Expansion...

I've talked before about the grand expansion plans for this year.  

They have finally come to fruition...

The apples have blossomed!

Tuesday and Wednesday lent perfect opportunities for the finishing of the projects.  

Warm, but not hot, and sunny with lots of light fluffy clouds made for perfect heavy duty work weather.  

We first got all the cardboard that the high winds had moved all around and placed them back on the bottom of what would become the new garden.  

I put W. on the task of  watering the cardboard...why? 

First I wanted it weighed down so that it would stay put while I finished loading the compost onto it.  

Second, I wanted it wet so that it would hold moisture and decompose quickly while providing a lovely barrier to kill off grass and weeds that were working their way up.  

He did a great job.  

While W. did his task, I turned the compost heap.  

I hadn't done this task since I mucked out the chicken coop.  

The top foot was rich in worms (and chicken guano.)  

Under that, was rich thick moist, earthy smelling, compost.  

I filled bucket after bucket of it and poured it upon the cardboard.  W. was put in charge of spreading it with a hoe.  

From top left clockwise: (small bed) potatoes, the new large garden, (bottom) the herb garden, (small, far left) lettuce, beets, spinach, peas and carrots.

Once the bed was filled and spread, we pushed some of it aside to create walkways through  the garden.  In the first strip we planted red and yellow onions.  

We use so many onions through the year so we figured plant lots (as in 150 sets.)  

Also, we had some rogue garlic pop up from last year's crop.  I pulled them up gently, and then replanted them in neat little rows.  

The potatoes went in as well into one of the beds built last fall.

The kids loved the idea of blue fingerlings.

We planted red, white, and blue potatoes W. found at the grocery store.

They were overpriced, but I figure for $3.99, we'll get lots of little yummy potatoes.

My rhubarb has decided after 3 years of not bolting, to try and bolt every day.  

Every morning I go out and pull out yet another attempt.  

Yikes! 

What does this mean for the season if even the 

rhubarb can't make it to May?

During all this we had botany lessons about the food cycle (from food to compost (side loop into chicken food and eggs to compost) to worm food or bacterial food to soil (plant food) to things we eat) and the water cycle.  We also talked about underground plants and above ground plants.  

So much can be fit into every day life.