More diggin´ in the no dig garden
Monday we had rallied friends and family to help us out with the no-dig garden beds and wood chips. It turned out to be a beautiful day with 27 degrees (c) and a light breeze.
This is what the garden looked like after Brock and his dad had rototilled it the day before. We realized we had to, the soil was packed and hard like cement - no way we could have been able to rake it.
Here is me and Jordan ready to get started! I was supposed to be the supervisor for the day but it didnt take me long before I was in the garden with a rake in hand. 30 weeks pregnant and chronic pain only slows me down the days after the work is done. A friend of mine and her daughters stopped by and help with the beds as well as Brocks brother in law Eric (he is the only reason our beds are somewhat straight lines! ).
While we were making the trenches Brock and Jordan filled up the truck with wood chips and brought it back. They filled the trenches and put it on top of the straw in the food forest part. The bags to the left are the seed potatos Brock got for us.
We put the majority of wood chips in the garden part since we wanted that one in order first. The no dig garden will be used this season while what we do in the food forest is preparation for next year. We will plant some stuff in there since there is a layer of good soil from years of dead leaves and branches etc, but it wont be our main focus.
Waiting for more wood chips. Eric suggested we use something to get the beds and trenches straight and I remember seeing some old baseboard in the basement, so we found 4 that was really long and used them. It was a brilliant idea because the second bed was already starting to go off to the one side :P
Brocks dad rototilling the last of the garden. Eric digging. Brock with a wheelbarrow full of wood chips and Jordan trailing behind. Brocks mom was preparing venison burgers in the house and I mostly documented what was going on at this point. We started at 11.30, and this picture was taken 6:41 pm.
A happy discovery was that our asparagus had started to sprout!! (inbetween the weeds in the bottom of the picture)
Ground deer & moose mixed with some lean pork (so they would stick together). Super yummy!!
When we wrapped it up for the day we had 9 beds, roughly 2-3 feet wide. We will continue doing beds all the way to the other side of the garden. We didnt do the rows all the way to the lawn thinking we have a bed going the other way from asparagus patch to asparagus patch with tomatoes. The temperature today was chilly and it will drop to a low of 2 degrees celcius and the last frost date is may 15th so we still got a couple of days to get everything ready before its time to plant stuff. But yeah, thats what it looks like for now. Still lots more to do but we got a good start! :D
This is really coming along! I thought a bit of string stretched between pegs was how you kept things straight? I've saved some string specially 😊 Beautiful day, beautiful land.
Yeah, having everyones help made a great difference, we got lots done :) Oh I didnt even think of that, string and pegs would have been super handy. But the baseboards worked good enough too, Eric had a measuring tape and kept checking that things where in line.
Yes, the baseboards were a good solution, and it all worked out nicely!
Way to go team! That looks awesome. I enjoyed that +27 plus breeze by taking the babies for a stroll, and it was glorious. I can't imagine doing that kind of labour while 30 weeks pregnant so I am glad you took on the roll as supervisor/project coordinator/photographer/documenter.
-Aimee
Mm it was such a nice day! :D Hehe I did do a lot of raking, thats why I been out of commision for the past 2 days but I couldnt help myself and just sit while everyone else where working =P But I did slow down towards the end. Brock was mumbling something about me beign too stuborn for my own good
Ah ha ha ha! Uh-oh! I know that trouble all too well. I was go go go while pregnant too, always asking the babies to hang in there until I wrapped up my work obligations. One baby was pressing on an artery which was causing me to swell a lot. Like, I only fit 1 pair of shoes and I stretched them out so badly. I really should have spent more time resting with those fat feet up. Then of course the days after I finished work, and the day I planned to finish the last of my house organizing, they decided to come. Murphy's Law, I suppose. Be sure to take what rest you can before babe arrives! -Aimee
Ohh I dont even know how you managed with two!! Just having the one baby in my tummy is interesting enough, she is all over the place. Hm I been swelling alot too, its quite troublesome :(
Oh wow, where you able to carry them full term?
hehe yes, it will be all rest all the time from now on :D
Sometimes I don't know how I managed either. Carrying two was really challenging, but I kept reminding myself that at the end of the hard work, I would get two babies!and as trying as it is to manage two (even with help) they are both so incredible. I wouldn't trade either for anything. Plus, Matt would help massage the fluid out of my feet before bed each night. Bless his heart I would swell right back up but kept doing it anyway. We made it to 38 weeks!
I am glad to hear you'll be resting from here on out. Enjoy that tumbling baby! When they are on the outside, you can miss the tumbles from the inside. -Aimee
I love seeing the progress here, it looks amazing! We are doing the same thing right now, and planting some colder weather plants. We can’t plant the majority of things until June... so we’ve got time, sadly. After a long winter, it is so nice to get into the garden again! I can’t wait to see your food forest in full action, so exciting! ❤️
Thank you :D We are quite pleased with the progress (tho so much left to do, but a little at a time and eventually we will get there) Oh nice! Yeah we got some cold weather plants planted, we are babysitting some dogs this weekend and had their owners over the other day and I pointed to our kitchen garden saying "there we got lettuce growing.." Only, a bird had come by and eaten all the seedlings!!!
I think we will be able to plant a bunch of stuff now after mid may, Im keeping an eye on the weather and keeping my fingers crossed.
But yes, I agree, its soooo great to get to poke around in the garden :D
Ill make sure to take lots of progress pictures and updates on the food forest :D
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