My First Vegetable Garden - Part 4

Good morning/afternoon/night all my gardening friends. Thank you for reading this far...the 4th installment. I enjoy sharing my experiences with you and I hope to inspire some of you to start a project of your own.

We left off with a completed and empty bed ready to be filled. Finally, at this stage, I couldn't have been happier to move to the next step. Just a reminder, in the previous article, I talked about the concept of Hügelkultur. Using tree logs, limbs, branches, twigs, and other organic matter at the base of a planting bed buried under soil is the best way to feed and provide extra water for your plants in dry times.

I started with some broken down cardboard from various Amazon orders and boxes from the local Aldi grocery store. On the "floor" of each raised bed, I lined it with the cardboard. This acts as a weed barrier that gradually breaks down and feeds the earthworms.

On top of this, I laid down cut logs from a fallen tree in the front yard. More on that tree later. I lined the bottom with logs that I had stockpiled next to my shed and I also salvaged the ones from my first attempt using them as a raised bed.

In the driveway was a huge brush pile that had been there for God knows how long. It was partially composted underneath. Once I had the logs along the length, I used the composted brush to fill in the gaps between those logs. In addition, I buried the grass clumps I had accumulated when I originally cleared the site. Afterwards, I piled some branches and dead vines on top of them.

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It was a lot of effort, but I eventually filled the bed with brush.

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Thereafter came the arduous task of filling up the remainder with the excavated soil. It wasn't too bad because I threw all the soil I originally removed up yhe hill on the slope. So it was a matter of scooping some up and gently tossing it to the bed below.

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The last order of business for this bed was top dressing it with homemade compost composed of last years kitchen waste, weeds, grass clippings, shredded leaves, coffe grounds, egg shells, and whatever other organic matter I collected throughout the winter.

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