Spring has Sprung!

I started poking around in the intervale plot today! I rescued my wandering bucket, checked on the garlic (it seems to have lived!) and lightly forked up the area that will house peas and favas this year. As expected, the bare, loose soil was perfect for the quack grass to spread over the winter and I removed probably a bushel of rhizomes while I was loosening the soil.

I think I'm going to dig some soil out of my pathways and fill them with wood chips this year. I hope it will provide a little drainage though I'm not exactly planning on digging full trenches. It should also provide something of a barrier to the quack grass, at least in so much as it makes it easy to find and yank. Most importantly, they'll be a good source of surface soil carbon for the soil bugs/fungi in the beds as well as helping to prevent compaction where I walk.