- Loosened the soil in last year's raised bed (3'x6') by plunging my garden fork in as deeply as I could (maybe 10 inches) and wiggling it back and forth. My gurus agree it's best not to disturb the layers of the soil by turning them over, but to loosen them thusly.
- Strung twine lengthwise across the bed to mark 3 rows 1 foot apart.
- Sowed carrots in the nearest row (in photo) and red leaf lettuce in the other two. Covered lightly and watered.
- Mulched between the rows with maple leaves from a pile I didn't bother to clean up last fall. Watered down the mulch.
If anyone thinks there's something I could be doing better, I'd love to hear it.
Discovered today that my tomatoes suffered from both early blight and late blight last season. Late blight is very destructive but doesn't overwinter. Early blight is more managable but remains in the soil from season to season. This means all my tomatoes will go into my new bed. I had planned to put some of them in both beds. The existing bed will have carrots and lettuce for now, and transplants of eggplant and peppers replacing some of the lettuce in May.
BTW, late blight also affects potatoes. It's the fungus that caused the Irish potato famine.
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