Happy Tilling Everyone! Tilling is very important to the gardening process because after sitting for a while, like over the winter, the ground gets very hard and compact. For most veggies, the soil has to be loosened and amended, which brings me to my two favorite topics -- tilling and composting. It's kind of like "Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?" First, I'll till this land, and then a few weeks later, I'll till in compost. But I started the compost pile last year, so ...
In addition to our garden at home (Tiger Gardens South,) we have 2 plots at Parkland College in the Eddie Albert plots (Tiger Gardens North.) They are 20' x 10' each. We rented them for the hopes of getting full sun, since they're on the edge of the grid, but (in the video) I'm looking at 2 trees now that will have way too many leaves on them in the summer. It is what it is.
Anyway, if it looks like this video is barely finished, it is for today. Just as soon as I shot this, it started to rain, and that turned into a downpour with hail. Normally I would re-shoot several times, especially today since I forgot my signature "Block I" hat (for Illinois. The I is in these bling-y stones, and I love it. So you get me and my large forehead.)
This is my first post of 2021 -- what a year so far! First of all, did the 1st 3 months fly by for anyone else??? All of a sudden it was April, now April is almost over, and the Farmer's Market in Urbana starts in 2 weeks on May 1st -- whew! But can I get a "Thank GOD 2020 is over!!??" I'm SO ready for the bounty of 2021!
My next post will cover composting -- last year's perfect layering, added ingredients + turning the whole year, now broken down and ready for hot-composting to get the process starting again (the pile heats up to the touch) so that we can till it into this dirt a week or so before we plant summer veggies like tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers (to name 3 of many many varieties of all sorts of veggies and flowers.) Tiger Gardens 2021 is in full swing!