Starting a new garden bed

A garden is nothing without a good foundation, and that foundation is the soil. Soil has its own complicated ecosystem from worms and beetles on down to tiny, nearly-microscopic filaments of fungi and bacteria. As with anywhere on earth, a healthy ecosystem is essential for optimal growth and health.

In my backyard the soil is a heavy clay over a base of sand. It barely grows grass in some places. But, if you build it they will come... The raised bed that I put in last summer is nearly overflowing with worms, and centipedes are fairly common, too, much to my husband's chagrin. It started off life as a lasagna garden, with a base layer of cardboard boxes recycled after the move, a couple bags of dirt from the grocery store garden center, and some trench-compost piles. Now there's enough good dirt to grow short-ish carrots, and my herbs are taking off. The bed isn't very large because it takes a fair input of cash to start that way, with the boards and hardware to attach the corners. I used two un-treated cedar deck planks and cut them down to a rectangle.

Kitchen sink stew

Kitchen Sink Stew


Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 leek or small onion
• 2 Tbsp flour or thickener of your choice (I use tapioca flour)
• Enough stock to cover the contents of your pot
• 1 cup beans, fresh or tinned (kidney, lima, etc.)
• 1 cup chopped, cooked meat (optional)
• 4-5 cups chopped vegetables of your choice- whatever you have in season in your garden- kale, carrots, beans, potatoes, etc.
• Salt and pepper
• Mixed culinary herbs- fresh or dried to taste (dill tastes good with fish, rosemary tastes good with everything else, but I like to put in a bit of parsley, sage and thyme as well).
• Milk or cream (optional)