Jeepers. Not sure if I spelt that right.
Every gardener in this challenge has their own battles to face. For those down South it is the frost and snow. For coastal it's the wind and salt. For us personally it's being on tank water and being in the sunny North.
One thing I've wanted to try is a Hugelkultur which is a raised bed which is constructed in layers. It's generally done as a mound with the core being rotting logs, followed by rotting organic matter (leaves, compost etc) followed by a layer of topsoil. The idea is that the rotting wood holds a lot of moisture and doesn't dry out as quickly as soil so there is a water supply in dry spells.
Being me, I don't tend to stick to instructions so our garden is not a true hugelkultur but inspired by the theory. We have heaps of rotting wood piled up from a garden tidy up. Dug out the bottom of the bed, layered the wood. On went a layer composted clippings, leaves etc. Then some grass clippings. Then some composted manure from the neighbors and finally a layer of soil.
I was hoping to have done this in winter as it really needs some rain to charge the wood and for the stuff to rot down but ran out of time. I'll try to hold off planting this garden as much as possible to give it some time.
I'm almost hoping for rain this week. What's the bet that it's gonna be a sunny one!
Share
Share this blog on social media