Making of the Garden

Food, not Lawns
As I've mentioned, the new garden is going in where there is now lawn. The sod is quite thick here as it had been only occasionally mowed over the years. Fortunately, cutting and lifting sod in strips is something I have quite a bit of experience with. The strips of sod are being laid upside down in the paths, some on cardboard or plastic mulch, and along the border to help define the area. Once the soil beneath the sod is exposed I work the soil depending on what is being planted. When planting something like potatoes, I barely loosen it with a fork, no turning. If I need a finer seed bed for say, lettuce, I will use the fork to turn and chop and then loosen the top with a garden rake a bit. The goal is minimum disruption.

My chief garden inspirations are Masanobu Fukuoka and Edward Faulkner although, I turn to Rodale a lot for specifics. Honestly, I make up a lot of it as I go along, trying to leave a lot of spontaneity to the overall process. I mostly just try to stay out of the soil's way and observe. This may sound contrary considering the savagery I'm committing by tearing up the sod and exposing the soil beneath. Truly a savage garden. Fortunately, it only has to be done once.


What about Plastic?
I bought a big roll of plastic mulch last year. Decided last season that once I use it up I'll cut it out of the process, of course, that's easy to say when I have probably 5 years worth. It does extend the season and increase yield for toms, peppers and eggplants. The plastic is one of those non-renewable products I can get by without though.

Other Mulch
Under a few of the rows there is some recycled cardboard mulch. I use straw to mulch some beds, depth depends on crop. I am also planting a lot of dutch white clover as a living mulch this year such as in potato and garlic beds. Here is my description of dutch clover for the market:

One of the loveliest and hardest working plants. Scorned by the monoculture lawn lover, this small beneficial plant is beloved by the wise gardener. Clover, like all legumes, has bacterial nodes at their roots which fix nitrogen in the soil, thereby improving fertility. The shallow roots of the dutch white clover do not compete with larger plants and the 3 leafed stems (or 4 if you're lucky) shade the soil and it's micro-critters making dutch white clover a wonderful, natural living mulch. It also helps to crowd out weed seedlings that would later compete with your plants. It is no wonder some gardeners sow it in paths and beneath plants.


Putting The Girls to Work
I do have a few mobile chicken pens, called chicken tractors built from last season. These mobile pens allow one to put the chickens to work in the garden. Park the tractor where you want the birds to cultivate and fertilize and move as necessary (depends on the tractor size/ # of birds). This method also seems to increase the earthworm population after the tractor is moved. This doesn't work with all crops but some plants like pumpkins can take high nitrogen. After they mow down the grass I can go in and mulch to smother out the rhizomes so it saves me the labor of busting that much sod.

This does confine the girls but leaves them access to fresh greens and bugs. I'd prefer to let them run at will. What do you think?