Earth Day is April 22, 2010

This inaugural HOME BRANCH blog is in honor of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day.
(go check out: www.earthday.org)

In the Garden: The last of the winter crop (with the exception of two rows of onions) was pulled out of the ground in March. Winter lettuce, turnips, radish, carrots, broccoli and cabbage.

One of our three outside compost bins was emptied and sifted, and that material, plus some organic nitrogen (21-0-0) was then spread throughout the garden area and tilled into the soil. (Mark did a soil test and it was determined the garden was lacking in nitrogen - see info on soil testing below.) Rows are formed with the hoe. Note: My husband, Mark gets the credit for doing most of the work - with help here and there from the rest of the family.

Compost bins are refilled with the Spring-shed Live Oak leaves, grass clippings, kitchen waste (fruit, veggie, egg shells, coffee grounds) and more coffee grounds from our local Starbucks - the best thing EVER for speeding up the decay of very hearty oak leaves. Nature does it's thing and viola, about two to three months later we'll have more garden and flower bed ready compost.

Side Note on Soil Testing: If you have never done soil testing, it is NOT hard to do. For more info go check out: http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/ and then you can visit with your local county extension agent if you have any question or want suggested next steps for soil amendments when you get your results back. The folks at Shades of Green (www.shadesofgreensa.com) are also super helpful, as are the folks at Fannick's Nursery (www.fanicknursery.com).

We have transplanted a few sunflower seedlings my daughter and I grew from seeds we had saved from some seven-footers we had last fall. The dried flower heads and seeds made for some cool studio shots.

As of right now, we have rows of hope and potential going in - tomato, squash, okra, strawberries, cucumber, eggplant, and a blackberry bush. More seeds will be added as Spring progresses with warmer temperatures. For now we water, weed and wait. Rinse and repeat.

Happy Earth Day! ...and we'll keep you posted.

All images on this blog are copyright of Mark Humphries Photography.
www.markhumphriesphoto.com