Making the Bed

Our "Sheet Mulch" demonstration on Thursday was great! The sun was shining and everyone was in a cheery garden-friendly mood. In case you missed it, here's a recap of the demo:

The new Pumpkin Patch



When putting in a new garden bed, there's no reason to cut sod or turn the soil; create a lasagna-type bed that will grow happy, healthy veggies! 

Sheet-Mulching Method:

Creating Garden Beds

Without Digging

Keep bed damp as a wrung out sponge.
* Water between layers as the garden bed is assembled. This step is very important!

1st layer: 1" manure (chicken poo works best)
2nd layer: 1/8-1/4" cardboard or newspaper
3rd layer: 1" more manure
4th layer: 6-8" organic matter (garden mulch, leaves, etc)
5th layer: 4" straw (weed-free material/straw or leaves)
6th layer: 1/2" compost on top

Note that some variations of this method may be used depending on materials available.  The important thing to remember is that the cardboard/newspaper need to be continuous for them to work to suppress growth of whatever is on the sod/soil being covered up.  Weeds and grass will find their way through if there are gaps.  Also, the top “dressing” of compost should be free of materials with seeds in it or a curious mixture will sprout!

This new bed has only about 1" of compost on top. Since we will be direct-planting into it, next week we will add another 1-2" of compost on top. When we're ready to plant, we will put our pumpkin transplants directly into the bed. When we plant, the underlying straw will be pulled back, additional compost added to the "planting hole", then our transplant will be nestled in for the summer!


Perfect day for digging in the dirt!

 There is an existing bed where an apple tree, rhubarb, hollyhock and stachys are planted. We extended this bed out 10' to meet the concrete pathway. This bed gives us an additional 30'sf of planting space!