Planning for next year

The butternut squash volunteer I wrote about yesterday taught me that deer and rabbits don't seem to bother that particular plant, so I'm going to grow some of them on purpose next year -- outside the fenced area.

This is where it will happen, and I decided to start the bed prep now. That will give the organics several months to break down and start making this clay soil something a squash can really love.

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I've already got a little bit growing outside the fence. Garlic chives, rosemary, epazote, onions:

All stuff that the critters don't like to eat. The more edibles I can grow outside the fence, the better.

The first step is to clear the lawn:

Note that I didn't say "turf" or "grass", as my lawn is a mixture of lots of different stuff. Some would call it weedy. I call it "diversified".

Here's another view:

Okay, now what? Organics! Dump on the compost/manure mix:

Then spread it out:

Then do a quick turning to get some of it deeper into the soil:

I wasn't going to bother turning, but I just couldn't leave the heavy soil alone. I had to loosen it up a bit. Since I won't be planting in it for another 5 months or so, no point in breaking things up too much yet.

Look at all of that room!

It's actually only about 40 square feet at most, but considering the volunteer squash had only one square foot of unamended ground to grow in, I'm pretty excited about this.

I'll probably dump another load of compost/manure mixture in late winter and do a more thorough turning of the soil then.

I've never prepared a planting bed six months early before. 2013 is going to be a good year for edibles!

Are you preparing for next year's garden yet?

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