Chop Wood Carry Water Plant Seeds is a blog about Self-Sufficient Homesteading. How can we live by creating a sustainable bio-diverse world, instead of by consuming and destroying the only one we have? What kind of teaching have you got if you exclude nature?

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Mulching the raised beds and my Gardening Mantra

It started being very hot and the water in naked soil evaporates fast when exposed to hot sun so I decided its time to cover the raised beds which are planted with a thin layer of hay just to shade it a bit. I did not apply too thick of a layer because the sprouting plantlets need some light and space to grow through the hay. This method will protect the seedlings from direct sun which can easily burn them. Even if the soil is only lightly covered the hay does provide partial shade which helps keeping the soil moist. Once the plants are a bit bigger I will apply a much thicker layer of hay.
The first bed is covered with hay and contains Onions. The second bed is Carrots and is covered with fleece which protects from the Carrot Fly. Next bed in the same line are Beetroots (covered with hay) and another one with Parsnip.

The other part of the garden is organised other way around so;
the last bed to the left is Fava Beans then Sarpo Mira potatoes which are resistant to potato blight, in the same bed behind them is naked soil where the rest of beans and peas will be sawn, then the next bed are Strawberries in the cage made from chicken wire to protect them from birds, behind it is an empty space with naked soil which will be planted with Freeland Cucumbers, then there is a long white fleece covering 2 beds with Swedish Turnip (Kålrot) and normal Turnip (Majrova), next is a bed with partially planted Purple Kale and behind it there is place for the pre-cultivated Broccoli, Kale, Turnips which are at the moment inside the greenhouse. The next bed is planted with a sort of potato we have no name for. Next to it along the fence is a very early sort of Peas called Norli.

At the very back is a triangle part of the garden where Squash and Pumpkins are planted and covered partially with fleece and partially with hay.

I still have to find space for Chard (Mangold) and some more Lettuce and Spinach which I've already planted into raised beds on a different location on this property.

I'm planning to plant Beans and Peas tomorrow so will place them into a glass with water overnight. This way they sprout much more easily.

I made up my gardening mantra which I recite while planting endless seeds :) and it goes like this;

"Seed by seed the life will start
The shining Sun will do its part.

The falling rain will do its too
So the wretched human might have its stew"


Stay tuned more to come :)

1 comment:

  1. I have very fun now after the long winter and I can see I´m not alone :-)

    ReplyDelete