Gardening all!
