Now that it's really starting to warm up outside, I just couldn't put it off any longer and had to get my vegetable garden plot ready for this year's planting season. As you may know, I already started some seeds indoors and have little tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, kale, herbs, and sunflower seedlings growing. These are all starting to hit the 3 to 4-inch height mark, and I am going to have to transplant them into bigger pots soon, to avoid the roots from getting too intertwined in the egg carton tray that I used to start the seeds. You can follow along with more recent pictures and updates on my plants on my Facebook and Twitter. While I will probably first transplant them into bigger pots first before setting them out in the garden, I wanted to get the vegetable plot ready to go, in case the weather does warm up quickly (and stays warm) and ended up creating this 4 x6 foot garden plot:
I have been reading more and more about "permaculture" lately, and how it can help gardeners improve their gardens. By putting to use, skills and techniques that will enhance your soils fertility, water retention and sustainability, you can garden in an environmentally friendly way while at the same, time making less work for yourself and increasing your harvest. One of these techniques, known as Hugelkultur, is the simple method of building raised garden beds or mounds that will feed your soil over extended periods of time and help retain water better. I figure this is perfect for my garden! Hugelkultur is a German word, which literally translates to "Hill Culture/Gardening" and has been practised for hundreds of years throughout Europe. Though Hugelkultur is just now becoming a more popular gardening method in the last few years, the benefits of this style of gardening bed are countless. Besides the fact that they are by definition raised garden beds, they are a great way to reuse rotting wood and other garden compost material such as leaves and shrubs that you would otherwise set out to the curb. This has the benefit of returning nutrients back to the soil without the need off added fertilisers. Some of these beds have been known to "feed" the soil for 15 plus years depending on the amount and size of materials used. The wood that is placed in the centre core of these raised mounds also helps retain moisture, slowly releasing it back into the soil during drier periods of the year, thus reducing the amount of watering required.
A Hugelkultur garden bed is basically a pile of dried logs, branches and twigs, that is then covered with various layers of material, such as fallen leaves, straw, upturned sod,and plain cardboard before being covered with a layer of compost and then top soil. While I chose to build mine in a hole I had dug to create a more conventional looking vegetable plot, most hugelkulture beds form large mounds that can have sides as steep as 45 degrees. The logs and other woody material in the centre breaks down over time, slowly releasing nutrients and creating air pockets that warm up the soil faster, and help regulate the soil temperature. As I had mentioned above, the wood also helps retain moisture. While these types of garden beds can be used to redirect water runoff and in some cases dam the water to allow for slower distribution of the water in the ground. Care needs to be taken as a hugelkulture bed is not as solid as a "swale" or "dam" and if too much water collects or flows past, it may start to erode the structure which may cause it to collapse and break apart.
Since I am on a bit of a budget right now and don't have access to cedar planking, with which I would ideally like to build raised garden bed sides. I opted instead to use the cut logs from a very large maple tree we had cut down last year.
Teresa
This is such an interesting concept. I've been using square foot gardening methods for years and have gotten great results, but the idea of a self-feeding garden is really appealing. There's so much soil loss happening around the world that helping to create it should be every gardener's goal.
Redawna
If I was still in the country I would definitely try this type of garden. The idea of it being fed from the under side is pretty cool! And it should keep the weeds to a minimum.
I have always been a strong proponent of mulching. My very first garden had an extreme thistle problem and the soil was hard and oviously lacking nutrients so I was mulching with thick layers of newspaper, cut grass and leaves. It worked very well. A farmer would come in the spring with his tractor mounted tiller and he would till it to a depth of a foot and I would start all over again.
I can't wait to see how your garden grows!