Spring is coming!

I do not doubt that we will have another snow storm or two, but we have had plenty of sunny days lately. This week I took part of the day off work to come home and watch my son so that my wife could try to rest and recover from the stomach flu. Looking for a way to entertain young Thorfinn I decided we would go out into the backyard. So i got home and changed out of my office clothes, put a jacket on the boy, and headed out to our backyard.

Looking for away to focus the boundless energy of a 19 month old and keep him out of the dog poop lead us into the containment of our fenced garden area. I lead Finn in and he immediately began throwing handfuls of dirt into the air. I grabbed the hand trowel, a small spade, and the garden weasel. I began turning over the dirt with the hand trowel but was soon relieved of this duty by Finn so I went onto turning the soil with the spade then running through it with the garden weasel, Finn trying his hand at all of these activities but being most successful at the hand trowel.

I was filled with pride looking at the soil full of organic matter and earth worms. Just three short years ago the soil was hard and clay. We have succeeded in changing it into a nice loamy texture. We managed to prepare 1-4X4, 2 -4X8, and 3- 1X3 raised beds. Finn loved helping throw the rocks and branches to the side. In the pictures you will notice the Swiss Chard beginning to sprout up out of a bed still covered in leaves and grass clipping for its winter nap. Swiss Chard can be cut down close to the soil in the fall and covered with mulch to protect it from the winter. It will produce another crop in the early spring before bolting to seed with the warming weather. It is a great easy to grow alternative to spinach and can be used in any recipe calling for spinach. It is a heavy producer and one of our favorite vegetables to grow and eat.