First gardening entry...

I'm setting up a new planting bed in the garden.  So far I've removed all the soil from the bed, so now it's level with the paths.  I have the soil piled by the driveway.  I also worked over the ground and removed all the pine roots and limestone pieces.

Currently I'm mixing soil for the bed.  I don't use any kind of box for my planting beds, since I'm trying to minimize cash outlay.  I just pile the soil in a mound and mulch it with shredded landscaping debris, wood chips and wood chunks to protect the soil from erosion, solar heating and desiccation.

The mix I'm using for this bed is, by volume, roughly half soil and half compost...with a small dab of rock phosphate, plus another of azomite in each wheelbarrow load that I mix.  Some gardeners use a cement mixer for mixing soil, or a roto-tiller.  I use an ancient wheelbarrow and a hoe.  It takes me a while, but on the positive side I get to pick out chunks of lime rock and sometimes a grub or two while I'm mixing.  I usually adjust the moisture level by sprinkling the soil with a garden hose or watering can as I mix.

I used to just dump compost on the bed and work it in with the hoe, but that didn't work well at all.  I got massive root invasion from the surrounding pine trees, for one thing.  Root invasion was so thick that you couldn't stick a trowel into the bed, it was like trying to garden in a mattress.

What I do now is lay landscaping cloth over the ground before I return the amended soil to the bed, that makes an effective root barrier to keep the pines from stealing all the nutrients and moisture.

Didn't do much this morning, I was busy with household chores.  I did water everything though.  I use a garden hose on a reel, with a watering wand to get the water where I want it.  If you mulch thickly enough, it doesn't take that much water to keep everything hydrated.  We're in our dry season now, so rain is sparse or missing altogether.  It would be nice to have a drip irrigation system...maybe someday I'll buy all the plastic tubing and set it all up...or not.  The hose works OK, really.