Preparing for Tomatoes

Yesterday was a huge day in the garden. A lot got done, but this post is just about the morning. My morning chore was to start preparing the tomato bed. When I started it was covered in vetch. I wanted to wait to prepare this bed so the vetch could grow well in spring. And grow it did.

Usually one just cuts vetch to the ground when it starts to flower. This kills the plant, but there are no flowers yet and vetch will easily grow back from the roots in other stages of its growth, so I pulled the plants up roots and all. The roots are amazing. When I was pulling the plants out they just didn't want to let go. I had to dig them out. They were just covered in little nitrogen nodules. I didn't get half the roots out, but I think enough. Especially since this bed will get double dug soon. The vetch was spread out to dry. I'll use it as mulch for my tomatoes once they get established unless the worms eat them first.

And speaking of worms, for some reason there were fewer worms in this section of garden, especially where the vetch was the thickest. Do worms not like vetch? Usually when I dig the worms are just everywhere. They existed here, but mostly where the vetch was thinner.

My next problem and main chore for the day was to remove the frame around this bed. This is the one place where I have a lumber frame. It is done in 2x8 cedar and has a hardware cloth bottom. Oh how I regret putting this in. You can't dig when there is a bottom to the bed. And more to the point, I can't grow carrots when the bed is only 7" deep.

I dug all the soil out of the frame and piled it up. There wasn't much space to pile it. Most of the garden was planted or mulched nearby. So I carefully made the pile as it got bigger so it wouldn't collapse. I even brought out the wheelbarrow and one of my pails.

After removing most of the soil I still had trouble levering it up. The maple tree roots - the bane of my existence in this garden - had grown through the wire and were holding it down. The image of an evil creature with long bony fingers holding the wire down came to mind. I had to cut them all off before lifting it up. The cutting would have been easier without that image fixed in my head. Luckily it was the full light of day, so I didn't keep looking over my shoulder at my evil Norway maple tree.

The cedar edging which is about six years old is already starting to rot. The vetch and maple tree roots were quite attached and digging into the boards. I was thinking of using the lumber for a cold frame. I might not with all the rot. I'll think on it.

The next chore was to edge the raised side of the bed (the beds are all slightly terraced due to the slope of the land, one side is raised, the other level with the path). This time I'm edging with some logs I had gleaned from the woods over the last couple of weeks. Since they had already been cut to size, all I had to do was put them in place and wedge them in with some small rocks.

Now I have my work cut out for me. I was tired enough that I didn't want to start double digging today. To make the double digging less strenuous than last time, I'll put in a couple of hours a day until it is done. I'm hoping to have it done before I leave on my trip in a week and a half. I probably should have started earlier, as I still might have to put in a long day to finish.