This year I decided to try adding a layer of compost to my entire area of the garden. We garden an approximate 30×32 area. I found some organic beef cattle manure compost, garden ready (which means it has overwintered and broken down). My Sweet Husband asked if there was a smell and no, there isn’t one! The manure has composted and is now a lovely, dark soil. Some of the pieces were very chunky, so I did have to run the tiller through the garden, twice in some places. But, purposefully, I did not get into the ground underneath to try and keep weed seeds buried. There was only a spot or two where the compost wasn’t thick enough and I hit under it into the soil. So far, I am very pleased with how this compost is working.

We got early things planted a couple of weeks ago. Here in central IL, we are Zone 5 for planting. Our last frost date this year was April 21. The general rule of thumb is not to plant hot weather veggies, like tomatoes and peppers, until Mother’s Day.

I went outside this morning to check and we already have shell peas and onions popping up. We have potatoes planted, but they are deeper- no signs of them yet. You may see my one volunteer broccoli plant in between the arches. She came up from last years’ seed, so I transplanted her to a better spot. She seems to be happy and healthy! The raised beds we planted aren’t showing many hints of our carrots or lettuce. The kiddos and I have replanted both so it’s discouraging not to have much, if any, stand in either bed. The final raised bed has strawberries in it. We chose to plant them in a raised bed so they would be contained and hopefully not take over any large areas, as they send out runners and can be everywhere if you’re not careful.

I am very thankful for the kids’ help. We put up the green (pole) bean arches together. That meant getting the coils of rebar we use for arches plus ten T-posts out from the barn. This year we are trying the posts about 4 foot apart- a nice arch, but not as much ground underneath that may go to waste. I plan to get some brassica plants this weekend at the local nursery and add near the broccoli. We also put some wooden stakes in for the shell peas to trellis onto. Unfortunately, rabbits or something came and chewed through our twine. I’ll have to restring the bottom rows of twine and add some tin foil pans to deter said rabbits and their friends.

What do you have growing? Isn’t gardening season such fun? Even with a planter pot, you can grow your own food! Try it out! You may surprise yourself.