Is it time to garden yet????

Whew!  I don't know what happened there, but I am back. 
Way back when... out at the farm, we were desperately trying to improve the soil, or should I say create "soil" from clay.  We finally realized that although not impossible, this is going to take some time.  We are still doing this in many areas by adding manure, wood chips, growing cover crops, etc.  However, we have decided to build raised beds to have an area where we can grow vegetables this decade.  As in NOW!  Spring is just around the corner. What better time than on this auspicious full moon to start seeds and plan your garden. 
Here is how we are building the garden:

how big is this thing going to be???

We are using wood from a retaining wall we had been building somewhere else.  We thought these resources would go to better use at Pangea, building a garden bed that should be big enough (maybe) to grow everything we want to grow.  At least for now!  Our future garden beds will be built using existing materials from the land such as downed trees and rocks.  We want our gardens to represent sustainability in every way.  That includes seed saving and using open pollinated, organic, and heirloom variety seeds (as much as possible), as well as many other ways we can responsibly manage our resources at hand.



       

     Because the clay is SO hard, it takes quite a while to dig down one foot to insert our vertical stabilizer pieces.  As you can see from the picture to the right, the top layer of this area had been scraped down several feet below the surface.  Not only does this take away any top soil, but also the softer "newer" soil that usually exists just below the surface.  What we have found, is that four feet below where the topsoil once lived, is a sort of rock clay combination that is extremely difficult to dig by hand.  Although fascinating in a geological sense, not so much to a girl with a shovel.  And a pick.  And thankfully, an extremely strong man!
We should be totally buff by the time we are finished.  Just one more reason to go build a garden, right?

The area where we are building looked so completely flat before we began.  Once we started putting level flat boards down on the ground we realized how much of a slope we have in this area.  It is extremely challenging to make a completely level box. 








We decided we would build one large bed to begin with and use all the boards we already have on hand.  This way, we can reconfigure the garden every season to utilize crop rotation and other organic gardening methods. 

We are almost finished with the giant box.  We are going to leave two sections open so we can back in dump trucks full of good soil.  Soil is the key to a successful garden. And oh, will we ever appreciate the good soil!!! Now go get your seeds ready.