Tired!

I am so tired today!  Yesterday I unloaded 2 truckloads of compost and 1 truckload of sand.  I should have done the sand first because it is a lot heavier than compost!  All of this in preparation for my garden.  My neighbor is supposed to come today and disk up the ground so it will be easier for me to till.

So, how do you prepare your soil for gardening?  The first thing you need to do is a soil test.  You can take a sample and mail it in or you can buy a cheap little test from Home Depot or Lowe's.  It will not be as detailed but it will do the job.  Once you have the results you can move on to amending the soil.

Our soil here has a lot of clay and it is acidic.  For the acidity, I add lime.  To amend the clay, I added leaf mulch, composted horse manure and sand. 

Once your soil is amended it's time to till.  You will get the best results from ground that is tilled as deep as you can get it.  This will loosen all of the hard ground and make it easier for your plants to thrive.  Once tilled you will have to go through and pull out any grass and weeds.  You want to be as thorough as you can in this step because the more you do now, the less you will have to do later.  And later....it's going to be really hot!!

I usually do not plant until after April 15 but I have decided that I will plant on any sunny day after the garden is prepared.  Last year we had so much rain that I thought I would not have a garden at all!

Are you trying your hand at gardening this year?  If you don't have a lot of land to garden, use a small part of your flower bed and just plant 1 or 2 items that your family really enjoys.  You can also try container gardening.  You will be amazed at how much money you can save on tomatoes with the purchase of just 1 plant.