I tilled up the in-ground garden and hilled the soil into long rows.
I planted 14 varieties of melons, some okra, and corn, then spread ‘cover and color’ mix in the remaining area.
Next we moved in wood chips to fill the valley’s / walkways, then we watered the area well in hopes all the seed will germinate.
In the front yard raised beds, I planted 2 varieties of cucumber and 2 varieties of squash.
raised bed #1: dwarf gray pea, sugar daddy pea, sugar snap pea, imperator 56 carrot, Parisian carrot, red cord chanty carrot, long imperator 58 carrot.
raised bed #2: Oregon sugar pod 2 pea, gurneys sugar Anne pea, top-notch pea, green magic broccoli
raised bed #3: melting sugar snow pea, Cascadia sugar snap pea, sugar daddy pea, black seeded simpson lettuce, mandarin spinach, french dressing radish, cherry bell radish, purple top white globe turnip
raised bed #4: snowball cauliflower, long island brussels sprouts, Catskills brussels sprouts
raised bed #5: Waltham 29 broccoli, calabrese broccoli
We are in the process of integrating the baby chickens with the older chickens. I moved the chick pin outside but decided the two flocks needed to be able to see each other during the day so we added a wire screen window. We’re also going to experiment with a small door. Our idea is the door is big enough for the babies to go in and out but if they start getting chased by the big chickens the big chickens won’t fit through the door so the baby chickens can get to safety.
We had a cold snap that killed the 3 tomato plants that I had already planted in the front raised bed area. Amber thought we needed more tomato plants, so we planted 7 more in the row garden area. I also planted a lot of watermelon and muskmelon. The cucumber, squash, and bean that I seeded several weeks ago have still not sprouted. My fig tree rootings are all alive and growing.
All six of my raised beds now have something planted in them. I moved wood chips into the walk paths in the row garden.
I bought a peach tree from Tractor Supply for $15. The variety is “Sam Houston”. It is now planted in the new swale.
Here is what is now planted:
We finished deconstructing the hugelkulture beds. Now I’m using the area for a traditional raised row garden. I ran the tiller through the area several times, then used my new hiller/bedder/hipper attachment to create the rows. I wound up with 3 rows, about 50 foot long. Next, I’ll move wood chips into the walkways (low spots) and then plant in the raised areas.
After 2 years of ho-hum results, I’ve decided to tear apart 3/4 of my huglekulture bed. I expected poor results the first year, but everything I planted in it the second year didn’t do that great. Other problems I had with it are that it is really hard to plant things in it due to the awkward position you have to put your body in to reach the soil surface, it was hard to mulch because any mulch you place on it just slides to the bottom. It is hard to water because if you water it too fast, it melts. (makes seeds especially hard to deal with) Fire ants seem particularly attracted to the bed, making it gardening in it a painful experience. I think having the soil so high off the ground made it too hard to retain moisture. It seems like the plants always needed water, and many of the plants I would expect to last though the winter dried up and died.
Maybe I should give it one more year, but I want to use the area in a different way, so deconstructing most of the bed was the path I choose. If I were to build another one in the future, I’d dig down into the existing soil and add my wood below-grade instead of stacking it all above grade. I think this would help steer the soil moisture in the right direction. I really wanted this permaculture method of planting to be awesome, everything I grew in the hugelkulture bed did much worse than plants in my raised beds.
I’m keeping a small section of the bed and I’ll continue to compare the results I get to the other types of grow beds I use. I’m going to use the area where this bed currently is for a traditional in-ground row garden.
I dug a new swale just downhill from my first swale. It is a few inches lower than the top swale, but won’t fill until the top swale is filled nearly full. I’ll add rocks in the area where they are connected to resist erosion.
I planted 9 new fruit trees on the downhill side of the new swale. Here are the types and varieties of the trees:
