Step 1: Lawn & Garden Assessment and Approval
September – November
Once you setup an appointment for us to come view your lawn area or existing garden bed, we will assess the potential areas and decide what we shall do based on the following criteria:
After the assessment, a plan is made, and you approve us to work, we’ll either begin immediately or at a future date.
Step 2: Turning the Grass and Soil
Late September – Early December
The preexisting conditions in your designated area will determine how we will prepare the bed for enrichment.
Lawn to Garden
When converting from lawn to garden, we will take the top 6 inches or so of lawn and flip it over with the grass side down so it will go dormant and be reabsorbed into the soil to aid in the enrichment process.
Preexisting Garden Beds
Depending on the condition of the garden bed and the condition of the soil, we may turn it over to allow the soil to breath (aeration) and prepare for adding soil amendments for creating ideal growing conditions.
In ideal preexisting conditions, the soil is already nutrient rich and needs very little amendment to be ready for growing a healthy crop. Unfortunately with newly converted lawns, the soil is generally in need of some care to grow healthy nutrition rich produce!
Step 3: Adding Soil Amendments
Late September – Early March
Any soil that we have decided to turnover will likely need to be amended – especially in recently converted lawn area or many times because of what’s known as “Colorado Clay.” By adding amendments, we not only enrich the soil, but to also help break down the hard packed rigid structure to become a nice growing medium for root structures.
Soil Amendments – Jovial’s Choice Picks
Materials
All materials are organic!
Step 4: Curing and Tilling
Late November – Early March
After any amendments have been added to the soil and allowed to cure for a month or more, we will move onto the next step of blending the soil together nicely by using our trusty rototiller. This will aid in the breaking down of the amendments to help them adhere and enrich the soil.
Additional amendments may be added to the soil at this time and repeat the process if necessary to ensure ideal growing conditions in the spring.
Step 5: Seedlings and Starters
January 1st – March
Getting an Early Start
The general rule of thumb for direct seed planting is Mother’s Day. By partnering with local greenhouses and starting plants months ahead of time, we can maximize the growing season by being ready to plant right after the last frost.
To better ensure the survival from a last unexpected cold snap, we can begin planting early with varieties of vegetables that do not mind the cold or by using other means of emergency protection.
Step 6: Transplanting
February – March
After our seedlings have grown into starter plants, we will begin the migration from greenhouse to soil! Starting with the cold resilient plants, our gardens should already be well underway by Mother’s Day!
Spring Plant Swap
Be sure to sign up for our newsletter so you know when our neighborhood plant swap event will take place! Our plan is to have 2,000 or more starter plants to be transplanted and to also be traded and given to those who could use them in the local neighborhood!
Step 7: Garden Maintenance
March – November
As soon as the starter plants have been placed in the ground, we will setup a predetermined schedule of time we will be stopping by for routine maintenance weekly or bi-weekly. This way you will be able to plan a bit around these times – we would love if you want to come learn about your garden! If there are any emergency visits, i.e. heat or drought, we will let you know as best we can ahead of time that we are coming.
Routine garden maintenance includes:
NO PESTICIDES, HERBICIDES, OR FUNGICIDES APPLIED! – Strictly Organic Practices
Step 8: Harvesting
April – November
By starting so early in the season, we will begin to have crop yields for a variety of produce numerous times and continuously throughout the growing season!
Delivered Same Day
Once we collect the produce from each garden for the day, we will bring the yields together and deliver them to where they are to be given away.
Step 9: Back to Step 2
Late September – Early December
As each harvest season ends for every type of produce, the beds are to again be prepared for next’s year’s growing season.
Depending on the conditions of the soil and gardens at this time, we may allow the beds to rest for several months and allow the remaining vegetation once harvest is completed to breakdown and return to the soil and begin to amend itself.
Additional amendments may be added if the soil conditions are still poor or lacking, but through our organic gardening methods, a our aim is to revitalize the soil for future generations of produce!
