Monday, April 28, 2008

The Turf Has Turned...

This weekend was the first real hands-on weekend for the garden. And what a perfect day for it. The property we’re working on is on this beautiful slope with such a great view of the valley. Which leaves plenty of room for just enough breeze to keep you nice and cool when the sun comes out and beats down on you!

Tracey and I were out (I was able to recruit a good friend of mine, JL), nice and early to start measuring and figuring out our exact location. I’ve added a few before and after pictures to give you an idea. We’ve ended up cutting out a piece of land approximately 25’ x 25’ give or take as we had to accommodate for the sumac surrounding the property.











To turn out all the turf we rented a roto-tiller. The work is always easier when you have the proper tools! I can’t imagine having had to do it all by hand! The only downfall is that the tiller is better designed for turning soil that has already been cleaned out, so we ended up having to sift all the little pieces of turf it left behind. All in all, we spent about 6 hours outside which is working wonders for my farmers tan. Next year will be a breeze!









We only have a couple more things to do before it starts to look like an actual garden:


- Add more topsoil to enrich it a little bit, as well as leveling off the land, as it’s a tiny bit sloped.


- Hopefully repot some plants this week and get them in the ground soon


- Plant more seeds for things like carrots and beets that need to go directly into the ground


- And then of course, figure out a schedule for getting me out to Navan to take care of all this J

On another garden related note, we were missing some seeds for Heirloom carrots, seeing as they are extremely difficult to get a hold of. I have put in a request to purchase seed from Stuart at Bryson Farms (http://www.brysonfarms.com/)! Hopefully that comes through for us.

For those of you who don’t know Bryson Farms, it is a small Organic farm based out of the Pontiac region that does home delivery of product grown in their gardens. Check out the website and support local!

I’ve also sent out our first invites to a Trade Wine Tasting at the Vendange Wine Institute for the Prince Edward County Wine Growers Association (PECWGA). Unfortunately, it’s trade only, however, PECWGA has organized this event along with a few other partners in order to encourage the distribution of these products throughout this region as well is kick off their Spring Terroir Festival (www.thecountywines.com/terroir.htm). Next time you are at your favourite restaurant, make a point to ask for a Wine from the County.

Alright, I thought I would keep this nice and short, but turns out to be otherwise.

Cheers


-André

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