Gardening time!

It's that time of year! It's time for the three months of food production that Canadians enjoy. I suppose we've got more than that, but not much more. The frosts can strike as late as June 1st, and as early as Sept 10th, so the earlier we start, the better.

I'll be honest, I should have set more seedlings out in pots. I set a few in, but I didn't put any broccoli, nor did I prepare my planting areas until just now. I really didn't know what I was going to do. At first, I figured I would rototill the ground, just like everyone else does, but that's expensive, and very, very hard work! Not to mention, the ground becomes very muddy when it rains. So, I did a little research, and here's what I found. No till gardening! You don't cut the sod up, you don't dig the ground, and you don't need a tractor! You simply layer organic material over top of the existing grass (after cutting it), which blocks out the sunlight, and plant on top of that. The plant roots shoot down into the sod, softening and decaying the grass and weeds, and the mulch prevents too many more weeds from appearing.

This is the tiny little garden that my daughter "planted" this year (I helped). She was given some seeds packages by grandma, and she picked the spot herself. I brought her a number of rocks to border her garden spot with. We covered the dirt with mulch, so, hopefully things will grow here.This is one of the garden plots I created. Underneath the top layer of mulch is a layer of newspaper, and beneath that is a layer of dirt, and the grass is under that. I want to add more layers, maybe some manure, some more dirt, and then I'm going to plant seedlings into this plot. I'm starting the seedlings today (should have done that a month ago, but....) in peat planters, when they're ready, you just tear them off and stick 'em in the ground like they are.

I'm really not sure what I might get this year, but I'm going to give it my best shot. Plus, I want to prepare bigger garden spaces for next years garden. Next year, I'm hoping to be in possession of a greenhouse, in which I can start the seeds a month or so early, and get a better harvest!

Here's a few more photos:
This was taken at the dump. The bobcat is dropping a load of FREE mulch in the back of my truck. It was about 7:40 pm at this point, and the landfill closed at 8pm. As soon as this guy finished, he parked his bobcat, got in his truck, and left, locking me in!!!! Thanks man, really awesome. I had to interrupt another crew crushing rock to let me out. Note to self, go earlier!


Another view of some finished plots. I seeded some carrots in the middle one, hopefully they'll actually grow! I got some excellent carrots when we lived in the city, but they are a root crop, and the soil isn't really ready yet...
I want about 7-8 more plots just like this ready by next year, plus 40 more saskatoon bushes, and some apple/cherry/pear/apricot trees.

So lastly, one more victory. When we moved, I didn't get my wife's address updated with the Canada Robbery Agency (Oh, I meant Revenue, oops), and they stopped sending the Child Tax credit, and childcare benefit, which you get when you stay at home. There's five months of backchecks that they now owe, which is about $800! Not bad, now I just have to sell the bike, and I can start building a barn! Giggity.