‘To Do’ Lists and Soil Prep
Contributed by Sheri White, Nourish Volunteer
What to do, what to do…
You may have your garden beds ready by now, but with all of the other things on our to-do lists, you may not have checked this item off yet. I enjoy watching Gardener’s World on Saturday mornings, and at the end of the show, the host always gives a list of chores to do for the weekend. I love this chore list because our season is much further behind the UK’s, so I can enjoy the inspiration of the list without being overwhelmed by it, as only some of the chores can be done here.
The benefit of a long to-do list is that it allows you to be like a butterfly and flit from chore to chore until they are done. The order of some things matters, but many tasks just need to get done before you start transplanting your seedlings or doing direct seeding. Over time I have learned that I achieve more by listing only three tasks that need to be accomplished. Even I can focus on three things.
As a relatively new gardener, I enjoy learning about other people’s gardening practices. I was fortunate enough to have Halifax gardener Elizabeth Peirce visit my garden last year. I was the lucky bid in an auction that included Elizabeth’s new book, Grow Hope: A Simple Guide to Creating Your Own Food Garden at Home, as well as a garden visit where Elizabeth could give me some recommendations and ideas on how best to utilize my space.
Based on that very informative visit from Elizabeth and her recommendations, I know that this year I will top up my beds with a triple mix of garden soil with the addition of manure and leaf mould. For extra nutrition, I will also add a mixture of kelp meal with bone and blood meal to each bed. And since I am in a pine tree area, I have acidic soil, so I’ll add some lime. I also use finely shredded blueberry bark mulch for my beds and add more of this each year, reducing the amount of water required once plants are established.
I’ve also been learning about healthy soil from podcasts and soil experts that I hear on the radio. I was interested to know that I don’t need to really disrupt my soil as I add these amendments. Soil is a busy place for the life we don’t always see, it holds bacteria, worms, beetles and fungi, and while we can add extra nutrients, we also need to let it be so that it can continue to teem with life, which is a great place to grow our food.