Back to Eden ~ Stages

Our Back to Eden garden transformation progress:

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 This week we were able to get the west side of the garage, facing the house ready for my herb garden.  I previously have grown a variety of herbs along this strip.  We removed them, weedeated down any weeds, placed a few layers of newspaper down and then topped with wood chips and edged with rocks.  This Saturday we will be doing the east side of the house that faces the garage.  This will make my herb beds opposite each other with the grass in between....happy day!

I am excited to replant herbs and even adding a few new ones. But my most exciting thing is to make plant markers for each herb.  I haven't decided on which kind to make and have been browsing Pinterest.  If you have any suggestions or ideas for plant markers, please share.

 Here is our transformed JuneBearing Strawberry bed.  The berries are already setting fruit.  

Only a few weeds have popped through and they are very easy to remove.

Here is a bed that has two different woodchips added to it from different deliveries.  The Raab Broccoli was planted last fall and we placed chips around them.  The top stems and buds will taste good in a few days and then the rest plant will be pulled and feed to the rabbits.

Our progress on the Back to Eden garden is taking shape.  I did plant onion starts, but you can barely see those young, thin things.  Plus the chickens got into them and moved the chips around too much.  My hope is to have our last few beds chipped by the end of the week.

Potato Planting

I'm so excited to have gotten the potatoes planted today.  As you can see we are doing this with a different method.  Two of my sons put together the pallets to create six bins.  The soil was tilled first then a wheel barrow of rabbit droppings added.  I then planted the potato starts.

1 bin Russets from the store that had huge starts about 10" long.
1 bin Reds from our garden last year that were pretty puny, but had starts on them.
2 bins Yukon Gold, my favorite, that I purchased at Del's, local feed store.
2 bins Ida Rose Reds, I believe, also purchased from Del's, our local feed store.

The plan is as they start to leaf out we will be placing a layer of wood chips on top.  This too will be part of our "Back to Eden" gardening experiment.  We will be watering overhead as needed. And if we have too we will place a 1/2 pallet in front of each bin as they grow.

Field potatoes and potato barrels haven't been very successful for us, so we have high hopes for this method.
I will post as they develop.

Spring ~ God's Blessings

 Can you hear me singing? "Somewhere over the rainbow" by our place.

I LOVE spring!  It's my favorite time of year.  

My world is just about every shade of green.

Green is the color of "balance" and  the 5th Chakara, the throat/neck which is the union between the head and the heart.  I feel wrapped in God's love by the beautiful blessings of nature that surround me.

 My dear husband and I got a little time away.  

We went over to beautiful Poulsbo, WA.  What a wonderful blessing he is to me and our family.  I am so grateful for a good man and marriage!

It is so worth all the work we put into relationships.

Taking one on one time with our spouse is truly a gift.

 This was actually taken a few weeks ago in our small back pasture.

When "Spring" is sprung, it comes out in all different ways; frogs croaking, birds of all kinds returning, bugs a-buzzing and flowers. 

 It all makes me smile.

 This was taken April 26th.  The first Calendula blossoms of the year.  Happy day!

 Also taken the same day, Johnny Jump Up's.  

Love these cute little flowers.

They look wonderful a-top fresh green salads and the taste is very mild.

This can really surprise the family, too.

Doctrine and Covenants 59:18  

"Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, 

are made for the benefit and the use of man, 

both to please the eye and to gladden the heart;"

~ My heart is very glad! ~

Back to Eden Garden at Our House is Coming.

We are converting our garden beds to Back to Eden method.  This is an exciting more for us.  I plan on sharing with you what we are doing and how it is going.

This is my Spearmint/ Peppermint bed "before".

Step #1 was to weed-eat.

 Step #2 Lay newspaper down, then start laying raw wood chips.  Not bark, but tree branches that have been chipped.  I called my local  Tree Services to find one that would drop a load off a my place.

 Step #3 Pulled away a little bark to expose the newspaper, dig into the dirt and planted the mint. Then push a little bit of chips close to the plant, but not right up to it.

  

~ Here's our daughter doing the Spearmint side of the bed now.
You can see the Comfrey in the middle by the cement bench.








My husband and I are in our 50's now, our garden help is leaving the nest.  So when I saw the Back to Eden movie it resonated with me as what we needed to start doing in our garden.  I shared this with my husband and even suggested we go and look at Paul Gautschi gardens in Sequim, WA about 2 hours away from us.  He encouraged me to just start the transformation because of the information that I shared with him.  ~ You just gotta love a trusting man!

Now here we are with 2 piles of wood chips that we are hauling into the gardens.

Here's our first of the raised beds that we are doing.  See the Kale that was planted last fall, ready to harvest soon.

Seeds on Sale ... NOW

 Right now at our local, 

Bonney Lake, WA, Home Depot,

ALL seeds are on sale:

Buy One, 

Get One FREE

This is the perfect time to stock up on next years seeds.

I put mine in a plastic shoe box, label it, and add a strap of duct tape around the edge of the lid to ensure a better seal.

I have kept seeds this way for the past few years and found to to hold their viability well.  Even onions seed that are not suppose to store well longer than a year really do if they are frozen.

In fact, I think most of the seeds germinate better with Stratifying.

(freezing seeds for a period of time before attempting germination)

New this year at 
Home Depot are Organic,
Seeds of Change Seeds.  
They are Heirloom and Open Pollinated.  
This makes them great for home seed saving.  
And that provides you $$$ savings.  

Plus the added bonus that the seeds you save from the plants grown in your garden will become better adapted to your micro-climate.

You will be starting your own seed bank.  This will provide your family with the kind of security that money can't buy.

For additional information see this article:
Seed Banks and Longer Seed Storage

Happy Gardening...
And Happy Spring!!!