One of the things allowing us to travel is that we hired a wonderful grower to check on our garden once a month. He is super knowledgeable so I don’t have to stress that all our hard work is being lost while we’re gone. This is a HUGE relief for me! He also sends me pics like this one, which I stare at for hours. This pic is of some of our main production beds that I sowed with cover crops before we left. This makes me so excited! Look how lush they are! What you can’t see is how they are adding tons of nutrients to the soil, breaking up compaction, and crowding out weeds. If I hadn’t planted these crops, the beds would be full of weeds and need more amending when we got back as the winter rains and winds can do a lot of harm to naked soil. You *almost* never want your soil left bare, cover it with cover crop or mulch. ️ When I get home I’ll chop this growth down, let the chickens do their work for a couple days getting all the slugs and fertilizing as they go, gently flip the top 6” of soil over (if I need to, though the chooks do most of the work—NO tilling), set aside some of the chopped materials to use later as mulch on the beds, throw the rest in the compost, and then let my beds sit for about two weeks before I plant in them. This is one of the few times I leave the bed uncovered. I want the soil to get as much sun exposure as possible at the beginning of the warm season. Soil temperature is much more important than air temps for the health of your warm season crops. So I let my soil sunbathe in the day and cover with cloth in the evening. After that I’ll top dress with some compost and be ready to go! I love traveling but I CAN NOT WAIT to get back to the garden.
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