Spring Gardening: Manure

So now let's talk about enhancing a bed that you do plan to plant immediately into. Here we put down sheet mulch with very fresh goat manure which is not to be planted into. That's to be composted. However, up in here and here, I'm planning to plant peas. And, I know that those peas are heavy feeders and they enjoy a nice sweet ground. So, I'm going to start by giving them a little sprinkle of lime. It is not too late in the spring to apply lime. And this is a little clumpy because it's wet, but lime goes into solution as soon as it rains, and it will do it's, it will do its PH softening act. And, again, I'm using an intuitive measurement. Over time you begin to just figure out what's the right amount and work based upon observation and results. So, I lay a little bit of lime down, and now I'm going to apply some of our very high quality, well composted manure stripe along my planting zone. It's going to be a row of peas in there, and then a row of peas in here, and a row of peas in there. And look at that, just the right amount. And now, since I plan to plant pretty soon, I'm going to give those planting zones just a little bit of loosening. I wouldn't call it tillage, but just a little bit of incorporation to begin to allow the nutrients access down into the soil and, as I did previously. Once I'm satisfied there, I'm going to cover it right back up to keep it protected. And then I know that, right in here, is my first pea planting zone. And, we'll do the same in these two other rows. And, I imagine that as early as today we could put in these peas. And, there you have it.