Spring has sprung(forgive the cliche) and it is time to begin this year’s garden. If you’re like me you got off to a late start as per usual. Thinking through the things I need to complete to make this year’s gardening a success I’ve come up with my annual ‘to-do’ list.

The first thing on the agenda is to uncover the garden plot and get the ground loosened up a bit. I am trying something new this year because last year my in-ground vegetables didn’t do so well. I am double-digging the entire plot. For those of you that are wondering, double digging is digging down one depth of a shovel, moving that, and then digging a second depth(hence the name!) to loosen soil deeper down.

My second plan for this year is to add some organic matter into the soil, probably peat moss, depending on what is available. This will encourage biodiversity in the soil and help with overall yield. Another huuuuge benefit of adding this material is it will loosen up the soil again, not only to increase yields on root crops but also to bring me closer to the desired loamy soil type.

A few reasons why I want loamy soil

1. it will break the soil up and prevent it from getting compacted as easily, great for root growth
2. it will prevent the soil from crusting on the top. This crust that forms can cause water and nutrients from above to just run off, negating any benefits from top dressing with compost, as well as encouraging the soil to dry out too much which we know is a bad thing for obvious reasons
3. it retains water for longer, but yet drains very well. Meaning, you can get the best of both worlds, no root rot but still moist enough to sustain the plants

The seeds have been started, admittedly late, but that’s OK. They will still have plenty of time to germinate by the first part of May when I plan to plant the garden. That is when it is warm enough to plant seedlings directly into the soil. The varieties we chose this year are mostly heirloom varieties because we want to get started saving our seeds. This is the second year we’ve started the seeds in a small plastic zip-up greenhouse. It’s just big enough to plant all of what we would need, and fits on the porch very well! It’s far less messy than starting and keeping the seeds inside and still protects from the frost. Our climate is just warm enough for the temps not to be an issue, but your mileage may vary.