It has been a long while since I’ve blogged about my garden or have put up pictures. I’m disappointed that I have not given my garden the attention it needs to start providing some Spring crop soon.

It is a slow work in progress right now. In 2008, I had five 4′ X 4′ boxes laid out near the back fence and they did relatively well.

The plan for this year is to move the garden closer to the house, at the edge of the concrete patio. As can be seen in the pictures, I have a fair bit of de-weeding to do. Besides that, I think I’d like to build a large box this year (tearing apart and re-using the wood and soil from the existing boxes) that is actually 12 inches deep, as opposed to the 6 inches I had last year. Vegetables seem to need a lot of depth to get all the roots fully extended, and only then can they reach a nice size. Many of my crops last year came out on the smaller end, presumably due to this.

Even though I won’t exactly be doing square foot gardening anymore, I will still use the great soil that Mel Bartholomew talks about in his book. In fact, I still have a few crops growing in my last remaining square foot box. My artichokes are coming around nicely. I was surprised to find 4 heads stemming from the single seed I planted back in July of ‘08.

The other two crops sharing the box are a cabbage and brussels sprouts.

My Winter compost is ready to go- I have pretty massive amounts- all I have to do now is get off my rear end and start putting a little more sweat and effort into this year’s yard.