Progressing Soil

Working the soil

Mother’s Day is coming up, the safe day for planting outside in Colorado! Aside from it being the most appropriate day (growing as mothering and all that jazz) it’s also the most exciting day for me as a gardener.

In preparation for it, I did some of the final tilling of the soil. I’ve been working it every other week, turning it, adding compost, airing it. If anything, it’s definitely helped develop my arm and back  muscles!

Last year my container-grown plants gave a high yield, but the ones in the soil plot did not. I’m certain it was the soil. It was its first year and it was almost solid clay. Poor drainage did not even begin to describe it. I could’ve made pots out of that clay!

This year I began taking care of it in February. I added store-bought mushroom compost and some home-grown organic matter.

Today, as I tilled the soil, I found some earthworms! I’ve never been so excited to discover wriggly crawlies! This means the earth is finally getting enough oxygen for them to survive. And of course that they are producing nitrogen, so needed for plant growth.

We all need a solid foundation in order to find our balance. Some lucky among us can find their center even in wavering tightropes, sand or clay (like dandelions). But most of us need the solid earth, airy and silty, in order to thrive.

I’m hopeful that all this hard work will pay off and this planting season will be fruitful.

Namaste, yo’s! 🙂