Starting new garden

[Steve Foss]

Yeah, me too. Gardening is hard enough work as it is. Why not take the easy way out when it's also good for the garden, is my philosophy.

I will add for those who don't know it that when mulching garden plants with grass clippings it's a good idea to keep the clippings a little ways away from the new plant stalks. As the grass decomposes it heats up, and can cause tender new plant stalks to rot.

[glenn57]

and i agree with what evetone else said.

[Early Riser]

Raised beds do warm up quickly but also tend to dry out faster. If you plant any distance from the house or well you may want to consider ground plots. In my vegetable garden I lay out a latice of boardwalks creating a matrix of individual plots that are easy to work. A wire fence around the entire perimeter keeps out the rabbits.

Also consider saving all your fish remains to bury between the plots. I dig out spots for the remains under the boards so the critters and crows don't dig them out. As the plant roots reach them later in the summer a real boost seems to occur. I also make "fish juice" by letting remains set in a pail of water for day or so and then water my tomatoes, squash and peppers with this throughout the growing season. This also seems to provide a real boost to your yeild. The fish remains can then be burried. My dad can't stand the smell of fish and wondered about all this imparting a flavor to the vegetables. He has eaten a lot of produce from my garden over the years without a hint of fishyness.

For a new garden be sure to spend a lot of time weeding and improving your soil by adding a spot for kitchen waste like egg shells, coffee grounds and vegetable matter. You can turn this all season for fishing worms, and to create a rich soil that will improve your garden every year. All the fish scales and bones will also help create some loam over the years, but be carfull when working by hand because the bones can be pretty sharp until they break down a bit.