What did you do in your garden today?

[FarmerJamie]

Picked a few peppers and taters to make stuffed peppers for dinner. Sampled a few sunchokes

 

[FarmerJamie]

Long story short, the stone engraving was free.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That's beautiful!!

 

[flowerbug]

dug a trench in a garden, then went down the middle of it another shovel deeper to help break up the hardpan layer that is down there from eons of farming compaction and no deep ripping at all ever that i've seen any evidence of, oh and they never seemed to grow cover crops either.

whenever i've done anything to the top of the subsoil layer (pretty much anyplace we have not brought in fill is all subsoil quality) there is very poor drainage so any organic material that is not held in place somehow will get washed away by any heavy rains or winds.

if i get a cover crop of alfalfa/birdsfoot trefoil going for a few years and cut it back once or twice a season and leave it there for the worms to get at between the worms and the plant roots i can get the top foot of an area to turn into really nice looking garden soil which is still heavy from all the clay yet it is really fertile and grows anything but root crops very nicely. tomatoes i've always had pretty good results even in the worst year i've had. i'd like to grow winter wheat and winter rye (the grains) so they can keep the weeds down and provide a nice cover crop through the winter but Mom does not like it so ...

all that said the trench got filled in with half the debris from the garden it is in plus some stalks from the neighboring lilies. the 2nd trench i dig (tomorrow or Saturday) i won't be going as deep. one of those is enough for my bod this week.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

dug a trench in a garden, then went down the middle of it another shovel deeper to help break up the hardpan layer

That sounds like a whole bunch of no fun at all! Glad you got it done though...