(The first one 3'x32' is next to the dog kennels had a fantabulous spring, right up until winter arrived the first of April... aw, well, so now I know what crocus and tulips look like and boy howdy will I be doing more this fall!)
Sol... have started another bed, this one more ambitious.
The outside is 40'x8', framed in landscape timbers. It's subdivided into 7 ea 4'x8' beds with a 2' walkway between each bed. I could not reach comfortably across a 3' bed, but with the walkways, I will only have to reach 2'. Also, there is a slope, so this will semi-terrace the project by going across the lay of the land instead of up and down hill.
The whole thing is next to my driveway, under an edge of pine trees to the north, on the poorest soil imaginable -- grass won't grow in it. And gets 6 hours of mid day sun.
1) took a maddock and broke up the top inch or two of the world's worst ground.
2) I've got the wet newspaper down, and I have pre-digested it by leaving it in a carfboard box all winter -- sounds a lot more planned than it actually was.
3) Will mound up in layers last falls composted sugar maple leaves & winter cuttings of grass (we had no winter until April), mushroom dirt, peat moss, horse stall leavings that I have let sit and think about growing things all winter, and a barky sort of potting soil I got on the cheap.
4) Plan on layering the above and planting asap since everything is in pots and is getting harder to keep alive as the spring progresses.
The back of each bed will be a rose of sharon sprout, then daylillies, then the front 3/4 of each bed will each be different from the next. I'm a big fan of "plant it and see if it grows." But the top one will be an herb garden -- mostly. So when I get out and open/close the drive-gate, I will smell herbs!
And the whole thing will be mulched -- boy did I learn my lesson this spring, things that were mulched had virtually no weeds, things that weren't mulched... I many be growing lovely crops of weeds in places. Oh, well.
(I missed this forum! But this winter was too busy with dog mushing and grandma's poor health -- but I'm back!!!!!)
Another new semi-lasagna bed - next to the driveway
