The snow is gone, the ground is thawed, the mud is dried... finally, time to till the garden! I have been waiting for this day since... oh, about February. This year's garden is 65 feet by 100 feet, nearly double the size of last year's, and now that everything has been
moved out of the way, it's time to call in the tractor!
Here's Justin, making some nice straight lines in the dirt. The edge of the garden is in shadow - it will get a little late-afternoon shade from the new barn, but not much. This photo was taken around 3:30 p.m., so even the western-most spot will get 7+ hours of sunshine.
Next day's photo of the garden... my official 2013 "before" picture. It's like a blank canvas, and I can't wait for it to be full of green! You can see where last year's garden was... those nice smooth sections in the middle of the picture. The darker portion at the right of the photo is where we dug up part of the hayfield to expand the garden. That half will get tilled again in a few weeks to take care of all the weeds that will undoubtedly spring up. So I can't touch it for now. Not really a problem: that's where the tomatoes are going, along with other veggies that don't get transplanted or sown for another 6 weeks. Besides, I still have 3000 square feet to work with for now!
