Check out what arrived this week…
2.5 cubic yards of triple mix soil for the veggie garden. :) Thrilling, I know.
After weeks of looking at different types of soils, I went with a triple mix from Van Beek’s. It’s made from composted manure, black loam, and sandy topsoil. I couldn’t find ‘certified’ organic anywhere, but the owner said it is organic and assured me that they do not add any chemicals or fertilizers to it. That will have to do!
We used this soil calculator to determine how much soil we needed:
Take the Length (ft) of the area to be covered x Width (ft) x Depth (inches) divided by 12, then again divided by 27 and you have your cubic measurement!
For two 4 foot by 8 foot beds, I calculated our soil need to be about 2.37 cubic yards, so we ordered 2.5.
[We used this step by step tutorial to build the beds.]
When we filled up the beds it was raining (of course!) and shoveling the soil was like shoveling bricks. What a workout! At least I know that the soil is nice and moist for planting. :)
The rain sure has made our lawn green though!
I’m going to the nursery tonight to check out the new organic plants that just came in and figure out what I need to buy. So far, I have sketched out a rough plan for both of the beds using this Companion Planting info to guide me. I’m trying to plant veggies with their companion plants, figure out specific spacing/planting requirements, and also how many of each plant I will need.
I also put a compost bin and gardening tools on my Birthday list. How cool am I? :)
Meet: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cereal– a new breakfast and snack infatuation.
In the cookie bowl: Nature’s Path Spelt cereal, chopped banana, 1 tsp chia seeds, 8-10 mini Chocolate chip cookie dough balls, and non-dairy milk.
It tastes like you are eating a bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough for breakfast!
Another breakfast I’ve been rocking this week…The Mango Banana Green Monster.
I recently discovered that President’s Choice sells frozen mango chunks. I haven’t had the best experience with some frozen fruit mixes, but this frozen mango is super fresh and sweet. You can nibble on it straight from the bag. :) It is great to keep in the freezer for quick and easy smoothies.
This week’s favourite mix: 1 cup frozen kale, 1 ripe banana, 1/2-2/3 cup frozen mango chunks, 1.25 cup almond milk, 1/2 scoop wheatgrass powder, 1 tbsp chia seeds.
So refreshing. :)
Have a wonderful Friday!
“We are all functioning at a small fraction of our capacity to live fully in its total meaning of loving, caring, creating and adventuring. Consequently, the actualizing of our potential can become the most exciting adventure of our lifetime.” – Herbert Ottto
I’m planting a garden this weekend too! Thanks for the link to the companion plant list – it really helped!
My backyard looked like yours last week! This my first year planting a garden so I’m crossing my fingers. I now have a few months of successful wheatgrass growing under my belt, so I am hopeful that at a minimum I get a bowl of strawberries and one stirfry out of the effort. Happy planting!
Wow with that cookie dough cereal/snack. Amazes me how much fun we can all have with whole food ingredients. I much prefer this idea to real cookie dough.
Go you with the garden. Love the thought of the workout being lifting that heavy soil.
Have a great weekend.
xo
Why have I never had a green smoothie?? And I’m pretty jealous of your new soil!
Brilliant! I WILL be making these soon :D.
1: Love your beginning garden! I miss mine, I’m off on a work project and away for a few months.
2: I am living in a hotel while on this work project and now I am thinking I need to buy a blender because the green monsters are looking good! I am attempting to go veg for the whole two months and some day just aren’t so good. A green monster would cheer me up for sure! And that cereal—mmm!
Sounds like my week! Our garden beds are in and the composted has been built and is starting to be used, now I just need soil so that my seedlings can leave the greenhouse and really flourish!
Just out of curiosity though, why the insistence on growing only organic produce while shopping for PC frozen mango? I’m always curious about people’s local bs. Organic opinions!
I recently tried frozen mango as well! I think mango and strawberries are the best freezer fruits.
I haven’t had the greatest luck with frozen fruit either. The President’s Choice frozen raspberries and frozen mixed berries really don’t defrost well!
That’s exciting to see the garden coming along!
Super exciting about the raised plant beds, I need to get started on my own (container) garden soon! Just wondering if you were able to find a triple mix with plant manure and if not, were you at all concerned with using animal manure in your food garden?
The frozen mango reminds me that I found frozen cherries at Costco recently and I wanted to pass that along since they are so hard to find in Canada.
Mango Green Monsters are my absolute favorite! I usually use a frozen banana and then an almost too ripe mango. It comes out perfectly sweet, smooth, and neon which I love!
omg i LOVE to have cereal for breakfast and this is just perfect!! i’d probably eat it for snack too haha :) thank you!
That sounds like the best cereal bowl ever! Did it fill you up?
Compost manure is the best soil for planting tomatoes in! They friggin’ love it.
I’m so excited to see how your garden pans out. I’ve been loving my garden this year because last year I was super pregnant throughout the most work intensive garden season and I couldn’t do very much and even hired the neighbor boy to weed for me but this year has gotten great start!
That breakfast seems like dessert :))
The beds are coming along nicely, One thing though that I have learned with composting, is to get two composters, so that you can turn the older compost out and keep adding to the new, that way you get the lovely dry compost to garden with instead of it being all moist and still decomposing…
Also mad love for the smoothie, and for the blog, very useful for a new vegan – I am trying to keep as raw as I can but your blog is very inspirational and shows just how fun cooking can be!! :)
Best breakfast! I was wondering, as the Green Monster Queen, whether you’d have recommendations for banana-less and mango-less smoothies? Bananas currently cost $2.50-$3 EACH in Australia right now, and mangoes aren’t in season (and we don’t have frozen mangos, at least not that I’ve ever seen!). I’d really love some ideas for a good smoothie without those two fruits, as my efforts have been lacklustre lately!
I SO have to make those cookie dough balls. I do have an allergy to tree nuts so I will have to substitute with peanuts and hope I get close to the same result :) *fingers crossed*
Have a beautiful day!!
That breakfast has my drooling! WAAAAY better than Cookie Crisp cereal…then again, the cookie dough was always better than the cookies!
Frozen mango is awesome. I love how it has the “banana creamer” effect too.
I want to make a double compost bin for mother’s day, but my husband hasn’t asked what I wanted, so I’m just hoping he will ask that day and we can run and get some lumber! Right now I’m waiting for some fresh compost and my beds to dry out before I can plant . . . I’m not a patient person :(
Good Luck on your garden!