Fresh Ginger

Things will look a little different in the back yard this year. When we decided to take the house off the market this winter, we decided to make the backyard a mini farm, minus the sheep. We have big plans that will take a while to accomplish, but the first phase of those plans begins tomorrow. Raised beds! We are rearranging the yard to accommodate the shining sun at it’s best and are gong for high production with 10 4×4 raised beds. The compost/soil mixture is arriving via truck tomorrow morning. Half of the beds are built and ready to go.

Of course the lawn still looks scrappy from winter, but that will change soon. Now we can actually get out there and do some yard work now that spring has sprung. Can you tell what the darling BF has covered up with the trellis? Yes, we got Satellite TV this winter. The cord still needs to be buried. We will be planting climbing flowers on the trellis. The birds and squirrels seem to like the change.

We plan to take down the garage with it’s failing, leaking roof and put up a small storage shed instead and use the existing cement floor for a roofed over patio. A small 8×6 green house will eventually be added on too, to help elongate the growing season. The remaining chain link fence will be yanked out and replaced with wooden privacy fence so that we can not always feel like we are in the city. Chickens, yes, we are hoping to have a few chickens for eggs and it appears that the city ordinance might allow for that. No roosters! We don’t want to make the neighbors upset or wake up to early ourselves.

First though, the soil must arrive. I just started planting some seeds in our indoor greenhouse. We converted our dining room with it’s Southern sun and big windows to a seed prep area and brought the full spectrum lights from their winter room downstairs (to keep all the herbs alive over the winter) to the dining room. I have the electric blanket on the table with a table cloth on it to work as a heating mat as these seeds need 70-80F to properly germinate and thrive. I am about 1 month behind on the seed planting, but it took me a while to get organized. Next year, I can do it all in the green house.

Compost pile – we already have a good one going, but this pile will be composting all of our yard waste soon too, not just kitchen scraps. It will supply us with the nutrients we need for our garden plants.

So, the process is underway, the thinking about it was the easy part, now it is time to get our hands dirty!

Maybe the cats will help us!

i’m out