-Bea Sias, LEAD, Logan WV Grow Appalachia

One thing we like to talk with our gardeners in Logan County is how to prepare your garden site.  For the past several years our winters have been very harsh, and this has delayed our planning periods.   What can you do when it is freezing outside to help insure next year’s gardening success or failure.

Building compost bins to make your own compost is one way to spend time preparing for the growing season.  Sheet mulching is fun and productive way to make organic matter.  And assessing your failures of previous years and planning for success this year is always a good use of our time.  Finding and reading seed catalogs and books, talking with fellow gardeners, gathering and preparing your tools and making sure they are in good working order are a few things we can do now.

Taking the time in spring to loosen the soil and build fertility, will hopefully insure a productive crop.  Working in any cover crops and blanketing your garden with at least one-half to one inch layer of good compost.  This will give the soil a good infusion of nutrients while improving the soils ability to handle water.  Rain and gravity can cause the soil to become compacted, so it is important to loosen it, permitting roots to penetrate the soil.

Just let your minds imagination be your guide.

The picture is of Bea Sias with the administrator of two group homes that have at least twenty new individuals wanting to learn to be independent productive growers.  There will be one large garden and the individuals will learn the skills needed to feed themselves healthy nutritious foods.