Garden Prep

 We're about to hit garden season! Behind the scenes we've been preparing for weeks and even though the nighttime lows dipped below freezing a few days ago, we've already got some things planted. The journey to home grown food production is never ending. In the wintertime we plan, calculating what we need and where we need to improve. Now that spring is here, we start putting those thoughts into action.

Way back in March Hoosier Hubby started tilling the garden plot while I started some of the seeds. At the beginning of April we laid the fresh plastic and anchored it with the straw bales we're planting in this year.

The Foundation

We put together a row cover and placed it over our freshly planted cabbages and broccoli. 

Row Cover

AND we started conditioning those straw bales, which is a daily chore. 

Conditioning the Straw Bales

I also got the raised beds cleaned out and planted some spinach and baby bok choy in them. Last week we planted some potatoes and sweet potatoes in a few straw bales to see how those work out. 

Our potting and seed starting setup is in the basement. We started hardening off the stems of our plants with a fan a few days ago. About a week before they go into the garden, I'll take them out daily to climatize them. I will be so happy to have them out of the house and the mess cleaned up! There are currently 68 plants in that space - some to plant, some to sell. 

Seed Starting Station

By the time veggies start rolling in out of our garden we will have put in hours and hours of labor. But taking that first bite of a vine ripened tomato or sneaking a zucchini into a neighbor's mailbox or putting a salad on the table that didn't come from the store? All make the work worth it!