So...plants are pretty well established, I think it's time to start mulching. My trouble is finding the right mulch. I plan to put down newspaper first (at least between the rows). My hope is to find hay at a reasonable price that does not have any pesticides or herbicides sprayed on it. I'm not confident that I'll have a lot of luck. The city I live near offers free mulch, but it's made from grass clippings that I can only assume have herbicides on them. Another possibility for me is to raid the woods by my house for leaves, but I think it will be a lot of work to get enough of them, and I think I will need to shred them so they decompose better and don't blow around. Figuring this out is one of my jobs for the day.
Another task for today may be to harvest the first strawberries! They weren't quite ready last night when I looked, but I think today is the day. I took this photo a few days ago.
Yesterday I planted some marigolds around the garden--they keep a lot of garden pests away.