LG,
This sounds like something I'd consider doing--if I understood it a bit better. We moved in too late this summer to get our garden's up, but do you suppose you could post some pictures and maybe a brief "idiot's guide" for this? I know it's not chicken related--but we're all going to survive this winter in Maine together! Let's make the best of it!
I don't have any pictures. You're talking to a techno-idiot here! Perhaps I'll get around to it one day. But, here goes, in book format! And of course it's chicken related. We like veggies... especially salads in November and March. Chickens like veggies. We have chickens, therefore, it's chicken related!
Do you have a spot of ground that could easily have the vegetation removed from it, and that gets good sun, has good drainage and fairly good soil? This late in the season, I'd recommend clearing that ground and getting it tilled to about 6" by what ever means you have at hand ASAP. If you can't get to it right away, start your seeds in pots, and get some plastic over your area to hold the heat and warm the soil. If you had more time, You could use chicken power. An alternative would be to do a "lasagna garden" and surround that with hay bales. (You could build the lasagna pile to within 6" of the top of the bales, and it would settle as it cooks down, I'm not sure how well this would work with a winter cold frame, but worth the experiment. I'm a fan of the lasagna concept, both in the garden, and on the plate. You can google the topic if you're not familiar with it.) Basically, you prepare your soil, and if you're thinking ahead, you plan out your dimensions to be compatible with the size of the bales of hay/straw that you're using. You could even plant the area then place your bales. You use your bales to make a rectangular box around your area. If the bales are tied with bio-degradable twine, be sure to orient them so the twine doesn't touch the ground. If it's plastic or wire, it doesn't matter. 8 - 10 bales makes a nice manageable size ( 3 - 4 for each side, and 1 for each end) Then after it's planted, fertilized and watered, you cover it with construction poly. I like to have the poly drape down over the bales on the long sides, and cover the top of the short sides. That keeps them from getting water logged. If you wanted to get fancy, you could make a wood top to fit your dimensions.... Now that's an idea that I hadn't considered! As if I have time to take on an other project! As mentioned before, you want some type of support under the poly so it doesn't sag under the snow and ice load. I use a piece of cattle panel supported by 2 x 4 or rebar for that. Then I weigh down the edges with bricks or what ever is handy. If you have some rebar or 1/4" fence posts or any thing similar laying around, put that down on the edges, then place the bricks. That helps to keep the wind from catching it and working it loose. If the wind is rugged, you can always peg it down! It's not rocket science... what ever works. You'll have to initially watch the weather and vent or uncover if it's warm, otherwise the stuff will cook in there.
I'm making my hay frame on the north side of the garden to help make a micro-climate on the south side of it that will heat up extra early in the spring. That's an other topic that you might want to research while the winter wind is whistling around your house: how to adapt your garden environment to enhance the micro-climate to increase your growing season. Check out a book called "the 4 season garden."
Here are some
absolutely indispensable (for me) garden aids:
Construction poly. I buy a 4 mil. 12' x 100' roll. It's handy stuff to have around. You can use it to cover areas of the garden in the spring to get a jump start, you can make little poly tunnels, cover a hoop coop or green house, solarize your soil. Old A-frame style -
kids swing set: Makes a fantastic trellis for pole beans. the little hooks at the top support the twine, which is then tied to wires going across the bottom of the legs. It could also be covered with poly to make a red neck cold frame, or with chicken wire to make a red neck chicken tractor.
Rebar- cut into minimum 5' lengths. (It's expensive now, but if you have any, hang onto it. It'll last FOREVER.) Great for any where you need a post or support. can be bent into hoops for a portable tunnel.
Cattle panels. come in a 16' length. They make fantastic trellises, or you can stake 2 parallel to each other and grow your tomatoes in a row between them. Or, you can build a hoop coop or a mini green house with them. Cattle panels are difficult to transport, but they can be hauled in a standard pick-up truck by bending them so they stand up (think inverted U) and tying them off with ratchet straps.)
Jute or sisal twine. Bio-degradable so it can go right into the compost at garden clean up.
