This Week I Will Turn My Garden Over

 Every year that I plan on planting I need to add nutrients back into the soil. One of the oldest and best ways to do this is to turn over the soil and let the remains of last year’s crop decompose to nourish next season’s vegetables. This is free, fairly easy when the soil is moist, smells really good and is great exercise.

Well, this was my plan for this week, but, Dang! The gardener apparently didn’t know my plans to be more eco efficient and threw away all my rotting vegetation while I was out. Now I’ll have to call the city (again!) to see if the compost program is running yet. They’ve been collecting green waste for years now, and we’re supposed to be able to get the compost to use at home. That was the original plan, anyway. I called the first two years of the program to find out about obtaining some of that great garden compost, but they weren’t distributing it yet. That was quite a while ago, so I guess it’s time to check in on the program again.

Planting some of your own food is good on so many counts. There’s nothing like fresh picked vegetables for both taste and nutrition. And you can decide how many chemicals you want, or don’t want, to use. I’m constantly surprised at how beautifully everything grows with barely anything more than water. Flowering gardens of all kinds encourage visits from bees and provide them with food. As far as global warming goes, eating what I grow at home means I didn’t drive to get it, I didn’t put it in a plastic bag (or my favorite, the bag within a bag), no one else flew it, trucked it or shipped it anywhere. And plants suck up CO₂ we want to get rid of. I’ve had a veggie garden since I was a kid and I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, growing food is all good.

I’m not going to plan what to grow this year quite yet. I’m just assuring that when the spring comes, I’ll be ready and so will my soil. I also have some composting/soil questions I’ll look into this week. Like, why can’t I just toss my green waste straight into the garden area – or can I?

Here are some articles that give more detail about gardens and the environment:

http://www.ezgarden.com/Articles/Benefits-of-Vegetable-Gardening/Protect-Environment-with-Vegetable-Garden.aspx

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=4

The President's garden:

http://environment.about.com/od/greenlivingdesign/a/obama_garden.htm

“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.