Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

Who was it said, life is what happens when you're making plans? Lennon?
True for the garden.

Wind started picking up again, just above freezing, so I'm pretty much done
in the garden for today. Chilly wind doesn't agree with me, haven't had a
sinus cold in three years but can't afford to take a chance. Maybe we're
zone 5, hard to tell with weather so unpredictable. March was too warm, but
great for getting the new garden beds ready. With this kind of (alleged)
soil it needs amending with local manure and alfalfa meal, and building up
in wood frames instead of digging down. 

At this point we have cool weather crops starting in some of the beds, red
onion sets, bok choy, italian heirloom turnips, golden beets, italian
chard, and lots of garlic, comfrey, and walking onions planted last fall.
All heirlooms. Discovered some comfrey seed in our seed boxes so we'll try
planting that right away. Never tried it from seed. 

We've done permanent beds before but this year with the new garden we move
on to succession and relay planting with permanent mulch no-till. Those
turnips, beets, garlic and onions can be planted all at once,  first spring
and then fall, since they keep long enough to harvest all at once and sell
over a period of time. Those cool crops should be done in time to get
summer transplants set out in the same beds during the last half of May. As
the peppers, squash, cukes and melons mature (again, all heirlooms) we
expect to set out cool fall crops among them, again all in the same beds.
Peppers and melons are a little trickier to sell as they're harvested, but
winter squash keeps so it can be sold all along in fall (or eaten, like
delicata or Lakota). We're still trying to figure how carrots can be worked
into the schedule. Scarlet Nantes is our pick for flavor but may have to go
with quick maturing baby carrots this time. As for tomatoes, things are
conspiring against a new greenhouse. Without it tomatoes will have trouble
setting fruit with chilly nights and occasional high winds. 

paul tradingpost@lobo.net