Phase 2 of prep, hot and sweaty and tired

 I had to go with the cheapest I could find for soil and fertilizer. Honestly, as long as it improves the soil the plants don't care. It's warm but not hot today, same weather as yesterday. Only unbearable if you're out in the sun digging.

There used to be an overgrown aloe there on the left. I know, I took a picture of it before but it was a long while ago and can't find it. Half the Monstera behind the asparagus fern is gone as well. The dilapidated moving dolly that was in the garden is gone too. Looks like they're trying to tidy up the place with the tree trimming.

 We had to get a few more things for groceries so we went to WMart because I knew they had a decent garden department and all the other stuff we needed.

 The only bags of soil they had was... MG in 1cf bags at under $5 each and the food I bought last time about the same price so $15 and change for what I needed.

 As I said, the plants don't care what kind of food you use as long as it has the nutrients they need.  Went back upstairs, washed hands and got lunch fixed. After waiting a little bit for that to settle, grabbed hat, gloves and cutter and headed back down to work.

Mysterious divots in the dirt. I would say it's likely the local lizards trying to dig. They were definite scrapes but not like a cat looking for a sandbox and too big for landing point of cats. Not too concerned about it and started digging.

 

Now, the back of the bag for the "In Ground soil" gives proper proportions of soil to dirt for best results. Oh, and don't be concerned by the grey thready fungus on the soil That's actually a good thing, it happens with compost and helps break it down. Too many customers have come in with concerns about that to count on both my hands.

For 24 sq ft (eg: 3x8, 4x6) they say to use 6 bags at 2 inches! 6 bags???? Wow. I have a 2x4 bed which is only 8 square feet right? So technically one bag covered it at an inch. For a 6" raised bed at 24 sq ft, say 4'x6'x6" that's .... too much math and this is gardening not a math project. I put one in and this is what it looked like:

The soil was already that color so can't really tell I amended it at all. And just once...once I'd like to dig into a garden and not hear the scrape/chink of rocks hitting the shovel. That's one bag and it's not even doubled the content but has raised the level a little. The other two beds makes it very difficult to add in soil over large areas so I might use that individually to cultivate in the area I'm planting instead. 

I don't remember it looking like this but it has all the numbers I need for the soil and once it got wet after watering it breaks down very quickly so I'm good with that. Didn't even look at the directions unfortunately, so like a cook or a baker just threw that stuff to a point where it looked right. Supposed to use the fertilizer every 3-4 weeks, will have to put that on my calendar reminders. I kind of did an oops with the fertilizer in the north bed but just spread it all over and around the marigolds as well. The only things going in that bed are zinnias and maybe a cucumber or two in the empty spot behind the marigolds.

I actually added a little more fertilizer to the fence bed after taking the picture. Can't tell by the picture on the right I had thrown some in there. I was getting tired and almost didn't dig the soil around but I gave in and used the hoe to move the dirt around. Found the other potato I through in there, cutting it almost in half, tossed it over to the compost corner wasn't worth keeping.

Then the watering. Flooding more like, but getting everything wet and the fertilizer worked in was necessary. Need to level out that south bed a bit more, definite puddle at the west end.

See the difference in the color already? Milk chocolate brown for the regular dirt and dark chocolate color for amended soil. Due to watering heavily and just amending, the darker color is due to all the bagged soil floating to the surface. The other two beds will get what I call 'point of planting' amendment to make the soil last longer. The south bed needs it more than the north bed because that one has the advantage of the tomato chewing up the soil, it's really soft and easy to work there.

 Directions for fertilizer assumes first that you have plants in rows... silly people... rows are for real gardeners. (Internet and photo cropping is a wonderful thing right?)

Broadcast evenly over 80 sq ft. The whole bag???? 1 lb per 20 sq ft of row. ::math consternation:: 

I don't have rows, how the heck do I figure for a 2x4 area which is only 8 sq feet...one tenth? Then have to consider the other areas into that. So now you see why I just go and toss this stuff like confetti all over the place until it looks right. Can't really overdo it with organic fertilizer and I'm going to be putting some more in the south bed along with the soil before I plant. One thing I like about this formula for fertilizer is the added microbes and bacteria. Very essential in my crappy dirt as well as the added calcium and magnesium. It's actually pretty good stuff.

So Phase 2 of prep done and not sure if I'll get out tonight or tomorrow for actual planting. Still don't have markers but will look around the house for something appropriate. We don't even have popsicle sticks to use. It's not necessary but I'd like to show that I've actually planted something there. Oh yes and I hid the other bag of soil in the electrical closet just in case. Since so many other things are getting moved around, not going to take any chances.

So all cooled down now, looking forward to putting seeds in tomorrow (just decided that) since it's going to be very soggy soil right now, give it 20-24 hours to dry out enough to be easier to work.

Garden on!