Dirt Delivery

I ordered up three more pallets of dirt to be delivered tomorrow. That will fill in the last flowerbed and give me plenty to fill in the low spots around the yard. That makes a total of 8 pallets of dirt for this year, but we really needed it. I'm sure everyone who reads this knows that our yard is mostly red clay and instead of grass here in Tennessee our yards grow rocks. Not just any rocks, huge rocks. I have dug rocks out of my yard that weighed upwards of 100lbs.

That's why we have had to build all of our gardens above ground. It's great once it's done, however the initial building and filling are a lot of work. Hopefully using the excess dirt around the yard will enrich those areas enough to actually support grass growth. We'll see.

Gonna plant root vegetables and onions this week. Probably wait another week to put out any starter plants though.

Jillian and I counted almost 20 strawberry flowers and lots of buds last night. I think our strawberry crop is gonna be good this year. The plants have expanded out into the new area we gave them last year really well and there is lots of new growth. I've had to use Grandpa Huff's remedy of burying a can and filling it halfway with beer to kill the slugs and snails. Last year they got a bite out of nearly every strawberry we grew. This year I plan on staying on top of them.

I hope that moving the squash plants to the buckets on the deck will keep them from getting killed of by the squash bugs that have gotten them the past 2 years. They will be up off the ground and away from the grubs too. I am really hoping for a good squash and zucchini crop this year.

I have noticed also that everywhere I turn up dirt in the yard and garden there are lots of earthworms. I think that's a good sign that the things we are doing to improve the quality of the soil in our little patch of earth are working. Earthworms usually are a good gauge of how healthy the soil is. Plus they are really good for plant growth.