My first goal has been to fortify my soil as well as mulch what I can, as organically as possible, so that I am not weeding on hot summer days instead of hanging out at the beach or by the pool with my family and friends. Before I did so I had to decide how I was going to deal with the weeds I already had taking over.
I am not a recreational tiller. I think people believe tilling is something they need to do every year but in fact it is not. It can be very damaging the your soil structure and the beneficial microorganisms in it. With this in mind, I decided to pull the weeds, mostly clover, from two areas of the garden and cover the other few with landscape paper. The clover being smothered into the soil will add nutrients and I can cut the paper where I want to plant during the next few weeks.
While I was pulling the weeds I noticed I had some wireworms in my beds. If you don't know what they are, you are very lucky! When I planned my garden a few years ago, there was only lawn. We tilled it and removed a lot of rocks and grass but alas we still were working with what used to be lawn. Wireworms love lawns! And since I was still providing them with something to eat, last year it was my potatoes, they decided to stay. Just to see how bad my problem still is, I put out several traps of cut potato. The issue doesn't seem quite as bad a last year but I still need to figure out an alternative for my potatoes until they are gone. Once they are there, there's not much you can do besides wait for them to leave and stop giving them something to eat. I am hoping next year they will be out!
I also decided that the wood mulch I used on my paths wasn't sufficient. I had strawberries plants coming out my ears this year (about 200!) and most of them had started in my mulch walkways. After giving away over 50 baby plants to friends, I cleaned up some cardboard from our recycle bins and secured it with landscape staples then covered it with straw.
Finally, I started all of my plants; except for my corn. I am using a different approach this year. Instead of keeping them indoors, I am starting them in planters and pots on my very sunny back porch and then covering them at night with a clear storage container if it's going to be cool. This way I am hoping to avoid any hardening off issues but also I will conserve my efforts to the seeds and seedlings until they are ready to be transplanted. I usually plant my seeds directly in the garden but I find it'll be more efficient to take care of them this way instead of being so spread out.
For perennials, I started mint and lemongrass. And for my annuals, I planted Kohlrabi, Delicata squash (fantastic raw, by the way!), basil, cilantro, two varieties of pumpkin, zucchini, shallots, peas, fennel, tomato, broccoli, purple onions (from my own saved seeds) cucumber, melon, Calendula, sunflowers and viola.
As for what I put in the garden already, as you saw already I transplanted MANY strawberry plants, I planted some rhubarb plants and was so happy to see that my sage survived the winter and is growing beautifully already. I have more edible perennials coming in a few weeks from Food Forest Farm and am really excited to get those planted!
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