Digging New Beds 3

Alright..... Here we go again!

After digging the leaves into the soil, I dug one to two inches of soil from the path on the left side of the bed and added it to the bed. This was to be sure all of the leaves were covered with soil. As I dug it out I sloped the soil toward the bed, so when we get heavy rain any excess water can drain into the bed and hopefully get stored in the loose subsoil.

After grading the path, I laid down a double layer of cardboard.

I'm leaving the path on the right side of the bed bare until I complete the second bed. Then I will use soil from the path to top off the second bed.


After laying down the cardboard, I covered it with a 3 inch layer of wood chips. I'm leaving the stakes on the corners to help guide hoses when I'm watering the beds.

So this bed won't need any more work until I need to apply compost about the second week of February. Hopefully my compost will be ready by then. Its not decomposing as quickly as I would like. When I built this pile I used a lot of Palmetto fronds and they aren't decomposing as fast as some of the other materials that I've used before....like oak leaves or banana leaves. I probably won't use the Palmetto leaves again when I'm trying to make compost quickly. But I will still use them for something.... I use all the organic material from my property some where.

So, I won't bore you with more step by step on the next bed, but I will post some photos of the completed project when it is finished.

Thanks for reading my blog!


Soooo...... Until next time......HAPPY GARDENING!

Digging New Beds 2

Since my last post, I have removed the sod from the area for the first bed. I drove in stakes to mark the corners of the bed and pulled string around the stakes to out line the bed.

Here I have dug the first trench in the double digging process.

 The soil was shoveled into my lawn cart until I need it to fill in the final trench at the other end of the bed. Digging for a few hours each day, it took two days to complete the digging. I was quite surprised at how tightly packed the subsoil was. It took more force than I thought it would to get the fork in to its full depth, so that I could fluff that layer. After digging I used a hard tine rake to smooth it off.

This bed is 4 feet wide and 25 feet long for a total of 100 square feet of growing space.

 You might be able to see here that it created a raised bed about 4 inches high.

After smoothing the bed I topped it off with a layer of partially decomposed leaves and twigs, that I had from my last wood chip delivery. It does have some small wood chips mixed in, but it is the only organic matter that I have. With our warmer weather, the leaves have stopped falling so I'm just using what I have available.

I dug this into the soil in the hopes that it will decompose by March, when I will be planting my spring garden. I finished all of this up yesterday at about 4:30. At this point I was pretty much exhausted, so I will continue this in my next post. Then I will show how I do the paths around the bed.



Soooo......Until next time......HAPPY GARDENING!

Winter Garden Update

What a difference a month makes!
 This is how my winter garden looked just 1 month ago.

 

 

 

Now it looks like this.

 

 

 

In the lower right part of this bed I had originally seeded some Spinach. It came up well, but after getting 1 1/2" tall it started disappearing. Probably taken out by Cut Worms. So I planted a few Collard seedlings to fill in that space. The rest of the plants are doing great. I'm not sure why they are doing so well. Maybe it is because of the double dug bed....maybe it is because of the large amount of compost that I dug in. Whatever the reason I'm very happy with the results. I'll be eating fresh Collards for Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

The Turnips are growing well too!

 

 

 

This is Okinawa Spinach that I started from a cutting. I was surprised at how good it taste the first time I tried it. It is tender and mild with an almost sweet flavor. A very good addition to a salad! If you can get some cuttings give it try.

 

 

 

 I'm not sure what this flower is. It came out of a mix of seeds from a friend. It was suppose to be a mix of Fennel and Cilantro, which were in the mix. Anyway, it adds some color to the bed.

Can anyone identify it?

 

UPDATE: David the Good from www.floridasurvivalgardening.com has identified this flower for me. It is a purple Cosmo...it will self seed and come back every year. WOOHOO!

Thanks David! 

 

 

 

This bed has convinced me that double digging makes a difference and it isn't that much more work once the soil from the first trench is removed. I think it has also shown me that raised beds don't dry out to fast, at least during the cooler months. I'm going to try this method when I dig my new beds for spring!

 

 

 

Soooo...... Until next time...... HAPPY GARDENING!

 

 

 

 



Winter Garden

This morning I did some weeding and mulched my bed of greens. I planted this bed about a month late this year. I double dug the bed and pulled a couple of inches of soil from the paths to create a raised bed. I usually don't make raised bed.... I think they dry out to fast in our sandy soil. We will see. I added wood chips to the paths at the advice of a friend that is a permaculture designer. He said this will make the paths hold water and the plants in the bed will put roots over below the path to use the reserve of water. There is also a 2 foot high fence around the bed to keep my little dog out. He could probably jump over, but he hasn't figured that out yet.

  I'm sure this bed will provide greens all winter then come on strong in the spring and I'll be putting lots of greens in the freezer.

Soooo......Until next time.......HAPPY GARDENING!