The Garden is Ready for Spring.

Throughout October, Rob put the final touches on the garden to get it ready for spring.

Using the JM Fortier style of raised gardening bed, we hilled up 30in wide beds separated by 18in walkways using native soil that had been previously tarped for weeks. As a start, we have 10 X 65ft long beds for our first growing year. We then amended the beds with goat manure and a local source of peat and sand. Our soil is heavy in clay content and we are planning more soil amendments each year, but we feel that our current mix will be good for year 1 in the spring! We also consulted with a local company called Overton Environmental and incorporated a fungi and bacteria dense compost tea into the top layer of our beds (http://www.ecotea.ca/). This will help quickly inoculate the beds with the beneficial (and, in our opinion, necessary) microbiology needed for healthy and nutritious plants. See https://youtu.be/GA52f-SWgg8 if you are interested in learning more.

Then to finish things off, we installed a fence. We went with a PVC-coated wire mesh fence with 1in hexagon mesh size to keep most critters out. Fence height is 8ft with about 12-16in of that 8 feet flared out onto the ground to help control burrowing under the fence. We also added two horizontal wires for reinforcement and support. The fence should have the strength to keep out everything from deer to marmots, and last for years to come..

In the words of pépère Jounot - “Ah que c’est d’la belle terre!!”