2006 vegetable garden preparation

**forestdale** · 01-29-2006, 06:19 PM

I'm ready to start cleaning up my vegetable garden beds to plant in early March. Just four weeks to go.

I've had the chickens in the garden beds the past week. They're eating bugs, and hopefully their eggs too, they're scratching around and turning over the soil and adding small deposits of pure gold along the way. Generally you don't want new chicken poo on your plants as it burns, but small deposits like these don't do any damage. In the next day or two I'll rake out the area and tidy up the edges. Then DH is going to expand the bed right up to the fence line. We need new edging this year so we'll do that before we plant.

When do you start planting and what preparations do you do before planting.

**jlxian** · 01-30-2006, 10:59 AM

Do you do a "chicken tractor" (moveable pen) Rhonda or is your garden fenced in? We are seriously considering a chicken tractor if/when we finally get some birds.

Its still a little early here, even though it continues to be warm, to do much work in our garden. I did clean out some dead plants from a flower bed the other day, but I'm resisting the temptation to uncover too much. I know we will eventually get the cold weather we have been missing before spring finally gets here.

One thing that we could do, but I'd have to convince DH to do it, is till up our garden area to expose some insects to freezing temperatures (when it finally does get cold!)

**owiebrain** · 01-31-2006, 12:12 PM

I start seeds in the greenhouse in a couple of weeks. Could have started some a couple of weeks ago but life happens. LOL Outside planting for most things will be in April sometime. (I grow mostly warm season crops.)

To prep the garden, I need to take down last year's trellis fences, stakes, and tomato cages, etc, then clear away the old vegetation and weed. The weeds got out of control last year! Then I'll make any adjustments needed to my humped rows, toss on some compost, and loosen the soil (by hand) if necessary. I need to lay down more layers of cardboard in the paths and maybe top it with hay/straw if I have enough extra.

**missymomof3** · 02-02-2006, 02:01 PM

I have already started some seeds in the house but of course it is going to turn very cold this week. They are cherry tomatoes and some green peppers. Hopefull it will warm up enough in March to prepare an area for a large garden and I hope to plant in April a large variety of veggies.