Laying the Groundwork for Garden Beds

Trees, trees, beautiful, leafy trees!

What a gorgeous day!  Abundant sunshine, temperatures in the low 50s, a perfect, perfect day for working outside.  Most of the leaves have fallen, and my father-in-law has been kind enough to pile his excess (after he mulches his garden) for me.  The early morning was a bit too crisp so I cooked early, then the Resident Dragon and I bundled up for leaf hauling.

A leaf sweeper makes raking leaves a snap!

Last year's leaf hauling was quite an adventure (see "This Winter, 'Picture' Next Year's Garden") which involved pitching it fork by fork into a trailer (out of which I fell before the day was done).  This year, with help, and twice as many leaves, we utilized the tractor bucket for moving leaves from the ground into the trailer.  Five trailer-loads later, the leaves have supplied the following:

The last trailer load of leaves!

• 12" layer on three 25' garden strips (4' wide)
• 12" layer on two 30' garden strips (4' wide)
• mulched 8 fruit trees in the orchard
• mulched 6 hardwood trees in the yard
• mulched 10 blueberry bushes
• mulched 12 blackberry plants
• mulched 3 muscadine vines

And, there's probably a trailer-load of leaves yet to be swept up.  I see another day of leaf-hauling in my future!

Two passes with the tiller
should begin the composting process.

From left, blueberry bushes, blackberry
trellises, and muscadine trellises

I'm actually excited about the leaves because, as any reader of this blog knows, my dirt just needs help.    Any organic matter would be an improvement.  Last year, I didn't add leaves to the garden until late winter, so I hope to have several months of additional composting time on this year's leaf crop.

It seems sort of absurd to be thinking of next year when this year's garden has barely finished, but next year's garden will be better for this year's effort.

Come to think of it, most of life's good things result from work done well in advance of the good fortune.  Good choices reap long-term benefits.

In gardening or in life, you always benefit from (pun intended) laying the "groundwork."  I can't wait to see what comes up!

What's growing in your garden?

Nancy