My Garden is Expanding

[Cats Critters]

I finished fencing the flower bed/smallest bed last week (picture from today):

I started planning my garden Saturday and came to the conclusion that the space I have set up to plant is not enough for all the seeds I bought/ what I want to grow. So I went out and looked at my old big bed and the bed I was making. The big bed last year:

I came to conclude that they weren't going to work, I tried a couple of plans, combined both beds and and added on to them. Then I fenced it, in doing so using up all my left over fence.

The metal sheets and outdoor rug (left top) are to help kill off the grass, after the grass is killed off I'll move them to cover up the rest of the grass and cover up the dead with chicken bedding.

It should be interesting to see how I do on weeding, I've never been good at keeping up on it. But the to-do list has shrunk and grown in one weekend.

 

[Rte.66_chicks]

That kept you busy! Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[Nicola]

once the garden bed is set up and weeded and you have what you want planted in it for the growing season and they are established .. lay down newspaper around the plants in a thickness about 3 sheets thick, and put sugarcane mulch or any other type of mulch over the top and it will decrease the need to weed as the weeds will have trouble growing though the newspaper, and also when the mulch breaks down it puts nutrients back in the soil

 

[StupidBird]

I second the deep mulch thing! Every year I buy a big roll of hay for mulch and lay it on deep through out the year. While there are persistent weeds such as trumpet vine, bermuda grass, etc. that push through, the soil stays softer and these are much easier to pull or loosen with the spade. The earthworms are everywhere.

 

[galanie]

I third deep mulch! Cuts down on watering, keeps down the weeds, rots and adds to soil fertility, I could go on and on. I don't mulch in the early spring though as it's usually wet enough and I want the soil to be warm. But as soon as I think it's warm enough, that mulch gets piled on. Then later I pile on more. And more. I try to keep it at least 6" deep but you know, if the plant is only 3" high then that could be a problem