Remember a post several months ago about comparing different methods for building no dig garden beds? Here’s that link:
Well, the results are in and The Happy Homesteader (me) has been totally blown away by the results! The 1/4 circle bed to the left of the front porch was built the way I have always done it. Put down an overlapping layer of cardboard to kill the grass and weeds. Layer kitchen and garden waste – in my case, it’s the expended microgreens trays of soil and root mass – until the bed reaches the desired thickness. Top with a bit of organic compost. Plant and mulch.
The 1/4 circle bed to the right of the front porch was built using Morag Gamble’s method. She doesn’t use cardboard at all. Her method? Use a pitchfork to gently aerate the soil by sticking the tines in a few inches and rocking the fork back and forth. No digging or turning. Add a layer of compost – in my case, the expended trays of microgreens. Cover with a very deep mulch. The results? I guess Morag Gamble really knows her stuff! The right side 1/4 circle had almost no weeds, even after I pulled back the thick layer of straw mulch because of our very wet spring. The 1/4 circle on the left, using my method, had triple the amount of weeds! To be fair, the heavily planted areas didn’t have many weeds but, since I often get behind on planting, the bare areas grew weeds like crazy.
I didn’t plant as much in the “Morag” bed since my compost was the microgreens soil and roots. I was afraid the decomposing roots would tie up nitrogen. This is bed is still very much “in progress.” But the kohlrabi, rhubarb and hostas (behind the sunflowers) did well and the two Hardy Kiwi are busy putting down an extensive root system so I’m hoping for lots of kiwi fruit next year. This bed also gets totally saturated when a bent gutter over the area sends torrents of water into the bed during rainstorms. A ton of sunflowers from the old microgreens trays came up on their own and I decided to just let them grow instead of planting more veggies. Seriously, who among us has the heart to cut down a sunflower??
The left quarter circle produced amazing veggies (in addition to the many weeds). Although I didn’t plant blueberries there after all, the Hardy Kiwi, swiss chard, kale, pole beans, cabbage and cucumbers filled the space nicely and the harvest has been exceptional. This bed was watered regularly to make up for the “unusual” irrigation system of the right side bed. Both beds are still being “built up” and will hold a honeyberry or blueberry when it’s all finished. The veggies will either climb sunflower and amaranth plants or grow in between herbs and perennial flowers throughout the beds.
Looks like I will be making fewer trips to town to pick up cardboard! Stocking up with a few bales of straw will be a lot easier and faster. And in the future? We’ll definitely be using the “Morag Method” here on The Little Half Acre.
