Spring into Gardening: Preparing the Soil & Choosing Seeds

Welcome to my second learning project blog post, I am so excited to share the beginning of my journey into gardening!

Throughout the week I focused on doing some research on getting the soil ready to plant but also on what things grow best in a garden box. I figured that Google would be my best option so I dove right in! I came across this website and found that it was the most helpful to me. It provides tips on the best ways to plant lettuce and carrots and these are a couple of the vegetables I am most excited to grow (because they are my favorite to eat, haha!)

As May long rolled around, I got really excited to begin getting my little garden box prepared for seed planting. The first thing I did was use the weather app to check which day was going to be the nicest. I figured that since it was supposed to rain on Saturday, I would start preparing my soil later Sunday afternoon. On Saturday, I decided to head to Canadian Tire and find all the necessary tools needed in order to get the bed prepared.

1. Spade/shovel for digging
2. Garden fork for deeper soil penetration
3. A rake to level out the bed

While I was there I also bought a few seeds so I can begin my planting soon!

Later Saturday afternoon I focused on the wetness of the dirt in the garden box. From the Thrive course I learnt that we want the soil to be moist but not too wet. The best tip given was that if the soil is dry, water it the day before or in the morning. You do not want to work the soil when it is too wet as this could cause problems. Before dampening the soil I weeded the box and then poured the water onto the soil.

I put all my tools away and my journey continued on Sunday!

Sunday, May 19th

Let the work begin…

On Sunday I began working up the soil. I used ChatGPT as a guide on the best ways to begin. I asked AI what the best steps of working up a garden box are. First, I removed all the debris that was left in the garden and picked the last couple of weeds from it. Then, I began to loosen the soil. I used the mini rake I bought and also used the mini spade to break up any clumps of dirt. After I finished that I added some peat moss and mixed that into the soil. I learnt that peat moss is often used as a tool to hold water in raised gardening beds then plant roots can access it as needed. I am super excited to try out this little trick and see if it makes a difference in the growth of my garden. The last step ChatGPT gave me is to give the soil moisture. This will help the life of the seeds when they are planted!

I hope you enjoyed reading through my next stages of my gardening journey, I am so excited to start planting!