This weekend was a particularly productive one. With the recent purchase of a new tiller we are in a better position to make the most of the ground we have and to make shorter work of creating usable soil. That came in particularly handy when we chose the area for the large tomato bed that will be ready to plant at the same time that the seedlings will be ready for their new home.
We also transplanted a neglected arborvitae and the peach tree that John mentioned in his post before setting our sites on building another raised bed. As you can see by the clay and rock that surrounds the bed, the area was not very forgiving.
After the bed was built and filled lasagna-style with leaves, rotting trees, moss and soil, we began placing the onions sets purchased for $.99/lb last weekend while we were in Virginia.
The sets filled half of the 32 square foot bed leaving plenty of room for other things to share the space.
Before dark we checked in on the first raised beds and noticed that there were enough turnip greens for a nice complement to last night’s smoked chicken.
After John got in from work this afternoon we went out to get a few bags of manure / humus as the compost isn’t ready for use yet and we need to amend some soil in preparation for the planting of all the seedlings we’ve started. Little did I know that it would lead to a particularly sensitive moment for me when every soil and amendment product sold at our first destination was a Scott’s product or one that is owned by Scott’s.
I almost choked on the words when I said “let’s just get it”. John is the king of giving in to my various psychoses when it comes to gardening and homesteading and he never complains. For some reason the realization that it was difficult to find basic necessities like cow shit that didn’t go against what I stand for made me overly sensitive in that moment and my knee-jerk options were to give in or stand in the middle of a parking lot with tears in my eyes. Thankfully, John did as he commonly does and spoke up as the singular voice of reason.
We left the store.
Just a mile away we found another retailer that carries a brand that is produced and bagged right here in Alabama. We grabbed a few bags and headed for home with the knowledge of where any such future purchases will be made.
Potential crisis averted.
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Buying our tiller last year was one of our best purchases. It makes getting the garden ready so much faster! I’ve never eaten turnip greens before. Is it like beet or radish greens? Love those!
They’re similar to radish greens in that they are slightly spicy.
I feel your pain on the Scott’s brand stuff. Very hard to find something that isn’t made or owned by them. We have a local landscape supply company that makes their own filler specifically for raised beds. They wouldn’t tell me everything in it but assured me there were no chemicals of any kind added and that it it was mostly mushroom compost and composted tree bark. Wonderful stuff! And very cheap by the pickup truck load.
It pains me to have to purchase anything at all, but we got such a late start. As this is Year 1, we have to have a starting point, so some amendments have to be brought in from outside this year. After one season though, I feel confident that we won’t have to make these purchases again.
We initially bought filler for our 4 raised beds when we first constructed them right after we moved here. Now that we’ve been on the Ol’ Homestead for almost 4 years, there’s very little we buy. We do buy some potting soil for seed starting and potting up houseplants now and then. Otherwise, we have our own compost mounds to supply soil amendments.
You are lucky you were able to find something. I am having a terrible time finding non Scotts products. Next weekend I am heading out to a nursery and I’m hoping to find something there.
Glad it all worked out for you. Sometimes it is just HARD, trying to live with some conviction and purpose. And if you do have a misstep, the best thing is just to pick yourself up and keep trying. It does help when you have someone beside you, willing to support you when you waver. Baby steps lead to bigger steps and independence! As a mother with one college student and two teens living at home, I try my best to get them to reuse, recycle, eat organic…but then they go to school, and it all goes out the window (I think). And yes, sometimes, I get lazy *gasp* and pick up something at the local grocery instead of waiting for the weekend to drive (40 minutes) to our co-op. I can’t beat myself up over it, or I would just quit altogether…