- Joined
- Jan 5, 2016
- Messages
- 19
- Reaction score
- 10
- Location
- Near Olympia, Washington
- Hardiness Zone
- 8
- Country
Digging a garden to ready it for planting is very hard work, and my ability to do this has become limited in recent years. Because of this I have been experimenting with many different ways to make the work of planting easier. Spring is coming up fast, so I thought I would share what I have learned.
At first I tried various mulching techniques, all of which worked, but still required some shovel digging here and there in order to prepare the rows. Meanwhile the cost of hay and straw bales, even old ones, was something that I was trying to avoid. I eventually filled an old bathtub with potting soil for a lettuce bed, and I also converted an old livestock watering tank into a raised container, but to set these up I still had to have quite a bit of help.
Finally last spring I hit on a no-dig planting method which didn't involve using potting soil, containers or mulch. I broke out my trusty lightweight string trimmer and picked an area which I wanted to plant. Some wethers had been in there a couple of years before, so the ground was very rich. I trimmed the grass right down to the dirt, running the trimmer along the surface of the soil. I made sure I wore safety glasses because those trimmings can really fly!
Once I had exposed the ground, I went out to the compost pile with a hand trowel and a small bucket, and leisurely hand dug some good fluffy compost. Taking it to my garden spot, I dumped it in a hill on the bare ground. I then soaked it well with the hose and repeated this procedure over a period of days, making about three hills a day. After a week, I planted pumpkin seeds and acorn squash in the hills.
It wasn't long before they sprouted. I kept them well watered and had to use Sluggo for the first few weeks, as there are millions of slugs in our part of the state. I weeded the tops of the compost hills by hand, but kept the bulk of weeds away with the trimmer. In a couple of months the plants had grown huge, rooting right into the ground, and weeding was no longer necessary!
This year I am going to plant the whole garden in this manner. Smarter gardeners than I have no doubt been using this technique for years, but for me it was a revelation!
At first I tried various mulching techniques, all of which worked, but still required some shovel digging here and there in order to prepare the rows. Meanwhile the cost of hay and straw bales, even old ones, was something that I was trying to avoid. I eventually filled an old bathtub with potting soil for a lettuce bed, and I also converted an old livestock watering tank into a raised container, but to set these up I still had to have quite a bit of help.
Finally last spring I hit on a no-dig planting method which didn't involve using potting soil, containers or mulch. I broke out my trusty lightweight string trimmer and picked an area which I wanted to plant. Some wethers had been in there a couple of years before, so the ground was very rich. I trimmed the grass right down to the dirt, running the trimmer along the surface of the soil. I made sure I wore safety glasses because those trimmings can really fly!
Once I had exposed the ground, I went out to the compost pile with a hand trowel and a small bucket, and leisurely hand dug some good fluffy compost. Taking it to my garden spot, I dumped it in a hill on the bare ground. I then soaked it well with the hose and repeated this procedure over a period of days, making about three hills a day. After a week, I planted pumpkin seeds and acorn squash in the hills.
It wasn't long before they sprouted. I kept them well watered and had to use Sluggo for the first few weeks, as there are millions of slugs in our part of the state. I weeded the tops of the compost hills by hand, but kept the bulk of weeds away with the trimmer. In a couple of months the plants had grown huge, rooting right into the ground, and weeding was no longer necessary!
This year I am going to plant the whole garden in this manner. Smarter gardeners than I have no doubt been using this technique for years, but for me it was a revelation!