Gardening season is in full swing, and here I am trying to play catch up! Living in two locations has absolutely cramped my gardening style. But first thing’s first: garden beds/areas need to be established before we can put anything else in motion.
This first garden here is an ambitious undertaking: 4 beds, each 4 ft by 20 ft. I also installed 6 arched trellises using cattle panels and t-posts (much thanks to Jess from Roots and Refuge for the idea). All of that took some time and thought, but before all of that I had to decide what to do with the dirt. To dig… or not to dig?
While this is my first garden here, it’s certainly not my first attempt, and I have some sore memories from my last large gardening adventure. One lesson that I learned well is that the soil is the foundation of the garden. This time around I wanted to adopt an approach that would involve healthy soil and minimize weeding. Last time I tilled the ground, and I wasn’t thrilled with my results: lots of weeds, plants struggling for nutrients and moisture in sandy soil mixed with topsoil ordered in bulk.
No matter how you cut it tilling the ground is hard work. I have worked with both hand tillers and roto-tillers. After all that work, it’s just insulting to have such dismal results. Many gardening enthusiasts will strongly urge you to till your soil, but I also had spent some time researching. I found more information than I expected on how to garden without tilling.
So now that I had options, it was time to make a choice with the following things in mind: 1) I do not own a roto-tiller, so if I chose to till I would need to rent/buy one. 2) I largely expected to do this garden project solo 3) There is an awful lot of organic matter on my property, and it would be nice to make the best of it. 4) If I choose to extend/expand my garden (which is very highly likely) it would be best to be consistent with the methodology to establish the new sections. 5) I purchased a home in a location with clay-rich soil that is very compacted. 6) Time is waiting for no-one, and tilling 320 square feet of garden beds is going to take some time.
With all things considered… I have chosen not to dig on this project. I’ll be posting progress reports so everyone can see the results and process. I’ve included a photo of the set-up process underway below. The worst that can happen is that I’ll have to dig next year!
Until the next post, Garden freely, and remember to keep it simple!