Last year we plowed up four looooong rows running along side out house and while this worked fine, I decided that I really prefer shorter beds, it makes weeding not seem wuite as daunting somehow to have lots of little beds instead of a few huge ones. Will also hated trying to mow between the rows to we wanted the grass out between beds, so a lot of digging is in order. Add to that the fact that we've decided to fence in the veg garden to make it look more formal and the rearranging needed to actually have a square garden and in some ways we are starting all over again.
The good news is that I love to dig when the weather is still a little cold. I'm not sure if it's my Northwest upbringing or the English blood in my veins but I really enjoy being out in the garden when you're only warm enough if your digging and wool sweaters and wellies are a must.I remember spending hours out in the garden with my dad, getting things ready for summer, when we lived in Idaho and so gardening in just barely above freezing must be imprinted on the gardeners portion of my brain. I hate digging in the heat which makes summer weeding around here kind of a no-go, but I'm trying not to think about the hot days to come and am just focusing on this perfect gardening weather.
Evelyn, apparently, doesn't agree that it's perfect garneding weather and decided to dress for snow. Or maybe it was a fashion thing.
Yesterday I managed to get the garden staked out and the first two beds re-dug while Evie collected worms and today I'm hoping to do a few more. My sugar snap seedlings are actually ready to go in and I'm on the hunt for some of these tomato towers which I've used before to give the plants a head start. And now that I'm going to have small beds that can each be devoted to one crop, I'm starting to look at things like adding extra manure to the bed where to potatoes will be and trying to figure out what specifically the corn will like (lots of compost if the popcorn that went wild in the yarn waste corner last year is anything to go by!)This won't be one of those elegant vegetable gardens, I imagine it will look pretty utilitartian once it's going, although I have plans to grow morning glories and gourds on the fences and have sunflower seedlings started to grow along the front side (where they won't block the rest of the garden from the sun). If I'm lucky it might look like a smaller version of this. But if I could I'd make my garden look like this, isn't that gorgeous? Someday... although, really, I think a full to bursting vegeatable garden is pretty gorgeous regardless of the ornamentation, but maybe that's just me.
How are your gardens coming along? Does the cold but sunny weather get you ramped up or keep you inside?