Between graduation, moving, starting a new job, and planting our garden; I am wasting little time as my new chapter begins. A huge shout out to Mom, Dad, family, and friends for supporting me along the way!
Tyler and I spent two warm and buggy evenings prepping and tilling the ground. We were able to get the seeds planted right before the rain came Wednesday. I sound like a typical farmer 😉 Everything is dependent on the rain.
First we mapped and marked four rows 3.5 X 16 feet. We borrowed a garden lawn mower from Bruce and Linda (Thank you by the way!! You saved us lots of time and energy) to till up the soil. The machine shed was a perfect place for the flowers; the land is flat, close to a water hydrant, and in direct sunlight.
Can you guess what is in the photo above? I can give you a clue… it is not soil. That is right it is manure!! Perks of owning cattle- access to free fertilizer.
Here is a picture of me tilling the manure into the top soil. We are lucky to live in Iowa with such dark and rich soil but after doing some reading on flowers I used manure and Peat Moss to loosen and enhance the soil. Peat Moss is made up of 380 species of mosses decomposed in bogs. Peat Moss holds onto nutrients that otherwise leak out of the soil. It also fluffs up the soil and allows air to flow through.
Tyler wasn’t a fan of my camera, but I had to document our first huge project together! Next is the house 😉 We had a lot of fun being “entrepreneurs,” as dad called us.
The “entrepreneur in me wanted to go big or go home. So we bought drip tape irrigation. Flowers are sensitive to water and too much exposure to their leaves can cause a fungus buildup. Drip tape is more financially and resource efficient, the water is directly accessible to the roots of the plant.
Here is the final project!! Before planting, weed fabric was placed on each row and holes were cut where the seed was sown. This week we planted Baby’s Breath, Zinnias, Sunflowers, and Rudbecia (black-eyed Susan). A few vegetable seeds were also planted where space allowed ;).
Stay tuned for more garden updates!
Picking Wild Flowers 