Easter 2019

What’s a guy to do on a sunny Easter Sunday in Western Washington?

Well, E had to work today (rough, collecting overtime) so there were no outdoors or poker plans made. A long wait until she gets off work and we go to my sister’s house for Easter Dinner with mom.

Another of those tasks that need to be done around the old estate! Gloves, old shirt and pants, hat…it’s time to turn the soil on the gardens.

Some background: A number of years ago we tried small garden boxes and turning the soil without building raised beds. Our particular soil here is so sandy that if you dig a hole, you have to add water to it to get the sand out. Needless to say, just trying to grow a garden in our native soil bore no fruit. We decided to build the raised garden beds and brought in good soil and fertilizer and presto! we began getting decent crops of our chosen veggies! We tend to plant easy growers for our climate here in Western Washington; tomatoes, green beans, peas and zucchini (if you don’t have zucchini in Western Washington, you don’t know anyone with a garden).

A couple years into our endeavors we had to add the deer fencing around the garden because somebody really liked our pea plants… Now we have no problems with deer or rabbits (of which we have plenty, they think our estate is their personal sanctuary) or other critters.

All of our chosen crops tend to be extremely prolific and we wind up sharing with neighbors and friends when the garden is really cranking out. We really enjoy having our own fresh veggies, the taste is like nothing you can buy in a store (I don’t care if it says organic). The sweetness of the tomatoes, the taste of the peas straight from the vine, the wholesome flavor of fresh picked zucchini, all are a true treat! At the end of the season we always wait until the very last fruits are hanging before winterizing the beds so that we can enjoy them fresh…last year I actually ate some that had ice inside because it was so late in the fall!

One thing that i always do is turn the soil in the spring and let it start warming in the sun which rises above our tree cover in the mid-day. I also check the soil for Ph level and nutrients, adding organic (usually chicken or mushroom) fertilizer as needed.

Now that the gardens are ready I can’t wait for the soil to warm enough to start planting!