Transforming our Garden to Raised Rows with Deep Mulch
We have NEVER been this prepared for gardening! Before I share how we are setting up our garden this year, let me tell you where we started.
Our First Garden in Pennsylvania
We were still living in our suburban home in Pennsylvania. Sometime in May 2017, I told James we should have a garden. That weekend, we went to the local garden center and bought 3 tomatoes and a few herbs. When we got home, he asked where I wanted the garden. I pointed to a spot in the lawn and that is where we planted, mulched, and mowed around the tomatoes. That’s right…we planted our tomatoes directly in our lawn, much as you might plant a tree or shrub. As for the herbs, I put them in pots on our deck. While this was not an ideal garden, we were able to have some home-grown tomatoes and herbs throughout the summer. The most important parts of that first garden: we planted and we learned! From this experience, we now know the importance of preparing a garden before planting time.
Fast Forward 4 Years Later
Last winter, at this time, we had pigs in this area. They did a great job eating down the plants, but they were still young, and did not do much rooting or tilling of the soil. We were fortunate enough to have someone from the Build It Up! program come out and till the garden in April. Then, we covered the entire garden with landscape fabric because I knew there was no way I could keep it all weeded. At planting time, we burned holes in the fabric and planted in the soil. While using the landscape fabric worked well and was great for weed suppression, that’s not how we wanted to continue gardening.
Our New and Improved Garden for 2023
That leads us to the garden preparation you see in the pictures below. This will be our second year planting in this space. James and I spent the weekend transforming our garden into our new vision. We created 3 foot wide raised rows by digging up the topsoil from the 2 foot wide walking paths. This increases the nutrient rich topsoil in the planting areas and allows for drainage into the paths, essentially creating swales in our garden which will hopefully reduce the need for irrigation. We amended the soil using materials on hand: bunny berries and ash. Then, we covered our rows with mulch to keep weeds from growing and to improve the water retention of the soil. We will also put mulch in our paths, but we were too tired and sore to tackle that this weekend.
Different Gardening Styles
At this point, I’m beginning to feel like we’ve tried it all: tilling, lasagna method, raised beds, edible landscaping, no-till, and now raised rows, not to mention that early endeavor of “planting in the lawn.” What style of gardening will you do this year? Will this be the same style or a different style from last year?