fertilizer?

for the most part, I am the world's laziest gardener. I don't use fertilizers nor do I buy topsoil or commercial mulch. I don't double dig my planting areas. I do let the leaves that fall from the maple trees on our property lay in a pile over winter which helps control weeds and the worms do the work of composting and enriching the soil. I had a compost tumbler that recently had to go, but I rarely rolled it on the ground, usually only when I added stuff to it (which wasn't that often).

this year is different. I have been adding all our kitchen scraps to my leaf pile, and I have been watering and turning it often. So far, it's fun for me and is very good exercise. I even bought some kelp meal which I added to the newly planted seeds and seedling transplants, and to my compost pile.


baby gourd



watermelon












So far, and it's not yet April, I have planted the above pictured gourds and watermelons, as well as zinnias and sunflowers that the children started indoors. I have planted the seeds of spinach, more sunflowers (the others didn't survive transplant shock), and some of the beans from a 15-bean soup mix I like to eat. We also planted assorted leftover seeds from previous years. What I'm doing new this time is that I put all the leaves last fall in the spot where my garden is, and just left them there all winter. DH mulched some of the pile with the mower, and I've been adding kitchen scraps and turning it regularly. I simply raked the edges of the pile back, scratched at the earth underneath with my garden rake, and planted things there, with the compost taking up the middle and one end of the bed. The bunnies and squirrels have not intruded or eaten my baby plants... yet. They got all but a few scraggly bean plants last year and I had no harvest except one little carrot and an oddly-shaped cucumber.