The Lazy Gardener’s Approach to Gardening

BAY COUNTY - Setting up a raised garden bed can be an initial expenditure of time, energy, and money. However, once the hard work is done, the garden is easy to maintain. Over the years, I have used various found materials for the walls from lumber to cement blocks. When I moved into a new home and decided to set up my gardens, I settled on fence boards. As these boards are treated lumber, I lined the insides with a discarded tarp. I regret not leaving the corner posts taller as that would be convenient for covering the garden in the extreme temperatures. Three extra feet of posts on the corners would be lovely. Live and learn.

Additionally, my gardens are a hybrid style of a keyhole garden and Mel’s Square Foot Garden. The garden box is bottomless. I remove the grass where I put the garden as best I can. Then I cover the area with cardboard to starve any remaining grass from light. I put a wire basket in the middle to throw compost in. Outside of the wire basket, I put logs, wood chips and dried leaves to create a carbon layer. Then I layer an inch or two of cheap dirt or sand. Then I put on about six inches of Mel’s mix from the Square Foot Gardening method. This is a mixture of one third each of coarse vermiculite, peat moss, and blended compost. The coarse vermiculite is difficult to find locally and must be ordered online. Once this part is done, you can plant densely as the soil nutrients are high. Now you have a garden that requires no chemicals or fertilizer to maintain. You can throw your kitchen scraps in the middle basket and the worms will till it into your garden. My gardens have some plastic fencing around them to discourage my lizard chasing dog. Taller fence posts would also facilitate adding sturdy fencing for such things. Yes, I have some weeding to do.

This time of year, I mainly plant collards, kale, chard and cabbage. At this point, you would likely want to start with plants, vice seeds and get them in before the first frost in November. The Chard works until it gets really cold. The collards and kale go right through our winters even when I forget to cover them. All of these can be harvested by taking leaves from each plant, vice cutting down the whole plant so you have a steady supply of winter greens. I have found the collards and kale resistant to insects. The cabbage is just a special treat that tastes so much better than store bought cabbage.

All of these I have found to be the easiest things for me to grow this time of year. They can be chopped and added to soups, stews, and rice or pasta dishes. They have great health benefits and having them so readily available in the garden frees up much needed refrigerator space.

For more information on Square Foot gardening or Keyhole gardening, see the links below.

https://squarefootgardening.org

https://www.ruralsprout.com