This picture was taken through a window, hence the glare. But it's a photo of a new garden, or what I hope will end up being a new garden next spring.
I have happily discovered Charles Dowding and his no-dig gardening methods. His idea is that if you lay a few inches of good compost on top of the existing soil, that's all that is needed; the worms will come up to find it, and carry it down through. According to him, you just cause more weeds to grow when the soil is disturbed by so much digging. So, what I did here is lay a very large piece (the same size as my little garden!) of cardboard about a foot away from my existing garden and some newspaper on top. (The wind began to blow, so I didn't put down as much as I'd intended.) Then, compost on top. I'll put more down as early in spring as I can and see what happens. He says the soil won't be terrific right away, but things will get better each year, and I'm certainly willing to try it.
On another note, I was outside today - November 24th - in my flip flops, scattering some triple phosphate on my roses and other shrubby things around the yard. It was in the sixties! And on Wednesday we are to expect at least six inches of snow. New England.
Hi, Lisa! It is hard to believe you will receive six inches of snow! With today's weather as warm as it was, the surfaces will not be very cold at first. Perhaps that will keep conditions from being too bad.
ReplyDeleteI must share your gardening method with my husband. We do have our own compost, though the red clay that is so common around here just seems to overtake it when it is added to our vegetable garden.
I did make some headway in the kitchen today. Our family begins arriving on Wednesday! Hopefully there will be no snow to create driving problems. We've a chance of flurries on Thanksgiving morning.
I send along wishes for a blessed Thanksgiving to you and yours.
I've heard of doing that with layers of newspaper. I'll be interested to see how it goes for you. I don't see why it wouldn't work, though.
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