My garden: continuing the preparations...

For the past couple of weeks, we've continued getting the garden area ready for planting. Here's what we've been up to lately...

Q bought a soil test kit, so one day I turned my kitchen counter into a laboratory and tested our garden soil. I checked the ph, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium levels. This helped us know what types of plants would work well with what we've got out there. 

The area is a lot bigger now. It measures approximately 30 feet by 10 feet. Q bought some alpaca manure to add to the existing soil. He also made a sifter, so he's been working at getting all the rocks out. We're going to try "deep-bed" gardening. Our neighbors loaned us a book about it and Q thought we could give this method a try.

Our compost bin is filling up with all sorts of interesting things...can you see orange and banana peels in there? We have a plastic container under the sink where we put remains of fruits and veggies, as well as eggshells. When it's full, I dump it into the bin outside.

I found some seeds from last year which I thought I could give a try. I heard that not every seed from the year before will germinate, so we'll see how it goes. About a week ago Q ordered some heirloom seeds for several vegetables--cucumber, carrots, lettuce, pumpkin, corn, tomatoes and a few more things. We also bought some seed potatoes and hope to get raspberry and strawberry plants very soon.

Today I planted roma tomato seeds from a packet I bought last year. We're still waiting on the other seeds, but I thought I could start on these while we wait. I'm using this cake carrier as a mini greenhouse. I tried this out last year and it worked very well. We'll just wait and see...

How's your gardening coming? Have any of you done deep-bed gardening? We'd love to hear your tips on this if you have anything to share. Happy gardening!:)