Vote Obama/Biden on Nov. 4th, 2008
Garden plans for next year
This year's garden was pretty good. So good, in fact, that I'm going to double its size next year. Partly this is to give me more room to grow new things, like garlic, potatoes, and those beautiful colors of cauliflower that I saw in Portland at the Farmer's Market. Another reason, though, is that it's not good to plant the same things in the same place every year, so next year the tomatoes and peppers will be in the new section.
As I thought about expanding the garden eastward—into the sunniest part of the yard—I first was going to turn over all the grass with a pitchfork. A lot of back-breaking work. Then I thought I'd put black plastic over the grass to kill it, and just dig out specific spots to plant next year's vegetables. As with this year I'll throw in a couple of shovelfuls of compost in each hole.
It seemed like a waste to use petroleum-based black plastic that I'd have to buy at Home Depot, so I had this brainstorm: I'd just pile all the leaves raked from the rest of the yard in the new section and hope that they'd kill the grass. When I mentioned the idea to Joanne she suggested first putting a layer of newspaper down before the leaves. Sounded like a plan, so we're giving it a try. Everything is free and will eventually biodegrade and improve the soil. Take that, plastics industry!
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