SpicyDisaster Garden Paradise Project

[SpicyDisaster]

My raised beds are just mounded earth. To help keep them mounded, I have rocks on the sides. It helps, but doesn't stop them from settling and spreading. Bigger rocks would be better, but I'm limited by what I can move.

In between the beds are walkways that I cover with thatch to help keep down the weeds. In the fall, the thatch goes on top of the beds. It's been trampled quite a bit by then and is pretty well broken down physically. I put compost on top of that to "renew" the bed for the next spring.

Most of my garden is built on the cheap with sweat equity. A lot of sweat equity!

One thing I never thought I'd miss was rocks. At our old house they were a constant bane of my (gardening) existence. Now that we live on 20ft of pure soil without a stone to be found, I'm definitely missing the versatility of them.

After pricing it out today and getting some quotes definitely going with mounded beds for 6 of them and looking at using some steel roofing panels to create two raised beds for the root veggies. If I did my math correctly we need about 18 cubic yards of compost to create a 50/50 mix in the mounds and the beds. If only the chicken compost was cooking along faster. Desert composting is so much harder than humid temperate composting.

We have wood chips that were delivered that we will be doing between the beds and hubs got a rototiller to mix the compost in once I pull the trigger on it.

In other news (which I don't have a picture of yet, dang COVID brain), the irrigation folks were out today digging trenches and laying pipe for the main lines around the house. The whole yard is a criss-cross pattern that the pups aren't too keen on jumping over. I got the beds flagged out so I know how they will fit and the chickens watched the whole thing from inside their run. They are NOT happy about the confinement 900 sq ft compared to having free rein of 3000 sq ft. Still no sprouts on the pasture for the girls unfortunately. I'll get pics tomorrow of the trenches and the beds. It has been fascinating to watch the work going on while laid up in the house sick.

 

[Sally PB]

It has been fascinating to watch the work going on while laid up in the house sick

Good sentence, until the last 7 words. Sorry you don't feel well, but glad your project is progressing.

 

[SpicyDisaster]

A bit bright and windy this morning. The green flags mark the edges of the beds seven 4x32 beds and one 8x32 bed. Main line is the visible trench with the spigots for each bed going in with a timer/control box.

I think the project should be done in the next week. Then rototill the area, shape the beds, and spread wood chips out for the pathways between beds. I'm thinking we will get the blueberries planted in that time as well. They've weathered the winter and chickens so deserve a nice in-ground location for the year.

 

[SpicyDisaster]

Well the weather decided that finishing irrigation last week wasn't the plan anymore. Had to send the workers home as snow started piling up. I got suckered by Fool's Spring and we went from 60 degrees to 5 degrees. The chickens are hating the white lava as usual.


Herb garden beds had holes drilled in the bottom and I raked up the chicken winter debris (straw, feathers, manure) to layer the bottom of each stock tank 4". Waiting on irrigation to finish before ordering 20 yards of compost to be delivered for tilling and mixing into the beds.


While we were stuck inside inside, I got two trays of seeds started. Lettuce, thyme, onions, lavender, and calendula. The goal is to put the lettuce outside in two weeks and the onions out in 4 weeks. Fingers crossed the timelines for everything work

Chicks should arrive on Wednesday meaning I'll have split attention the next couple weeks between projects and floors. Really hoping to see some more growth in the pasture soon. Some clover had started germinating before the snow!

 

[SpicyDisaster]

20 cubic yards of compost delivered today! Not the most thrilled it's municipal compost (already picked out some plastic and concrete), but it was 1/3 of the price soooo that's what we got. The plan is to fill two raised beds and 3" of compost tilled into the in-ground beds.

Irrigation is 95% done, they just need to finish wiring the timers and installing the spigots at each bed. We got the herb stock tanks leveled out on gravel and positioned. Unfortunately hubby forgot about the compost needing to be 50/50 so he's got some un-filling to do on the first three tanks.

Last but but least... we have sprouts in the pasture! Not incredible amounts but we have a start. The ladies discovered them today so free time became chaperoned with a long stick to chase them away. Entire wheat field and they want the brand new baby clovers.

 

[SpicyDisaster]

Was ambitious and feeling great yesterday so I got the 4x4s for the garden beds cut. 36 lengths of 24". Felt pretty proud of myself. Below is one beautiful stack, 9 posts for each side.

Until I found out today that the roofing panels that are 2ft x 8ft are actually 27" x8ft....so every board is 3" too short Hubby got me new 10ft 4x4s today and I'm going to repurpose the 24" posts as borders for around the blueberries and roses. Ugh.

While commiserating and mixing up seeds for the rest of the pasture area that hubby tilled today I had an awesome surprise though! Oreo laid her first egg at 19w1d!

Tomorrow will be cutting posts again and hopefully getting the bed sides assembled. Hardware cloth comes Monday for the bottom before we fill them with compost/soil in a 50/50 mix. Then planting out the lettuce... and covering it with row covers to keep the ladies out.

 

[SpicyDisaster]

Progress on the beds this week has been slow and steady. As with any project it's been more difficult than expected and taking twice as long.

The girls greatly appreciated the giant custom dirt bath, with the finest mix of compost and soil rototilled to perfection. Unfortunately the bath was still under construction so spa time was cut short today.

We got 4 cubic yards moved and the bed half filled when I realized it was just too long and too much dirt without more structural support. Opted to add a middle panel to the bed on the middle at the 16' mark. So now we have one half of one bed installed with the top wood rails to come eventually.

Since the girls loved the bed so much, hubby tilled a 20' length in the run for them. Bliss. Lucky birds, they don't even know how spoiled they are.