Many years ago, before the garage and breezeway were built, and before our new septic system took over the brunt of the back yard, we had a 24' x 24' ground level garden, complete with wire fencing and a gate. The woodchuck STILL managed to get in and eat everything it could.
This year, one of our Spring projects was to construct a 15’ x 28” x 22” raised garden box behind our wood storage shed. The intent was to be able to plant assorted heat-tolerant plants (it does face directly South), raised up so that the woodchucks and moles won’t gain access to it, and to make weeding a heck of a lot easier. It may even be harder for deer to find their way to the box...
The box is constructed of composite decking on all four sides, with a the side walls buried several inches below grade to prevent critters from digging under (after several weeks of monitoring, nothing has tried to get in).
Now to fill the box. This is where Hügelkultur comes in. We subscribed to the Epic Gardening YouTube channel, and learned about Hügelkultur through watching their video. Hügelkultur is a very old gardening method that involves creating raised garden beds using layers of decomposing wood, plant debris, and soil, which helps retain moisture and improve soil fertility over time. I had brought down a dead cherry tree a few weeks ago, and we opted to break it down and use it for the base layer inside the garden box. Onto that, I put a healthy dump of nearly composted materials and old potting soil and some fresh organic matter. I gave it a good soaking, then to be sure nothing would germinate from that material, I covered with black weed-block and let the sun bake it for a few days.
Next, we added bales of straw! A good source of organic material that will eventually decompose. I actually found a source that had the bales The bound bales of straw arrived in individual cardboard boxes. I removed the weed-block (it did it’s job, the fresh organic matter was pretty well cooked). I cut down the cardboard boxes he bales came in and made a layer of that, then placed the bales on top of that.
The bales were the perfect shape to just slide into the garden box – five did the job, and I had a sixth bale to use for filler and for coverage this Winter. Once I clipped the twine binding, I was able to “fluff” them out; adjust and fill in any gaps. On top of that were several bags of organic compost, potting soil, organic fertilizers, etc. The soil ranges from 6 to 10 inches of depth.
Finally, time to plant!!!
It did take time; not something to whip up over a weekend. I would say it took a better part of a month to bring it all together. As things grow, we have various trellis that will be installed to help with the vines. We'll also begin relocating earthworms into the box as we find them around the rest of the yard.
All in all, a good project! This year, me may actually get a vegetable harvest!
You do not need to make a 15' garden bed to try out Hügelkultur. Jacques at Epic Gardening did a small, ground level trial by digging a shallow ditch to place logs in that he then covered that with the compost and organic material. His patch was only 6'. If you found yourself with some old branches laying around your yard... hey! Recycling at it's best!
Rade
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