As a gardener, I am constantly thinking ahead. My thoughts never stop at the current years garden, I try to think years ahead. And every summer/fall I feel like I am thinking more about the next years garden than I am about my current garden. This is because successful gardening benefits from planning and preparation. I am going to share with you an idea to easily make permanent garden beds without having to dig or rototill. This will create a bed that you won’t need to rototill, but thanks to earthworms and other creepy-crawlies underground, your soil won’t need it.
A few years ago I started making a big change toward no-dig beds in my garden. I usually have about 60 beds, but I change the nonpermanent bed structure around from year to year, but I generally have around 60 beds and a few bigger plots for corn and squash. Because of how many beds I have, and the fact that my garden is tended to be me and my children, going 100% no till is a process. I don’t have a tractor, or superhuman strength, but each year more and more beds get converted and it will be a work in progress for another couple of years. If I can do this while homeschooling eight children, it gives me hope that anyone can get a bed or two put together without having to rent any equipment or spend hours you may not have. I don’t even use a tiller to make my beds in the fall anymore!
All you need is cardboard, compost, and mulch. And if you start your bed now, it should be ready to plant into in the spring without much prep work at all. I have spent many a spring tilling, pulling weeds, and spending so much time preparing beds when I should be sowing seed and transplanting. Switching to no till beds has been a big time saver in the spring, then I can put time into them to refresh them later in the season.
If you are frugal-minded (I am, so I thought I’d share some ideas to keep costs low), you can save cardboard from your household, ask friends to save , or ask local stores if you can take some of the cardboard they are discarding. I have a store locally that will let me take all the cardboard I want! Stay away from boxes that have been covered in wax or a glossy finish. As far as compost, many farms are willing to just give it away if you have a way to haul it. Some will let you drop a trailer at their farm and they will fill it when they clean their barn, others may have a tractor that they can load their manure pile into. If you are really lucky, they may have manure that has already aged and is just sitting around! If you have rabbits, their manure is like garden gold – it doesn’t require aging and it does lovely things to your garden. As far as mulch, if you have an accessible spot you might be able to talk your local tree service into dropping a load of tree mulch in your driveway or backyard, maybe a friend will have a spoiled bale of straw, maybe you can save newspaper and ask that your friends do, too. Here are some mulch ideas.
I am going to assume you know exactly where you want to place your bed. I will write up a post about garden planning soon. You want to be sure your spot has enough sunlight, fertile soil and good drainage before placing a bed on it. Then cut the grass nice a low, lay cardboard down completely covering your bed, then pile on compost. Depending on the time of year you are doing this, mulch (if you choose to use it) can be put on right away or wait – I prefer to make new beds in the fall, or at least get the cardboard and compost on. Then, after a good frost I will put the mulch on (though, admittedly, I have put mulch on any time of year just because if I have the time, I need to take it… but my preference for topping with mulch is after a good frost). That is the basic idea.
Some people prefer to rototill the soil before placing cardboard on. Some people prefer to dig out the center and place old/moldy straw or hay in the center before piling dirt back on. There are a variety of ways to go about this.
You can do rows or your entire garden. I do rows, about 50ft long, about 4ft wide and I leave a small path to walk on and get a wheelbarrow down. to keep the paths walkable, I use a weedwacker and go over the grass once a week in my aisles.
As far as upkeep, each year I place a new layer (though not as thick) of compost on at least once a year, if not a couple of times depending on if the crop I am growing is a heavy feeder or not. I also refresh the mulch once a year with a few inches of wood chips that have aged a year, or moldy hay.