Simple Sheet Mulch aka "Back to Eden"

This is my simple sheet mulch project, to create my first garden on my new property.  This is similar to what is called the "back to eden method" or the "Ruth Stout method".

I started by marking out the area that I wanted to use. It is 4'x16'.  I weedwacked the area as low as I could. As seen above.

Next, I covered the areas with a layer of cardboard. I made sure to overlap the ends, to prevent any unwanted weeds from coming through.

Then, I dumped about 9 or 10 buckets of mulch material on top of the cardboard. I got this material from my local compost facility for free.  It is a nice blend of finished compost and wood chips.

To finish it off, I spread the mulch evenly over the area and watered it really well to soak the cardboard. That's it.  It took about an hour to create a nice little starter garden.  I've only used an 4'x8' area so far because I didn't have enough mulch, but I will do the rest the next time I can get into the compost facility.

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Three-bin compost system.... and a surprise ending!

I wish I had taken a "before" photo.  The three-bin compost system at my community garden has been neglected and was overrun with all kinds of dead plant matter. With the help of my mulch fork, I did something about it today.  We could use some new pallets soon, but at least I got it cleaned up and added the mulch to make it safer to walk in the area.

If you're not familiar with the three-bin system, you basically add all your raw compostable materials in one side and when it starts breaking down, you move it to the second section,hen when the second section breaks down some more, you flip it to the third section to finish.

There are endless benefits of adding compost to your garden, so I won't go into it, but I heard an interesting quote about compost today:

"Compost is the currency of the garden."
     - Huw Richards
https://youtu.be/s7iu4xgSu1Y

Will you look at this....

Just as I thought I was finished writing this blog post on this cloudy, late-April afternoon, the sun decided to say hi from under the clouds for a magnificent sunset.

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Planting potatoes for 2020

It's potato day 2020 and as usual, I'm trying something new.  I had purchased a few bags of potatoes back when the grocery shopping panic was happening a month and a half ago.  I had one bag that I didn't use fast enough and they all sprouted eyes, so I'm giving them a chance to work in the garden. 

I had a 4'x4' raised bed that was lying fallow, so that seemed like an ideal spot.  I raked away the mulch and dug some shallow trenches to plant in. Unlike the traditional method, I placed the potatoes in whole, rather than cutting them up.  I figured it would increase the strength of the plants as well as my chances of success. 

There was just enough soil to cover the potatoes back up, and then I covered the soil with an inch or two of the wood chips that I had right there.  I will add more wood chips soon, but this should give them a head start while we get some rain for the next few days.  I plan to hill them with wood chips until they stop growing or the chips overflow the area.

I'm hoping the wood chips work wonders for the potatoes like I have heard about from people like Paul Gautschi. I can visualize them growing through and setting potatoes on the vines, beneath the surface of the wood chips.  

With people talking about food shortages, increasing food prices and overall inflation, people's fears are on the rise.  God willing, this should give me a little bit of "food insurance" to help improve my odds of success throughout this unstable situation that we're all in right now. 

Good day everyone and may God bless you. 

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The Story of my Community Garden Plot Part 1

It has been quite a while since I have written on here.  I'm on to a new garden location and I have been working on it for the last year and a half.

This garden is a 1000 square foot plot in a community garden.  When I first walked through, I loved the location because it was on the end of a row, it had great visibility and I knew there was a lot of room for improvement. It was so overgrown! The whole thing was overrun with weeds and some of them were taller than me.

First order of business was to clear it out so I could actually move in there. It was already September and I had to get the place prepped so I could move some perennials in there before the danger of frost. It took me three tanks of gas and lots of string in my weedwacker to get through it all, but it was immediately worth it.  Apparently the people who had this plot before me had planted it in the spring and there were tomatoes in the corner that were nice and ripe, so that made a nice treat to reward me for my efforts.

After only a day of weedwacking I had discovered a few surprises.  As I was going along, I quickly got a whiff of onions.  I looked down and found a plant that I had been curious about, but never bought: Egyptian walking onions.  They were everywhere! 

Soon thereafter I found a strawberry patch that I uncovered from the jungle of weeds, then an bed of yellow onions.  The last thing I noticed was as I was leaving, hanging from the arbor was a bunch of Scarlet runner beans. This was a plant that I had recently learned about. I heard that Bill Mollison had considered these the best bean you could grow.

How I built my raised bed greenhouse

I want to to explain how I built my simple miniature greenhouse in case anyone is curious. If I recall correctly, the total cost of material was under $100.

1.  I built my raised bed frame out of two 2x8s @ 12 feet long and two 2x8s @ 4 feet long. I simply screwed them together with 3-1/2" long exterior grade screws.  I use 3 screws per corner and make sure they are centered in the board you are going into the long way.  I drew red lines on the photo (below) to show where the screws are.

*As for the type of wood, I used cheap natural spruce boards but you could also used cedar or something.  Spruce is known to rotationally fairly quickly so I will have to replace boards as needed, but I would NEVER use pressure treated wood in the vegetable garden because of the chemicals they treat the wood with.

2.  Backfill with good soil.

3.  For the hoops, I used 3/4" galvanized conduit and bent it 180 degrees at approximately a 4 foot diameter. I placed them every 4 feet along the raised bed and used conduit mounts to fasten them in place with 1-1/4" screws as seen below:

4.  I covered it with 6mil clear plastic.  A 12'x25' piece was more than enough, but not enough to make two.  The corners can be a little tricky, so I took the slack at the corners I rolled it up tightly and clamped it in place. I used 2" spring clamps.

This is how I built mine and I would love to hear how you built yours.

Thanks for reading!

I have already begun!

Yesterday, was the official kickoff to my gardening season!  I mixed up some seed starting soil mix tried out my new soil block maker to start some seeds indoors.  I did kale, broccoli, arugula and Swiss Chard. I also direct sowed some mesculin mix in my new mini greenhouse that I built last month.

It has been so unseasonably warm this week, that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to attempt an early spring garden. If it doesn't work, who cares.  It was probably less than a dollar worth of seed and a dollar worth of soil.

The mini greenhouse is being put to the test.  I felt the air inside it yesterday and it was probably 15 degrees warmer than the air outside.  I built it on top of my new 12"x4' wood framed raised bed.  The greenhouse itself is made out of bent 3/4" conduit and 6mil clear plastic.

The soil block maker was my other investment for this year.  I'm not going to do a full product review, but so far it seems to be working.  If you want to see how they work, check out: http://www.johnnyseeds.com/tools-supplies/seed-starting-supplies/soil-block-makers/hand-held-20-soil-blocker-9528.html#q=Soil%2Bblock%2Bmaker%2B&lang=en_US&start=1

Christmas wishes

*singing*

I'm dreaming
Of a warm
Greenhouse.
So I can grow my food while it snows.

See the carrots glisten
And kale and spinach missin'
The sun
be-cause it is the sol-ol-stice.

I'm dreaming
Of a warm
Greenhouse
While snow gets deeper every week.

May your carrots
May your carrots
May your carrots
Grow sweet, straight and lo-o-o-ong
And may all your greenhouses stay warm!