Potatoes, Carrots, and FROST!

Our last frost date in North Central Florida is sometime around February 23rd. The Farmer's Almanac is usually the most reliable indicator of this event and is the standard by which all the old-timers here plant the first crops of spring. We are not old-timers. Still, we have enough appreciation for the results that we have seen in some of these folks' gardens to follow the advice and pray for an increase. So far we have been well pleased with the results. Even now we are in high hopes that there will be enough cool weather left to help the newly planted carrots, raddishes and potatoes grow a decent crop. We have been concerned that we waited too long and the hot weather would soon overcome our efforts, but true to the Almanac, we are now having a slight cooling trend that should help get these first crops off to a good start! We are thankful. Below I will try and post a few pictures from our homely garden.

Above is a shot of the wide row method we use. Below is how we covered the rows to keep the weeds down while warming the soil for early planting.



This is a shot of the Master Gardeners at work digging the double-dug beds!

Here is a fine shot of just how deep these beds are before the raking and smoothing, the bed is also dug and turned some 2 feet below the pile.

The logs that are lying around are left over firewood we are using to help keep the row covers on.

We have decided to go with the wide row, deep till method and are hoping for better results than the square-foot method we have previously attempted. One thing is for sure with this method, there can be no excuse for the carrots and other root crops not to grow plenty with all the depth they should have. We have been composting in our home-made tire stacking system for a while, and have also added plenty of organic manure/compost. We are using a cheaper brand than the popular Black Kow brand, but at $1.23 a bag, we are satisfied. We also added a small amount of blood-meal and bone-meal to each row/bed and will follow-up with some diluted fish emulsion as a regular feeding when needed. We are really battling with two issues here in our small patch of the world; one is the philisophical need to limit outside inputs to our homestead, and two, is figuring out how to keep the sand that we are so blessed with here, in decent moisture/nutrient range with just the 'stuff' that we produce. We are not experts at either end, but I can say that we are making good effort. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, is wasted here. We save every scrap and trimming from kitchen to chicken yard. The occasional hay that we scatter for the chickens is the base of our compost and the litter from both the chicks and the rabbits is thourougly mixed in and the whole mess is thrown into the first of 3 stacks of tires. After a couple weeks, we pull each tire down, one at a time, (my back appreciates this method), and move it to stack #2 if ready. By the time this makes it into the third stacker, it is showing some good progress and usually takes a good month before it has turned into that miraculous mass that we gardeners love so much. As for the amendments that we have brought in this year, we figure that with time, more compost, and the wide rows, raised beds and deep-till method, our soil will become a little more acceptable. We try to remember what another blogger once wrote about this fine art of cultivation, that it matters not one bit if you are male or female, American or otherwise, you will get out of the soil, exactly what you put into it. Of course, as christians we see the limits of this thought, but the general premise still holds. We have taken some comfort in the simple fact that we are at least involved with the process. I am sure that there will be mistakes made and lessons learned along the way, but at least we are confident in knowing that there is real truth in this idea. There is so much more to God's grace than mankind realizes! I shudder to think of how much man will answer for in over-looking the simple, every day forms of mercy and kindness that He has bestowed on this world. Even the simple fact of seed germination is a blessing for all of mankind. It truly doesn't matter if you are a Christian, or the most ardent pagan, God in His grace and mercy, has so ordered the events of this world, by His express will, that every being is given the same starting place in terms of this effort. I, for one, am thankful that He has allowed, a boy from the inner-city this kindness of rediscovering the benefits and trials of living this way.