I will be doing a vegetable, herb, and flower garden in the yard outside my house, on the westside of oly. We just moved in at the end of December, and there is an established garden bed. Empty and dead at the moment. It is 36 ft long and 12 ft wide. Sort of a half-oval shape. Pretty flat, long ways runs north/south. The soil is soft and dark brown like 70% cacao content chocolate. There is some sand visible in it. The ground feels firm to walk on and comes up easily when I dig around with my hands. I can sort of see where the last garden rows are, strawcovered, as wide as the beds. Some leftover kale and chard. A dead mullein stalk and 4 more 1st year plants. Some strawberrys, roses, bulbs with leaves out. A couple dandelions and some moss. Tags left in ground: tomato, pansy, dill, candy tuft, cilantro, laurentia(perennial), irishmoss ground cover, Bellis perennis (red picture?)(perennial), dianthus(annual), sanguinea, anemone mona lisa(perennial), chrysanthemum(tag from a house plant?). According to the owner of our house, the property has been organic for (at least) 20 years, since she bought it. Good to hear, I always wonder what kinds of chemicals previous dwellers have used on the land.
Some things im thinking of planting, I don’t know if all are possible yet, these are just plants we use often:
Chamomile
Strawberrys
Lemon balm
Basil
Oregano
St J wort
Arnica
Calendula
Lavender
Mugwort
Borage
Astragalus
Cabbage –lots for sauerkraut
Corn –for fun and for temporary privacy
Carrots -
Kale –to have in winter
Winter squash –to store for winter
6 march moonday----->
the tools i need are pretty basic, shovel, hose, watering can, rake, hoe, seeds...
i will be using compost from the bin that was already built here when we moved in.
i plan to hand water, its a small space and i can do it with my lil guy.
i usually try to garden somewhat according to the moon phases and signs (ie plant during waxing moon water and earth signs, flowers when moon in libra or maybe taurus, plan/weed/ clean up/etc during waning and fire and air moons, harvest during virgo or air signs, roots during waning moon, etc, etc) but i am not super attached to it, if it is too much stress i just do it when i have time. i guess i could say that i just keep awareness of the moon and other astrological happenings in relation to the garden. and everything else in my life really.
it is tempting for me to get super involved in huge plans and ideals and philosophies in growing plants in this space, but i know that i need to start simple for now. in the past i have gotten too complicated from the beginning, so that i become overwhelmed and end up not doing much of anything. so my challenge is to keep it small and simple and try new things in manageable doses.
