Springs brings the joys of planting healthy treats to come...
After months of homegrown fertilizer sitting on all our gardens, it is time to begin planting our spring goods! We tilled the garden 4 times over the last month and added lime to balance the soil. This was determined by using a soil kit that we purchased from Amazon but can be easily purchased at Home Depot or Lowes. We have 3 different garden plots that we use over the gardening season. .
Our first items to go in are our cool season plants. We planted small cabbage plants and chard followed by onion sets and beet seeds. Tomato, beet, and chive seeds were started in seed starting kits in the garden barn and are about to be transferred to the garden today. Dropping temperatures are a concern for several of these plants but simply covering will save the plants. My other concern is keeping wandering goats and our Jax (a mix of potbelly pig and Kune) out of the garden. Free roaming days may be over for these lovely little critters. The only item that will remain in the house a little longer due to temperatures are the pea seedlings. We are also very anxious to see how the asparagus will look this year. It is in its second year and usually takes 3 years before you can harvest the asparagus. It looked great last year! So very excited about that!
As the garden grows you will see that we use very natural things to keep the garden organic. Fertilizers, other than any "homegrown", chemicals, bug killers, growing enhancers will not be used on any of the gardens at Black Oak Hollow. We use all natural methods when something arises in the growing of the garden. Composting is something we just started and are very excited. In one of the following blogs, I will be sure to discuss in further details all the ways we keep things natural in our gardens!
Freshly tilled and ready to begin the planting!
Several kinds of cabbage that is used for many recipes cooked and uncooked meals.
A few of the seeds that were begun in a seed starter kit!
Not only do we use a lot of cabbage but it is a great treat for several of the animals we have here on the farm.
Here are the seeds beginning to grow!
Clever idea that is used from my husband. This attachment is used to mix cement or mortar. :-).