Spring cleanup!

Some people would call this free help (or slave labor! haha!) We prefer to say "character building." :-) Here Mikey and Greg, my garden cleanup crew, are getting ready to burn off the vines from the tomato cages. I don't want them burning up all the mulch left over from last year, so they are removing any big chunky debris to burn, and making a firebreak so the fire from the tomato cages doesn't cage on the mulch. That old decaying mulch is a big part of our fertilization plan--after it has done it's job as a weed barrier, we till it in the following spring to add organic matter to the soil. We've been doing this for about 6 years now, and the fertility shows in our gargantuan tomato plants and pepper "bushes."

I've already been able to plant a few rows of lettuce and peas in the garden. This is definitely the earliest that I've ever done any direct-seeding! I'm so excited to have our own greens and peas! YUM!