Planting a garden is a lot of fun, but a lot of work too. Every spring my husband prepares the soil with his rototiller. He'll till the garden area real deep and mix the soil with compost, which acts as a fertilizer. He works with it until it is rich and ready for planting.
Next comes the type of garden arrangement we want. Every year it's done differently. We usually have mounds for the zucchini, tomato and cucumber plants and mulch is added on top to keep the moisture in.
Petemoss is also used on top of the rows, which acts like a mulch. This helps keep the moisture centered mainly around the roots and provides for better root depth.
In California my husband has seen the farmers use rolls of plastic on their fields with holes where the plants are. He's also seen some people use newspaper as a type of mulch.
One year we had strawberries and my husband made a rectangular frame to plant them in. This just kept them in one area for growing. Then we'll go visit some nurserys together and buy packages of seeds and vegetable plants. We always buy tomato, zucchini and cucumber plants. Most anything else we plant from seed. The kids help us too, with planting. It's a lot of fun for them! It's a great learning experience for homeschooling.
Once the planting is finished, I go out every day and water. Regular maintenance is also necessary....pulling weeds, trimming back tomato plants, cutting off dead parts, thinning out plants. My husband keeps the rows and mounds in shape.
Come check out our flowers too!
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