Looking Forward to Spring!

While we're in the grips of winter I thought it might be nice to look forward to spring!  In the fall of 2014, we got a rototiller that we have a lot of plans for.  We'd like to make our existing vegetable garden larger, add more lavender to the farm, and break ground with it to add new gardens all over the property.  The rototiller's first job was to break ground at the top of the bank in front of the shop for a long row of tulips.  We carefully placed tulip bulbs that will bloom to be an array of pinks, white and purples.  We added alpaca manure on top of the bulbs before covering them up with dirt.  Alpaca manure is great compost for a vegetable garden and it was recommended to add compost to the bulbs, so alpaca manure it was!  We can't wait to see them bloom in the spring!

 This rototiller will have plenty of work to do on the farm!  

It was easy to use and did a great job on the tulip bed.

 

Chickens are kind of a rototiller of their own!  They love to use their feet to scratch up

 the dirt and find bugs to eat.  This hen was not afraid of the tiller and spent

 a long time walking the row of freshly tilled dirt.

The tulips span from the left of the stairs leading up to the shop all the way to the

 old manure spreader that's on the other side of the shop!

The bulbs were placed and covered with a fine layer of alpaca manure.  

You can see how much darker and rich in nutrients the manure

 is compared to the dirt that was tilled.

Buddy, our Boston Terrier, enjoyed the sunshine

 while we worked on the tulip bed.

 To finish the tulip bed we covered the bulbs with dirt and gave it a good watering.  They're all tucked in for the winter and now all we have to do is wait.  It'll be so exciting to see the bulbs starting to come up in the spring and even more so once they bloom!  Only 43 days until spring!

~Rose