Spring And Fall Bed Preparation

I apply rotted cow manure in the fall and the following spring. The fall application allows the manure to work its way naturally into the ground using the rain, sleet, snow, and the freeze thaw of the winter. The manure feeds the roots over the winter. The spring application works its way into the snow via the spring rains and freeze thaw of the season. And gives the roots a fresh supply of manure to help them get ready for the growing season.

A friend sent this to me. I tend to get started before my neighbors. 

I buy the rotted cow manure as early as possible from the store. The frozen bags are easy to carry and don't make a mess in the car. I also buy this at the end of the season for the discount. If you do this, make sure you put them in an elevated place so they don't freeze to the the ground. 

I just fill up a bucket and walk around broadcast spreading it over all the beds. No fancy technique needed. I'm old school. I don't wear gloves. I just wash my hands afterward. 

From front to rear, peony sorbet, sedum, iris, coneflower, rudbeckia, horseradish

From front to rear, lily, coneflower, phlox, lily, asparagus

From front to rear, coneflower, lily, tree peony, phlox, blackberry red currant

From front to rear, stargazer lily, coneflower, rudbeckia, 

Flora Peno lily, coneflower area

From front to rear, coneflower, peony sorbet, rudbeckia, sedum areas

Side yard daffodil and coneflower areas

There is nothing fancy or complicated about this process. But root development is critical for good plants. You see the results, months later,  in the summer when the healthy plants are in full bloom. And the work is worth it. Happy Gardening !

It Begins - Bed Preparation - 03-24-2013

It's Spring, but we still have snow. It is not unusual for this area. I try to get some pre-work in whenever there is a break in the blah weather.

 I start to get the outdoor beds ready by clearing off the snow and covering them with plastic. The snow will melt and the beds will thaw faster.

Frozen raised bed. The black plastic on the bed helps absorb heat. A must in this area.

Covering with plastic. I use bent hoops made from old political signs.

See my post: http://backyardorganicgardener.blogspot.com/2012/11/politics-is-good-for-gardening.html

A partial bed ready to start thawing. The soil in the pots is frozen. The pots make great anchors.

It may be cold and snowy. but I can still plant lettuce seedlings in my hoop house!

Taking Advantage Of The Warm Weather - Getting Ahead Of Spring Things

The weather stayed above freezing so I spent a couple of hours in the garden trying to get ahead of next year's garden chores. It gets quite hectic when Winter breaks and the growing season goes full blast in the Spring.

I usually have about 200 plants growing in pots in addition to my beds. I grow beneficial flowers (nasturtium, marigold), tomatoes, peppers, and flowers (petunias, zinnias, coleus, and whatever extra things I have) in the pots.

I'm increasing the bed height of one of my beds by 6 inches. I spend a lot of my time on making good soil so I reuse last year's soil as much as possible.

I dump the contents of the pots into the empty bed. You can see a lot of the soil was frozen. I just pile it up. The natural freezing and thawing process will break the soil apart. You can see very heavy roots in the pots. Sometimes the roots prevent the soil from breaking apart over the Winter. I wait until the Spring to break it up with a shovel.

In the Spring I hand dig the soil and remove whatever vegetation didn't breakdown over the winter. I try to remove weeds now.  Less weeding next year!

One of my many stacks of pots. They are ready to go next year!