Preparing the Summer Garden

Sunday every week is our day to clean the chicken and duck coops along with cleaning up the goat area inside and outside of the barn.  The nesting material we use for our birds is organically grown barley straw.  Same for the goat bedding, but the goats waste some of the alfalfa they are supposed to be eating; we get a good mix of that from the goat barn.  All of it goes into compost piles.  We have so much compost that I put an ad out giving it away for free.  This week we had a neighbor wanting some so she left her truck down here for a couple of hours and I loaded it up as I cleaned.  I think I have 10 year’s worth of compost at our place.

One of our Fresh Compost Piles Steaming 24/7

 Pam pulled nettle from our blueberry patch and rhubarb bed while I did the cleaning.  I was finished by 2 p.m. and then continued to weed our garlic bed.  I’m half done – when I’m finished I’ll side dress some fertilizer and spread finished compost. 

Filled up our Neighbor's Truck with Hot Compost

We have cool season greens growing, sweet peas coming up, and just seeded an area for this year’s beets.  Next job will be to turn the beds in for corn, squash and pole beans.  Last year I let the Asian greens flower and go to seed as the honeybees love the yellow flowers, so this year we have half of a bed of different types of mustard.

Self Seeded Mustands growing next to the potato bed

Our 5'x30' Garlic Bed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garlic bed Weeded