I’m Baaaaaackkk :)

Ok so it has been quite awhile since I posted here on my blog! I was hoping to keep the blog going during the winter with some yummy healthy organic recipes but a lot has been happening for me! To start, I got lost in my art over the past year which has been amazing and led to a NEW JOB as an artist at Painting with a Twist! So my winter blog updates had to take a back seat.  But today I got my hands back in the dirt and I am over the top excited about this season of gardening which will be my third year here at my house with the raised beds.  Heres a look at what I have been up to!

So first off this is one of my raised beds that I covered up for the winter.  I researched a way to ORGANICALLY sanitize my beds and I found that by covering the beds with plastic, it acts as a sort of sauna for the dirt. With the sun beating down, it heats up the soil and kills the harmful bugs and bacteria, but keeps the good organisms.  Awesome!! I truly hope this worked because from what I read about the nasty squash vine borer that invaded my zucchini last year, they can survive through the winter!!  This process is very simple.  All you need are these two items and you can sanitize your beds!

Today I uncovered the beds and began the process of cleaning them up, weeding them and loosening the soil to allow for the new roots to easily attach themselves into the ground.  I have been saving my recent kitchen scraps and threw them in the soil for some added nutrients.  Since I wont be planting most of my stuff for another few weeks, the scraps will have time to break down in the soil.  I hope to get my compost pile going this summer! I topped the old soil with some fresh organic soil.

My long standing rule is to never plant before mother’s day because of frost.  But lettuce is a cool climate crop and can withstand the cold so I got some at the farmers market yesterday and stuck it in.  It is a romaine, speckled romaine, and a lettuce mix.  I just have my tomatoes from seed that I saved from last summer that I will get in the ground soon. The rest I will get seedlings from my favorite vendor at the farmers market-Hatties Garden!

Thanks for looking and I hope I have inspired you to start a garden yourself or if you already have one, get thinking about what your game plan is for this season.  I will update as I move along in the process.  Feel free to email me with any questions! Happy planting!