these garden beds are said to be fantastic for veggies, producing much more produce than regular garden beds. mine are varied from esther deans gardening book-growwing with digging (i think i blogged about it like a year ago-yes its taken me that long to get arround to having a go!!)
for a garden bed you need-
old newspapers, pea straw, lucern hay (i didnt have any so for now ive used regular hay) some well aged manure or blood and bone, compost (i used dirt from my old veggie patch at mums garden)
soak the old newspaper thoroughly in water. we had lots of rain yesterday so our rainwater tanks run off was full. perfect, even less wastage for my project!
layer newspaper over the area you want the garden bed. it can be over weeds, dont worry about getting rid of them. the thicker your layer of newspaper the better. this will keep weeds from growing through. overlap edges by around 15cm to avoid weed growth at the joins.
you can stomp down the newspaper if the weeds are keeping it high off the ground, little helpers enjoy this job. sprinkle with your ferteliser of choice (manure or blood and bone)
cover the newspaper with chunks of pea straw or lucern hay(as it comes off the bale)
sprinkle with more ferteliser (if you have more than one type its good to use something different for this second layer to vary nutrients)
add a thick layer of loose straw or hay and water down well.
pull apart the straw where you want to put a plant or seeds
fill with compost or organic matter rich dirt.
plant seedling or seeds.
i put 4 or 5 hand spades full of dirt in each hole as the dirt sinks in a bit
water in well
it would look great to have edging for the garden beds but ive found they stay in place just fine as long as theyve been watered in well. unless chickens get into them, thats another story and its not pretty!
if anyone else has a go at this or already has, please do let me know how you go!
I have been dying to try this.... I am waiting for my compost to mature!! Thanx for the tut karen.
ReplyDeleteThis looks very easy Karen! I can see a whole new use for the driveway now!!! Imagine one great big long no dig garden bed :) filled with cucumbers, tomatoes, spinach - you name it.
ReplyDeleteI will show David - he's busy planting right now!
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I did a no dig vegie patch 4 years ago i planted tomatoes,herb, carrots and onions.
ReplyDeleteBut the chooks jumped the fence I had around it and got stuck into digging up the carrots. The onions that survived where small but very tasty..:)
Oh and the tomatoes where great too....:)
still waiting on new blog slacker :P
ReplyDeleteI love raised beds, we have a 40 acre farm and all our veg are grown in this manner. Ours are 15ft long and the centre of each are arms width wide. That way you never have to walk on the beds, you can just reach across and pull. Its such a great way to plant, our children love it as they no longer have us yelling at them!!
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