The planning and preparing of our first garden at Quail Run is something I have enjoyed and anticipated very much. I decided to use an area that had previously been pasture, it was already fenced and cleared of sage brush, making our work a little easier, all it needed was a plowing.
Dadzoo, tilling the virgin pasture
It is a good size area too, maybe about an eighth of an acre, perfect for a good size kitchen garden. I am planning on using a cover crop for about a forth of the space, rotating and using the cover crop as a green manure to keep the fertility high, in an attempt to keep the garden “organic”.
Boo planting the cabbage patch
Little baby cabbage, of the green variety
Little baby cabbage of the purple variety
Beets
Little bitty carotts, just coming up
Early in the season we planted a few early vegetables, ones that can handle freezing temperatures: cabbage, beets, carrots and onions. They have been slow to come up, spring has been rather cold and dry making things a bit sluggish.
Onion hoop house
With the amount of critters we have running around the place, specifically quail, we covered the garden beds with a light row cover, to keep the birds from eating my seeds, and the jack rabbits from eating the new little seedlings.
Cabbage, carrots and beets all tucked in and ready to germinate
Over the onions I made a little hoop house, in the past I have learned (the hard way) that onion seedlings don’t like anything laying on top of them, they die when that happens.
For everything else I just lay the cover on top.
This weekend we will started planting the warm season vegetables, as the threat of frost has past. I am so excited to plant and harvest and preserve enough to last a year, this something I have been dreaming about for years!