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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

March Garden

March is half over and we need to start getting things in the ground.  Which means that we have to prepare the ground to be more than a sinking mud hole.  I randomly discovered in Family Handyman magazine that a great way to help clay soil is to add crushed shale or other fine rocks back into it.  Apparently this helps aerate the soil and allow the plants to get their roots moving.  Sounds good to me, and our local greenhouse sells exactly that.  (Go figure that they would know what to do with red clay.  I should have asked last fall!)

So today we put together the raised bed (the 5-year-old and I did this), and filled it with top soil and composted manure.


Then we added a soil improver (rocks) and leaf compost to the established beds and tilled it in.  I think we are going to need more.  At least two beds seem more clay than anything.



And now the garden is starting to look fertile. 

Gotta love the dirty work!

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