Ready to Plant

Planting season has finally arrived. The probability of a frost is now less than 10% in this area (between Auburn and Sacramento), so we now have the green light to plant outdoors. I suppose we could have planted sooner except for the fact that the garden wasn't ready. The plot of land was selected, but covered with weeds. That all changed over the last week.

After attending a vegetable garden growing class at Eisley's Nursery in March, we were armed with information. Mr. Eisley provided recommendations on soil amendments and how to identify pests. Using his recommendations, we visited the nursury last Friday to purchase our supplies. Later that night we borrowed a rototiller and my husband tilled the plot until it was dark.

Saturday morning greeted me with many hours of raking and shoveling. I spent most of the day shaping the beds and walkways in preparation for amending the soil. Once the rows were complete, I spread out the amendments in these quantities:

25 lbs Dolomite Lime
15 lbs Gypsum
5 lbs Superphosphate

This amount covered 500 square feet of beds.

On Sunday, my husband made another pass with the rototiller to mix in the amendments. I then had to re-shape the beds and walkways, cleaning up the excess dirt and weeds. Over the past few nights I continued with the shaping while my husband started installing the irrigation. I think today may be the actual day of planting. The seedlings have been hardening off for the last couple of weeks. They suffered a little through the 90+ degree weather we had earlier in the week, but there was some rain last night and they look refreshed this morning.

I am so excited!!!!