Last year I grew much of our food in one bed, that Kirk had carved out for me. Due to it being on virgin land (and island land is “special”, depending on where you live on it, it can be pure sand, a mud bog or hard pack like we have), this land had to be broken open and plowed/tilled. The bed was fun, creative, and grew a lot. See here for how we built it in late 2018.
The original bed was plowed, then covered in layers of cardboard. Then we layed down trees to form beds, and filled it with soil. It had a lot of wasted space I suppose (but I used the center to run sawhorses and wood, to store plants growing for sale.
At the end of the season we took down the fence, and removed all the trees. Kirk plowed it all under (including all the wood chips in the walk areas), and we planted a cover crop. Then left it to be.
In late winter we tilled it under, using our BCS tractor.
Kirk formed rows with the BCS, using the rotary plow attachment.
After forming the rows, we sileage tarped it to ensure seed kill for suppressing weeds.
A couple weeks later we pulled it off. I got in the fencing U posts.
Kirk dropped off the wood chips.
We made pathways thick with chips, to control soil erosion and mud.
We layed down cardboard on the outside of the bed, and covered with wood chips.
Then we put down an inch or two of compost on the top of the rows.
The area was fenced with poly pro deer fencing, then with 3 foot high chicken wire, folded in half (half up the fence, half on the ground), to attempt to keep the rabbits out – who will chew through poly, and or dig under the fence. We then put down a ton of rocks all around the fence.
Not shown, is the added bamboo sticks added to each u post to raise the fence to 7 feet high. It works (knock on wood always!) and is cheaper than buying 9 foot t posts.
First plants in.
With room, I added in 3 u posts to hang up netting for the items needing to be trellised.
It might not be the prettiest, but it works.
The lower field slowly becoming what I want it to be. The new bed is in the left side.
~Sarah