Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[1muttsfan]

You have to be a little careful in the spring about working your soil while it is too cold and wet. You will compact the soil and interfere with proper thawing and drainage. Just because it can be worked doesn't mean it should be.

 

[Folly's place]

It's snowing right now! April is NOT yet free of winter around here. Finally a few early crocus and snowbells are blooming...
Mary

 

[ameraucana_anna_524]

Snowing/sludging here too... thanks Great Lakes!
Our daffodils are up, hopefully they make it

 

[Sally PB]

You have to be a little careful in the spring about working your soil while it is too cold and wet. You will compact the soil and interfere with proper thawing and drainage. Just because it can be worked doesn't mean it should be.

Yeah, I thought about that AFTER rototilling. Early spring enthusiasm got the best of me.

The sandy soil garden has no issues with drainage, fortunately. The heavy soil garden has gotten better in that regard.

I was pleasantly surprised that the heavy soil was as easy to turn as it was. It's sooo much better than it was when I first made that spot into a garden. It was kind of just grey clay. It's still heavy, but has a much better texture now.

I have piles of thatch and leaves to use as mulch in that garden this year, and lots of compost to add in a month or so. I'll be adding a bunch of greensand as well.

 

[aart]

Yeah, I thought about that AFTER rototilling.

I told you a couple-few days before

 

[Sally PB]

I told you a couple-few days before

I know... All I could see was all those weeds that were sprouting up, and how they'd take over...

And the tiller worked, and I was glad about that, and I got the garden itch bad yesterday...

 

[RaZ]

You have to be a little careful in the spring about working your soil while it is too cold and wet. You will compact the soil and interfere with proper thawing and drainage. Just because it can be worked doesn't mean it should be.

Very true. The urge to start gardening after the winter can be awfully high. But starting too soon doesn't really help. I don't put in my garden until Memorial Day weekend and it does just fine. No worries about a late frost or massive rainfalls.


By the way...4th day of waking up to snow. It was darn near a white-out when I left for work this morning.

 

[RaZ]

Since we were talking about gardening...
I got another score from work. Several wire/metal displays that can be used as trellises or supports in the garden. There are 3 boxes of weather-proof composite that I can use for potting soils, fertilizer, or other stuff.

 

[uchytil]

If I tried to work in my two plots my tractor would sink and be lost forever, lol. Seriously though, yes too early but not too early to start bulbs and seedlings inside. Or build flower boxes, or, or....

 

[Sally PB]

Wow, @RaZ, that's a lot of scrap metal, if nothing else! But I see so much potential there.

I have one of the chicken math "offshoots." I call it "chicken stuff math." Everything I see, I wonder, how can I repurpose this for the chickens? Or for the garden.