First Post

We are Matt and Natasha.  We just moved to Baltimore, and are still getting settled.  Aside from living, working, and exploring in Baltimore, we intend to have a garden.  The purpose of this blog is for us to have a log of what we do in our garden and what works and doesn't work.

The back area of our rowhouse has a large raised bed incorporated into it, but it currently houses a plethora of weeds.  This is our garden bed:

From our back door

From the alleyway

We have also heard stories from the neighbors that do not leave us too confident about the soil in the bed.  Apparently, many many many years ago, the old couple that lived here had over a dozen rose bushes and worked in the garden every season.  The story goes on, though, and it seems as though the tenants that moved in after them pulled out all the rose bushes and dumped chemicals in the soil to kill everything.  This does not bode well.  Similarly, the tenants before us let their dog roam through the bed, which also makes it sound like our garden is unlikely to produce appetizing vegetables.

As a result, our first task is to test the soil and make sure there is nothing in it that will harm the edibles we grow (in turn harming us).  More on that later.