Got my garden planted yesterday!

I was reading an interesting article on FACEBOOK about a farmer up in Northern California who has very high yields thanks to his practice of developing compost and spreading it in his garden.  He also does NOT rototill.  Hm...That got me thinking...I looked out back and I have about 1-2" of plant matter built up in some spots out there, so I went to my local small nursery and bought cauliflower, red chard, 2 lavender plants, 2 rosemary plants, 1 basil plant, and a spearmint.  They were all in those 3" plastic container and were all NON-GMO.  So, into the ground they went.  That part of the yard is fence off from the dog, so she won't be able to dig them up!

Here's the link to the article:     https://craftsmanship.net/drought-fighters/

His topsoil is 4' deep!  WOWZA!  Mine is about 2".  He also doesn't roto till and simply lets his crops rotate back into the soil.  Hmmm...seems reasonable!  Farmers here grow a top crop like sudan grass and then roto till it back into the soil in the summer.  I've seen them do that.  He also gets more crops per year (7!).  Our valley farmers get 2, maybe 3 (corn).  I have plenty of old alfalfa to gather and spread around and lots of horse manure, too!  I think I'm okay on that front, at least!

I'm also planning my spring garden:  green beans, yellow squash, zucchini (I already have the seeds).  I don't think I'll plant corn.  It is readily available here in the valley and it takes up a lot of room.  Oh, and tomatoes!  Those will go into the ground next month, as long as I can protect them from frost.  I'm going to plant them along the chain link fence so they have some support.

I really DO have some excellent compost out back...it's about 10 years of leaves in the yard and, with the cutting down of our cottonwood, some chips from that tree.  It's nice and smelly and BLACK.  I also have leaves from the chinaberry tree on the other side of the fence and I'm starting a compost pile.  We have outdoor cats, so the critters shouldn't be a problem (if they do their jobs)!

Anyway, I was excited to get that done yesterday.  I may go back this weekend (Saturday morning) and see if they got in any other non-GMO vegetables that I would plant.  I'll go out, take photos, and post them as soon as it gets light.

Take care.
~Cheryl Ann~

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