Raised bed work the last few days. Many plants just waiting for that forever home.
Our raised beds are pretty big, approx 16'x 3' and we have 5 of them. Whomever put them in, must have requested the extra clay soil when getting dirt....Or they just scavenged from the farmers field behind us. We certainly do have clay soil here, but to put it IN the raised beds is a real head scratcher. Anyway, this is the third time they have been turned and amended (last spring, last fall, and this spring). Talk about clods of moldable clay - I seriously could have thrown a few pots on a potters wheel with the huge all-clay clods I found in the beds last year. Few worms also. So, I added peat moss and vermiculite last year - and we did try to grow a garden, but had only moderate success.
This year, many more worms evident while turning over the beds! The small compost pile we have is chock full of worms! Yay! The last few days I've amended and turned the beds to a depth of at least 12", by hand (and pitchfork and hoe). I've added gypsum, peat moss, vermiculite and perlite. Also, some bags of a "manure and compost" product and "compost and gypsum" product that I got for clearance prices at end of last season. I've got one more bed to go today, and can hopefully plant some seeds and plants by the end of the weekend!
We are working on compost, but nothing much that is good yet - next year should find some home made compost in the beds, in addition to any other type of amendment we see fit.
So, I found a great local source for vermiculite and perlite in very large 4 CuFt bags. Perlite is hard to find - even harder when the place you call misspells it in their system and says "cant get any" but calls their supplier anyway, and it turns out that it is available (when spelled correctly!). So, I can further amend in the hottest/driest beds with some more perlite/vermiculite.
In the dead of winter I ordered some perennials from a supplier I like. They arrived and are now planted on the north side of the house - it is shady so shade tolerant plants selected: Hellebore (love them!), and some black four leaf clover. I also put in some variegated thyme in the same area, but the part that gets some actual sun as it can tolerate shade, but needs some sun.
On the chicken side of things, the older ones are laying more! We also have chicks that are 11 weeks old and a few weeks from laying. And we have straight run chicks that are only 1.5 weeks old - shipped chicks, and we've lost 2, but the others seems to be doing well in the brooder in the barn. More chicken poop in the shavings = more compost in the future.
Our raised beds are pretty big, approx 16'x 3' and we have 5 of them. Whomever put them in, must have requested the extra clay soil when getting dirt....Or they just scavenged from the farmers field behind us. We certainly do have clay soil here, but to put it IN the raised beds is a real head scratcher. Anyway, this is the third time they have been turned and amended (last spring, last fall, and this spring). Talk about clods of moldable clay - I seriously could have thrown a few pots on a potters wheel with the huge all-clay clods I found in the beds last year. Few worms also. So, I added peat moss and vermiculite last year - and we did try to grow a garden, but had only moderate success.
This year, many more worms evident while turning over the beds! The small compost pile we have is chock full of worms! Yay! The last few days I've amended and turned the beds to a depth of at least 12", by hand (and pitchfork and hoe). I've added gypsum, peat moss, vermiculite and perlite. Also, some bags of a "manure and compost" product and "compost and gypsum" product that I got for clearance prices at end of last season. I've got one more bed to go today, and can hopefully plant some seeds and plants by the end of the weekend!
We are working on compost, but nothing much that is good yet - next year should find some home made compost in the beds, in addition to any other type of amendment we see fit.
So, I found a great local source for vermiculite and perlite in very large 4 CuFt bags. Perlite is hard to find - even harder when the place you call misspells it in their system and says "cant get any" but calls their supplier anyway, and it turns out that it is available (when spelled correctly!). So, I can further amend in the hottest/driest beds with some more perlite/vermiculite.
In the dead of winter I ordered some perennials from a supplier I like. They arrived and are now planted on the north side of the house - it is shady so shade tolerant plants selected: Hellebore (love them!), and some black four leaf clover. I also put in some variegated thyme in the same area, but the part that gets some actual sun as it can tolerate shade, but needs some sun.
On the chicken side of things, the older ones are laying more! We also have chicks that are 11 weeks old and a few weeks from laying. And we have straight run chicks that are only 1.5 weeks old - shipped chicks, and we've lost 2, but the others seems to be doing well in the brooder in the barn. More chicken poop in the shavings = more compost in the future.
