The beginning of a new garden

Ahhhh the soil was opened tonight with great care. There is about 2-4 inches of topsoil over the deep white sand dunes. The topsoil i got today is going to go a long way for tomatoes and other soil loving beings. But the sand is going to be great for carrots, taters, swedes, beets and turnips.

This year is the great experiment, the great observation. I tracked the sun, and the water and know how it moves over the land. Now it will be watching to see how the rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, bear, deer all interact with food growing. Whether I will need chicken fencing to have a good forage, or whether i can grow willy nilly will be the big question.

Tomorrow – swale and berm. A trench and a pile, with mulch and bush materials buried to create a soil habitat. No need for ash, the soil is pretty basic here. Amendments will be pine mulch to increase the acids for fruiting plants.

It was so cool to open the land and see that sand right there. You get a feel for these things by knowing what’s around you and then by watching what happens with water. Pool, and drain. Pool, erode, drain. I can see the slippage, and construction of the beds will be so crucial to any growing successes.

So much time spent saving seeds, carefully processing and making choices. Now the choices are more simple: ecological restoration of pollinating plants, and then production of food for winter food security are paramount. Seed saving will be the business of summer and fall. Harvest as the garden requires, so much time and energy into the good and great, never a waste.