The Modern Victory Garden

It was drizzling rain this morning, so I spent several hours in the shop making progress on the planting jig construction project.    Last week, I completed the 2-inch planting jig, which was the prototype of the design.   Today, I completed most of the assembly of the 3-inch, 4-inch, and 6-inch planting jigs.   They need to sit over night now to let the glue dry and set before I can complete them by attaching the handles on the back.   I did change one thing with these 3 planting jigs from the first one I constructed.   I went up to a 5/16th inch dowel pin, which is a little bigger and should make a larger hole impression in the soil.   I used a 5/16th drill bit to widen the holes in the pegboard where the dowel pins would fit.   That worked very well.   Easy to drill and the pegs fit in quite snugly.   Here’s the 6-inch planting jig - fully assembled with the exception of the handle attachment.  

By the time I wrapped up with the project work in the shop, the rain had stopped and the sun was making a partial appearance.   Took advantage of the break in the weather and got a start on some early spring bed prep work.   There are several beds with a green manure crop of crimson clover growing in them that need to be turned over in the next few weeks, in order that the plant material can sufficiently decompose prior to planting up the beds.   I like to get this done at least six weeks before I expect to be planting up a bed.   Most of the early crops are scheduled to be planted in mid March, so the green manure crop needs to be turned over by the end of January.   It’s not that hard to turn over crimson clover, but I have enough area planted up in it that I try to break it up over a period of several sessions to avoid over doing and hurting my back in the process.   I have one big 40 foot long by 4 foot wide bed that will need to be turned over.  

And I have a 12 foot by 4 foot wide bed that needs to be turned over as well.   The back most portion of the bed has compost on it instead of the green manure crop, because it had cabbages growing in it until very late in the fall and missed being planted with crimson clover as a result.   I decided this bed was the better one to get started with today.       

I use a garden fork and just turn a fork full of the clover and soil over on itself – such that the roots and soil are facing up and the vegetation is turned down into the dirt.   I work my way down one side of the bed.      

And then I work down the other side until it is completed.                      

In about two weeks, I will need to come back to this bed and use a hoe on it to cultivate the top few inches and chop up the few clover plants that will manage to get roothold and attempt to grow again.   Using a green manure crop reduces the amount of compost I have to use each year to add organic matter to the soil.   Given the number and size of beds that I have in the garden, if I were to use strictly compost I would have to have a huge compost making operation to keep up with it.   By using a combination of compost and green manure crops, I keep my garden sufficiently replenished with organic matter without having a monumental sized compost system set up. 

While I was out in the garden, I also did bed prep on the adjacent bed to the one I just turned the cover crop over in.   I added a thin layer of finished compost and then emptied out old potting soil from containers into the bed and raked it smooth.                                                           

I use potting soil in containers for at least two years, rejuvenating it with the addition of compost and organic fertilizers.   However, after several years of use, I recycle it into the garden beds and replace the container soil with a fresh mix.   I had several containers that had old soil mix in them that I have been holding through the winter with the intention of adding to the garden beds this spring.   Both the 12 foot by 4 foot beds are now initially prepped for spring.     

Before they are planted up, I will use the broad fork to aerate them and will also broadcast a general-purpose organic fertilizer over the beds.   For now though, they are basically prepped for the season.   I have lots more to go over the course of the next several weeks.   First priority will be to turn over that large 40-foot bed of crimson clover.   I will need to break that up into several work sessions.   If it does not rain tomorrow, I will try and get one part completed then.               

Have a dinner engagement to attend this evening; so no harvesting was done today.   Well, I should say that I did not “intentionally” harvest anything today.   During the course of turning over the crimson clover, I unearthed over 3 lbs of Butte potatoes!   This was one of the potato patch beds last year and (as usual) I managed to miss quite a few spuds when I harvested them last fall.   They overwintered in the soil nicely and are really good looking potatoes.   Probably have them for dinner tomorrow night.

I hope you are having a good weekend and managing to get some time in on some garden related projects.