It's been a dreary, blustery day here on my day off. Considering the daylong torrential rain, I spent a surprising amount of time outdoors, wandering out at various times to poke at the composter, examine my newly emerged crocuses and prepare my lasagna garden bed. I also got a bit of cleaning done, and managed to do some reading about companion planting.
It seems that some plants have useful properties that can be put to work in the garden. Some repel pests, provide shade or support to neighbours or help enhance flavour of veggies. Basil and chives help flavour tomatoes and peppers, strawberries benefit from being planted with thyme and spinach, garlic and marigolds help to keep bad bugs at bay, and tarragon apparently encourages growth and flavour of most veggies. Who knew? The internet knew!
I'm planning on making the garden a lot more productive this year, not necessarily in terms of actual food harvest, but in terms of managing our green space wisely. We live close enough to the Don Valley that it's possible the TBC bees may forage in my own backyard, and that's inspired me to try to make our yard more natural and self-sustaining.
Armed with about 50 packets of seeds and about 100L of compost, I'm all atwitter to start season 3 of the garden, and it starts tomorrow, once the rain is done. Pictures to follow eventually...
