Garden Bed Prep

I made it home to Portland on Monday with enough daylight to get my garden started. My raised beds have not seen much action for the past few months, so some preparation was in need before I actually planted anything.

Supplies:

gardening gloves

hand shovel/weeding tool

organic compost

Azomite trace minerals

measuring cup

1. My first step was to weed. With no veggies growing in them, my raised beds had room to invite some unwanted guests over. I weeded thoroughly to make sure nothing would come up later between my veggie babies.

2. Next I added organic compost to my beds to give them some life after sitting dormant all winter. My beds were actually a bit low on soil, so I had to make an emergency trip to Fred Meyer down the street to pick up several large bags of organic compost. I dumped the compost into the raised beds, added some more soil, and mixed it all up using my hands and a shovel to fluff everything together. Once thoroughly mixed, I smoothed the soil and compost out evenly over the beds.

3. Lastly, I measured out about 2 cups of Azomite trace minerals, and sprinkled them over my beds (2 cups per raised bed). Using my hands, I lightly mixed it in, like I was messing up someone's hair. The Azomite adds back to the soil beneficial trace minerals that were depleted with my last crop. Basically, the Azomite and compost are food for my garden, which will in turn feed me. Now that my garden is fed, I'm ready to plant!