Early Garden Prep and Wee Little Plants

I decided it would be easier to dig up the future garden if we first kill off the grass where it's going to go. So I measured and cut two cardboard boxes to fit the 4x4 area.


We have yet to chop up and haul out the fallen limbs from the last ice storm, so I had to have Chad come out and help me move this one out of the way.


Now we have some room! I laid out the cardboard, remeasured, and weighted it down with ceramic pots. The advantage of using the cardboard instead of landscaping fabric (which we do have) is that it's totally biodegradable. Provided there are a few rains or snows between now and then, we should be able to just start digging through and around the cardboard, turning it under the soil. No pins to pull up and no waste fabric to throw in the land fill!


And as it's such a nice day, I also decided to bring my Red Robin tomato plants out for some light sun. It's their first trip outside though, so I had to make sure to give them some partial shade and will return them to their window after about an hour. One of these little guys will become a porch plant and the other will be placed in the garden, so it's good for them to harden off a little before we have to go through the entire process after the last frost.


They may not look it, but these two plants are almost at full height. I staked them on twigs (from the fallen limbs) today, and that's probably all they'll ever need. I accidentally broke off a little branch from this plant in the process, which made me feel absolutely terrible for the poor wee thing!


I started these little guys way-back-when. It's my hope that they'll provide us with some early cherry tomatoes to tide us over until the garden starts producing.