Garden Reclamation

Winter is growing season here so we start our planting now. I waited until returning from the U.S. to get things underway, so I got a good start on it this week. My planters sit all summer, mostly going dry and dead. I don't like the idea of just throwing seeds and water into them without giving them food, so I tried something a little different this year.


I went into the forest and gathered up about 5 of these bags worth of rotting leaf litter.


Then I layered it about two inches thick on the bottom of the planters (the leaves working as mulch and also a barrier to keep the dirt from escaping with the water), then layered dirt, more leaves, and another layer of dirt. It's my garden lasagne.

[I was quite surprised to find this big centipede with her ball of babies in the dry dirt of one of my planters]

Today I planted lettuce (4x), tomatoes (2x), basil/cilantro, green peppers, and carrots. I still have 2.5 planters empty and today I got enough dirt to fill two more. My garden better rock this year!