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.

Summer gardening roundup

It was really tough not having my own space this summer, and not having the money to set anything up at my new place... But, I scrounged together some cash and threw some plants in the dirt.

I started with putting down cardboard on the area that I wanted to use for my first few beds, and I held it down with potted plants. After a couple months the grass stopped trying to fight back and the cardboard lay flat on the ground. By then I had a bit of money, and I bought a cedar board that was on sale at Homely Despot, got them to cut it into lengths, and got some cheap corner hardware to put it all together. Then I filled the center with some hay from my dad, a bag of composted manure, and a couple bags of cheap dirt from the grocery store garden center. It didn't quite fill the box, but I mounded it up on one side and used the other side to trench-compost some kitchen veggie scraps.

Thrifty garden goodness- pea pod soup

Pea Pod Soup

Ingredients
a colander's worth of empty pea pods (use fresh pods from your garden)
water
1 large onion
1 large or 2 small potatoes
a handful of fresh mint leaves (from your own garden if possible)
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
garnish with chopped green onions and/or cream or yoghurt