I feel shy about posting this photo of our “farm” in progress.  We have so far to go that I feel like crying.  However, this is a good (realistic) picture of our side yard/garden, the coop, and a glimpse onto the grassy area where we’ll be building raised beds later this year.

In the foreground is monster bed #4.  I don’t know what happened here…  It took a MONTH to dig, for goshsakes!  It’s might be too wide, and it definitely is the deepest bed so far.  I got thrown off by the slope of the hill and by the endless rain delays.  Right now I’m just embarrassed by this huge thing when I wish I felt proud of it.

Here is another picture of beds 2, 3 and 4 from the other corner of the yard:

Why did I make that bed so big?  Or would you feel shy and squeamish to show these photos, too?

Bed #4 (in the background of the second photo) and farther up in the distance have been the problem areas of our garden.  Plants have started out well, but they frequently atrophied after a couple of months of growth. 

The other beds have been fairly easy to dig.  This one was really hard to dig because I kept running into asphalt and huge rocks.  Below the layer of rocks, the dirt was dense clay.  None of the amendments we’ve used over the last few years penetrated the rock layer 2 feet down. 

So, with the slope, the rain delays, my frustration with the rocks and all the extra amendments I put into this bed, it became a stupid diva of a bed.  It takes up entirely too much space and looks ridiculous.

But I won’t tear it down yet.  I’ll plant it and hope my hard work gives something nice to the vegetables that grow there.  Maybe I’ll rework it next year.

David put the windows in the coop this morning before breakfast.  He and Eloise are off this afternoon to visit Aunt Ruth in Mount Angel and to visit a nursery for more blueberry plants.

I spent six hours digging today.  I’m still working on the fourth bed, and I’ll post some pictures of the garden and coop tomorrow.

I was overly optimistic to think that I could finish digging out the beds by the end of March.  Though it depresses me to say, I think the end of May is a more likely finish date. 

This double-digging is busting me.  I also am dealing with a significant slope in the garden right now so the beds need to be deeper overall to compensate.  There also seems to be a sheet of asphalt out there, down about 20 inches, and rocks bigger than my hand below the asphalt.  It’s no wonder we had trouble growing certain vegetables in the past!

I feel anxious about my plan to double dig the beds.  It’s so much work!  What if it creates more headache in the future?  What if we won’t see an increase in yield?  I can’t afford to be doing this digging for nothing.

These are the conversations I have with myself out there.  At the moment,  I still believe this is the right thing to do.  There are areas 20 – 30 inches down that are almost solid rock/asphalt.  In years past, I’m sure vegetable rootlets couldn’t penetrate this impasse.  It’s right for me to remove it all, no matter how hard a job it is.  (right?)  I emptied 8 buckets of big rocks during my six hours out there today, and I’ve even begun leaving more of the small rocks deep in the ammended beds.

I keep trying to be hopeful, but this is hard work, and I don’t want it to be for naught.

David has been busy putting siding and shingles up on the coop.  This afternoon he said something like, “I’m running on fumes…  I’m so tired…  but I’m moving slow and being careful.”  I reminded him that he could cut himself slowly, too.

Although the weather hasn’t cooperated, I have continued to work on bed #3.  You’ll see that it’s much higher than the other two in the foreground, and that’s because it’s been too wet for me to broadfork it.  I hope to do that tomorrow.

We got some peas, lettuce, onions, and beets planted in the first bed:

I still keep looking for the first asparagus:

And I’m thinking about making some dandelion wine this year for the first time.  It’s almost spring!  Can you feel it?

Here are the first two double-dug beds — each 4′ x 12′, with fluffy, ammended soil at least 30″ deep.  I hope the vegetables will feel like they’re at a spa or something.

At this point, when weather cooperates, it takes me two days to dig out these beds and ammend the soil properly.  The broadfork works beautifully, but its role is at the end of the process.  Before then, I’m using a shovel and pitchfork to work the dirt.

I have seven or eight more beds of this size to do so I’m thinking I won’t be done until the middle or end of March because I’m sure we’ll have a lot more rain.

I’m pretty sore.  I had to do a lot of stretching today so that my back didn’t spazz out.  Once I get going, however, my muscles relax quite a bit.  The real pain happens at night when I’m trying to sleep. 

Today was glorious out there — sun, blue sky, good breeze.  The weather report says that there might not be significant rain until Monday so I know I’ll get at least one more of these things done before then.  Have to keep working because some of these seeds need to get in the ground!

Did you know that fine carrot roots grow down almost 8 feet into the soil?  Beets set out a very dense system of rootlets that go down 10 feet into the soil.  (Perhaps this is why beet kvass is so health-giving?)  Sometimes even lettuce tries to reach down 4 feet.

This is what I finally learned after reading John Jeavons’ How to Grow More Vegetables for the fifth time in 20 years.  Every time I’ve picked up this book in the past, I’ve skimmed it and have blanched at the idea of double-digging even a small garden bed.  I have actively searched out data on the lasagne-type layering methods advocated by others, and I’ve done everything possible to stall this double-digging stuff.

However…

Also this week I have been reflecting on my vegetable-growing strengths and weaknesses.  Aside from David’s success with potatoes, we haven’t been successful growing beets, carrots and other root crops. 

Many other crops we grow seem stunted.  They grow well for awhile and then suffer when they’re ready to fruit (tomatoes, I’m calling you out here).

So…  the particles in my mind finally collided this morning.  Perhaps our beets don’t taste sweet enough because they’re fighting too hard to work through the heavy clay soil.  Maybe if I buck up and double-dig, the carrots and beets will be happier and sweeter? 

Okay!  I will try!

We have done so much to ammend our soil over the last seven years.  We can see our hard work when we dig a hole and see the layers of composting ammendments, decaying crop remnants and green mulch.   But there’s a clear dividing line about  18 inches down, and I need to bring more oxygen and compost down there so that the worms go deeper.

This work is too delicate for David to do with his tractor.  He’s more patient and even-handed than I am, but he hates doing repetitive, drudge work of any kind so I will be double-digging the whole side yard.

But I will do this for sweet carrots, rich beets, and for our health (yours and ours).

You know that 3′ by 10′ garden mound I showed you?  I moved that late this afternoon and then spent another 90 minutes beginning a proper double-dig of the whole section.  I’ll work on it more tomorrow and the next day, in celebration of Brigid’s Day/Candlemas/Imbolc.  I will set my intentions for a hearty, fertile foundation for the Curious Farm and for sweet, happy roots of all kinds.

And may I grow strong from this double-digging!  You just might not hear from me again until May.