Changin mi tune...

Our first 'strictly from yard' salad, that's right, it's mid-April and all these greens came from the garden so far. Lettuces, spinach, and a few tender radish leaves, ummmm, nuttin better. I'm picking these every day now, sweet!


This is what I'm changin my tune about....I've always been lovin the challenge of making marginal land productive again, and sometimes that's a lot of hard work. But often it's the difference between having a garden and not. Usually you can get permission to work a wasteland, right? Wasteland to showcase---do something beautiful.


Now here's the latest approach that I'm singing about. I finally realize what a bargain bagged planting mixes are! Don't have any good land to work? Invest $10 in soil and some food for it and you've got land! I used to resent buying dirt, no more! I just dug out the weeds, mixed up a nice batch of dirt, chicken manure, lime and veg food in the wheelbarrow and laid it down---it's another row to plant now. And if you've got a fence like we do here, all the better. Put the peas in close to the fence, and make it wide enough for a couple other things. Here are potatoes, shallots, garlic and broccoli.


I worked this section for the first time last summer and put beans in, now it's full of lettuces, garlic, and I hope peas soon (I think the slugs might be eating the seedlings). It's truly amazing how quickly land can come alive again with organic methods. I'm talkin bout the life beneath the surface especially, you bring a little life energy, air, water and humus into the area and word spreads fast.