Spring is finally here!

The sun is up, the weather is nice, and OSH is having a sale! It would be a shame to sit at home and not to be out in the garden. I skipped breakfast and drove down to the store and picked up a tray of different vegetable seedlings--tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, basil, beans, and some annuals. The minute I got home, I am in the backyard ready for the challenge. We have a decent size backyard (2500 sq. ft) with two vegetable boxes in the middle, an apple, peach, apricot and plum trees, a chicken coop and a greenhouse that John builds for me. Too much to do---I need manpower!
Today, I shall start working on the vegetable boxes and the little patch adjacent to it. I weeded, removed dead debris, shoveled, tilled and amended the dirt with compost and chicken manure. I am not an expert in gardening, and I learned alot from Kwan and by reading about it in books and periodicals. I learned about the importance of plant rotation, companion planting and pest management. By doing so, this will helps repel and attracts beneficial bugs to the environment. Some plants enhance the growth rate and others help flavor other plants, thus creating a balanced and holistic system to the garden. In other words, eco-system, a word that is commonly used nowadays, as more people are growing their own food, raising chickens for eggs, and buying from local farmers. I used to think that organic produce are way overprice and a niche to the consumer---now I think otherwise. Farming, either organic or inorganic is laborious and time consuming. Organic produce takes more time to grow, environmentally safer and has more flavors.
A few useful resources: (I plan to update this list frequently) Mouse over bold text to read more.....
Companion Planting
California Master Gardener Handbook
Community Support Agriculture (CSA)
Clark Summit Farm
Capay Farms
USDA-FSA (Farm Loans Program)
Logees
Turtle Tree Seeds