I’ve erected 50’ of trellis that will be for growing Irish Prean soup peas. These taste pretty similar to dry fava beans when cooked. Other than this I’ve mostly been preparing beds that will be planted (in March?) for various staple seed increases. These will be used in the future for plots that will be in rotation with potato. I’ll have a full list of varieties on my 2023 goals page that will be posted on the home page.

Bed prep technique

The method I’ve been using for preparing beds was chosen based on the current field conditions. It seems a lot of plants went to seed here last year; consequently there is quite a bit of high carbon surface litter. My current technique is to rake away all of the dry grass and other dead plant material. After it’s roughly cleared I chop the bed with a long handle spade to try and kill grasses and other undesirable plants. Finally I redistribute the grassy mulch material on top to protect the soil from sun and wind. At least part of this mulch will be removed when seeds are sown next month.