Laying out the new garden
Starting a new garden is
always an exciting undertaking. This time around, I'm learning from
past mistakes. So the rows are all straight and perpendicular to the
(not-yet-erected) fenceline. Perennial bed widths are planned based on
their eventual occupants --- narrower for asparagus and wider for
brambles. And aisles are a universal 29 inches wide.
I'm going with the
ultra-simple kill mulch in most areas --- compost over cardboard ---
although I know I'll have to deal with some perennial weed intrusions
over the course of the first year. Blueberry-bed preparation is more
complicated, though. Stay tuned for details in a later post!
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Kayla --- I love your positivity!
Eric --- I know that's the oddest number! We actually started with a width of 24 inches, figuring we should maximize space. But as I started laying out the beds and imagining them full of overflowing plants while I tried to wheel a loaded wheelbarrow between them...it just felt too close. So I inched the aisles wider until it felt good, which happened to fall on a prime number.