Green thumb is itching, anyone else?

[rancher hicks]

Err, I'm going to have to do some more checking. I don't remember anything about packing it with wood.
I did see where they would slope it from very high in the middle (water reservoir in the center) to much lower around the outside - but still raised. I wasn't considering it for the water conservation properties but more for the more ease of hand working it. I read where they are supposed to be easier to work because you're not trying to keep long rows clear of weeds and you can group things denser.

Right now I've got a 10' circle with the grass dug up and turned over. I'm going to add some old hay and some chicken poo/horse poo this weekend and then cover it with a tarp. I'll also have lots of oak leaves to add later, more hay, more poo - lol. Hoping to end up with a slightly raised bed of richer soil by spring.

 

[queenchick16]

Hey Rancher , Thanks. A couple years ago I had the opportunity to get some for free and was told not to 'cause of the weeds. Just assumed they knew what they were talking about.
Carol

 

[Kassaundra]

Err, I'm going to have to do some more checking. I don't remember anything about packing it with wood.
I did see where they would slope it from very high in the middle (water reservoir in the center) to much lower around the outside - but still raised. I wasn't considering it for the water conservation properties but more for the more ease of hand working it. I read where they are supposed to be easier to work because you're not trying to keep long rows clear of weeds and you can group things denser.

Right now I've got a 10' circle with the grass dug up and turned over. I'm going to add some old hay and some chicken poo/horse poo this weekend and then cover it with a tarp. I'll also have lots of oak leaves to add later, more hay, more poo - lol. Hoping to end up with a slightly raised bed of richer soil by spring.

Why 10foot circle?? You will have to walk in it to reach the plants, most raised bed type setups frown on that.

Turn your grass under

you obviously don't have runner grass. That is sooooo not an option for me, can't even mulch the @#$% if you miss a single cell of the stuff it grows back and when it does it knows you tried to kill it so it is angry!!!!

 

[wyoDreamer]

The 10 foot circle will work for a planting bed as long as you use "spokes" of a wheel for walking paths. It could be really pretty like that. But I am not familiar with the garden technique that you are talking about.

On the horse manure, it is a hot manure so you really need to compost it before using it. A proper composting will kill the weed seeds. I was told once that the reason so many dogs like te eat horse apples is because of the undigested grains in it. After the conservation tech said that, I looked closely at the horse manure coming out of a horse barn and sure enough, there was quite a bit of corn and oats in there. Granted, these were boarded horses where everytime the young girl from town came out to see her horse she had to give it a bucket of grain.

 

[canesisters]

gardening newbie (which is probably why my first attempt was a dismal failure)

I was told that was a good way to kill the grass - 'Just flip it over and dump 'compost' stuff on it' ... Oh well.

Perhaps when I dump the leaves on it I'll light them instead of letting them rot... will that kill the grass?

I picked 10' because I thought that I'd need a circle of a couple of feet (at least) in the middle for me - and probably a dog or a cat or whoever is the afternoon's helper... I figured I could reach 3-4' from inside the circle and 3-4' from outside the circle.

Kassaundra, can you toss me a couple of links to info about keyhole/circle gardens? I think that what I'm planning is simply a circle 'shaped' garden with a path to the center and probably not a true 'keyhole' garden.

 

[Kassaundra]

If you grass isn't runner grass meaning putting out long runners that root every few inches along the way, then maybe it will. Almost all my grass is runner grass and that I can tell you absolutely does not kill runner grass. The only think I know that kills runnergrass in fire.

Okay that would work a path or two and the center to work from. The other suggestion about spoke wheel paths would work too.

http://www.texascooppower.com/texas-stories/nature-outdoors/keyhole-gardening


http://keyholefarm.com/
This site is trying to sell stuff but has some good ideas

http://www.sendacow.org.uk/lessonsfromafrica/resources/keyhole-gardens
This one I thought would interest you since they have an example of a low one (not 3 foot tall) but mounded up to the center. Notice it is Africa so still drought tolerant.

http://www.valhalla-project.com/2012/01/from-africa-to-valhalla-keyhole-garden.html

 

[rancher hicks]

Hey Rancher , Thanks. A couple years ago I had the opportunity to get some for free and was told not to 'cause of the weeds. Just assumed they knew what they were talking about.
Carol

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I haven't found it to be that much of a problem. If you were to stick a thermometer into the center of a horse manure pile you'd find it quite hot.

Trust me when I say those "text" book garden pictures did not come as easy as the authors would have you believe. "To weed is to garden and to garden is to weed". While you can't eliminate all the weeds you can reduce the amount you have to do and the time it takes. Weeds will find you, they blow in, get brought in by animals and on you when you enter the garden. With the right strategy you can make the fight easier.

Like I said no one wants to look at pictures in the magazines of the occasional bad tomato or weed in the garden, but they happen. I'll take all the free horse manure I can get.

 

[rancher hicks]

Why 10foot circle?? You will have to walk in it to reach the plants, most raised bed type setups frown on that.

Turn your grass under

you obviously don't have runner grass. That is sooooo not an option for me, can't even mulch the @#$% if you miss a single cell of the stuff it grows back and when it does it knows you tried to kill it so it is angry!!!!

Ohhhh I like you. I wrote a paragraph to this effect but figured I'd got it wrong. The whole point of my raised beds is so I don't have to walk in the plant area and pack down the soil. It's funny to me that I go in with tool in hand to dig my holes to plant my garlic only to toss it aside and dig with my bare hands.

With the right amounts of soil and compost my beds are easy to work in. The weeds pull out without disturbing the plants around them. The occasional weed doesn't throw me. If I miss one, one day I know I'll get it the next. Thinned plants are easily replanted if I want to do that.

Runner grass? I've got one that I'm always fighting (ground ivy) as it was in the yard to begin with. Weeds take the path of least resistance. This is why with ground covers you want to FILL a space you need to weed until the ground cover fills in the spot. Keep the soil workable so ground covers can spread like......well like a weed. My Pachysandra filled in much faster without the competition and uncompacted soil.

There are many barriers you can put in the soil to block weeds with runners but I can't afford them and if I could I would probably use the money for something else.

Though quite honestly I don't think they help much after time goes by.

The picture is Okra. Third year after adding horse manure and before the season was over they were at least four feet high and produced til I left for AL into Oct. The first year was Buttercup squash, which grew all over the yard outside the garden, second year was Butternut squash. From that bed we got at least a half bushel of Butternut.

 

[Going Bhonkers]

Sorry but IMO there is nothing better for fertilizer than horse manure. Even better than chicken. I've been gardening for years. As far as weeds, a good mulch helps. Raised beds even better. I do mulch my raised beds too. I think horse poop gets blamed when it's other things added or picked up along the way. After all horse poop is not bagged right from the source but left on the ground out in the open.

I still get weeds in raised beds

Maybe its because I use topsoil, seems like the weeds grown out of those bags!!

[Happy Thanksgiving!!! ]

 

[rancher hicks]

I still get weeds in raised beds

Maybe its because I use topsoil, seems like the weeds grown out of those bags!!

[Happy Thanksgiving!!! ]

Oh I still get weeds but with raised beds they are easy to pull. I don't spaz over a weed or two either. Of course if I was taking pictures for the magazine I'd clean everything up and pretend that the way things are.

Topsoil is fine. I mix or make my own soil with all sorts of things. Chicken cleanings , hay, straw , horse manure , things from the house, purchased garden soil, peat moss, grass cuttings. etc. etc. and top soil if it goes on sale.