Here it is!
It’s amazing how much seeing something in a different light can completely change your perspective. Last week, I was staring and an open field of grass, imagining all of the wonderful food that would be appearing in a few months. Today we saw the garden tilled – and I got a real sense of how much work this was going to be, how much more we need to prepare before putting anything in the ground, and how incredibly giant our garden is.
It looks disked – perhaps plowed before. Clare said that the guy was out there from around 6 until after 11:00 in the evening working on it. We will have to go over it with a hand tiller before planting, so things will probably get planted in patches throughout the next two weeks. Paul (the guy who tilled) said that this year will be rough, but if we garden there again next year it will be in great condition and do really well.
Chris sent some soil to Midwest Labs for a soil sample, and we should be getting the results from that back on Monday. The Buckwheat Growers Association of Minnesota will be bringing us a couple of truckloads of compost too – once they have the results of our soil sample.
We may have to resort to laying weed mat in some areas – we’re thinking particularly the onions and carrots, as root crops handle weeds poorly, and they would be the most time consuming to keep weed-free. We can pile up good amounts of compost, and then mulch, around all of our transplants, which should help control the weeds quite a bit.
