Last Fall I posted about our little victory garden and that we were growing a winter cover crop of clover. Here is a recent photo now February. So it is time to harvest the clover.
We have been reading about growing cover crops for green manure. Basically what that means is we can either till this in the soil and wait 30 days or more or pull it up and put it in the compost bin and compost it and then add finished compost to this area.
So this is our cover crop before...
And after we pulled it up....
So we dug out some finished compost that has been composting all last year and we added it to our little plot.
We are tired of buying soil so this is what we are trying to do now.
This was tilled in and since it is February this will rest until planting time.
The front plot next to the fencing is our Pepper patch and the back will be cucumbers, at least that is our plan for now.
Our parsley has done well over the winter.
This is one of the winter turnips we pulled up today. We have a small patch that we grew because we did not know if they would make it.
We keep our turnips in a cage because the squirrels and chipmunks will eat them.
The fig tree is putting out and I have never known it to leaf during February.
Another thing we are doing is making our own leaf mulch. We read about this too so we are trying it because mulch and soil is expensive. So we purchased a blower that also mulches. Putting down whole leaves does not compost well so mulched leaves allows more oxygen to get into the soil. I hope I am saying this right.
I still have to finish weeding over here then put down the leaf mulch.
Also this is where the butt comes in....
After pulling the weeds and mulching.
Look at this picture with caution! I dress down for gardening. My old sweat pants and old lady body here and I have to tell you my husband and I had a good laugh about doing this post. He was taking the pictures of course. I did take some of his butt so I could blackmail him if needed.
I have a purpose for this picture... Ok, lets hurry and move past this!
Have you ever wanted to pull a weed but didn't dare to bend over in the yard for fear a neighbor or passer by would see your butt sticking up in the air?
My remedy since I am a gardener. I put an apron on backwards while out in the yard. I have my sweatpants on under this.
So when you are bent over digging in the dirt, butt up you got it covered!
This is a bib apron and the bib is tucked under there . This is my butt gardening tip for the day. :)
I keep a stool next to me to help me push up from the ground. I will be very sore tomorrow.
Just don't wear a white one with apples across your butt, I promise you it will make you look very W I D E. At least we had a good laugh making these pictures. :)
Grandma Donna