Getting The Beds Started

On Saturday I took a drive up to the landfill for some compost (probably the highest point in the area by far). I borrowed a friends pick up, and found myself a little short handed with my tools. Ideally, a pitchfork would have been best for loading the bed with compost. Instead I had a rather dull spade shovel that didn't dig into the compost too well. I filled a little over half the bed with compost before realizing I was pooped.

Getting home I realized that I had just enough to fill only one of my raised beds close to the top. Being that I have another 2 or 3 beds filled, I now know what it will entail getting them filled.

Lesson learned: Filling the bed of the truck I have available to me will provide me with almost 2 beds worth of fill/compost. Bring a friend to help shovel.

I let the beds settle for a couple days, and probably could have let them set for another week, but my garden is behind schedule, and I have seedlings to get in the ground.

Planting the corn seedlings

Overview of the first bed. In front free tomato seedlings and the surviving pepper plant we recieved at the Mount's Botanical Garden Halloween Festival. In the rear is corn seedlings with squash interspersed. We planted a bunch of bean's into the compost. I know this is a little late, but from what I've read, beans grow much faster and may be able to catch up. We are practicing a little bit of permaculture here by planting the "3 sisters". These plants grow well together by providing nutrients and beneficial things that the others need. Beans use the corn as a "pole" to grow on, suash shades the corns root or acts like a natural mulch. Each plant puts nutrients into the soil that the others need. Not sure what will go in the middle, but that's half the fun of learning as you go along. I'll probably sprinkle in some cabbage or lettuce, since this is the cool time of year in South Florida, and it should do fairly well.

I eat dirt.