This area of my garden is directly behind the house between the old drystone wall sheds and a drystone wall. There was a third shed which was 2 storey but it fell down. I think they used to keep horses as there is a stone step on the right which looks like it would have been for mounting a horse.
I decided this area would be great for a kitchen/herb garden. It was very overgrown with couchgrass and I also found full of rocks and stones so it was not going to be an easy task but I cracked on with my newfound knowledge and using as much 'no-dig' as possible.
I started in late 2018 by digging up only the top layer of grass and piling it up where I wanted to have the beds. The rocks I took out I used to line the borders as I went along rather than hauling them somewhere else. I like to make life as easy as possible.
After I'd cleared most of the area winter was approaching so I covered the mounds I'd made with an old tarp to hopefully compost down. Yeh it looked a mess for quite a while but no pain no gain. The old bath was also used as another compost heap. I was going to leave it there and maybe have a raised bed in it but it is such an ugly thing I decided against it in the end.
Next I started on the bottom bit and another little bed. Instead of digging up the grass that had regrown here I tried covering it aka the no-dig method. I used a little raised bed I'd bought a while ago but couldn't even hammer the stakes in so just laid it upside down as I could use the stakes as supports for wires or netting if I needed it. I had a lot of stones too so built further beds each side as the arch I'd bought didn't fit in the square bed.
Meantime I also built another border wall starting with some of the larger rocks I unearthed (no wonder the grass was so lumpy). As you can see I didn't want to waste time and as it was spring I planted peas there just for fun (and some nitrogen fixing). This area would be used for some veg growing before it finishes up as the herb garden.
Again not to waste good growing space I planted various seedlings where I could whilst I continued on with the building. Laying down old cardboard boxes where the paths would be eventually. I don't have a greenhouse (yet) so I tried old water bottles as mini nurseries for the baby squash.
Next I uncovered the hopefully composted piles and bordered them, stuck some more plants in, mostly salads, and commenced covering more pathways. I put herbs I'd collected down the thin side border for now along with strawberries.
As you can see things are growing and the garden is still not finished. Patience is a virtue, this garden is evolving.
Peas did well and I learned I will need to plant a LOT more of them next year. Guess what too, I didn't buy proper 'seeds' I used a packet of those dried peas you get to make mushy peas with and they were really successful. In the background you can see my favourite plant just growing. Broccoli. I am trying out lots of different plants to see which ones are happiest here and so far the broccoli wins hands down. It has even self seeded over in the wild bit on the other side of the sheds.
OK drumroll now.........................
Tadaaaaaah
I hadn't decided what to use for the paths yet but a friend had a pile of woodchips from cutting down some trees so I plumped for woodchips.
I hadn't banked on a nest of stinging red ants with it tho which I've been constantly attacked for rudely moving their home. she didn't have enough so I luckily saw a sale of more chips and grabbed more which is why they are two different colours. This photo was taken in 2020.
The chips and cardboard were not enough to keep the wilderness from creeping back so am going to have to bite the bullet and invest in some proper weed barrier material but for now this garden is still evolving.
Next project is a polytunnel to go on the other side of the sheds in the REALLY wild bit. I'm a woman alone on a mission. If I can do it anyone can.
This is awesome. Nice to see something good to balance the doom and gloom that can't be ignored.
I have nowhere to plant as of right now, but I have over 100k heirloom (non-gmo) seeds I bought at the beginning of the lockdowns. I'm hoping crypto will do well this year so I can buy a few acres of land (no house) to start farming some.
Here in the US those packets are no good. They are mostly just gmo shit.
I love your rock wall.
If you have no land you could try guerilla gardening. I saw a guy in America doing it, he has his wn YT channel. I also did guerilla gardening when I lived on a boat along with container gardening. I wonder if anyone got the benefit of my plantings on the towpath all those years ago.
Where we are moving to has a community garden, but I'm concerned that through cross pollination the gmo crap will alter my crops. There is a documentary called Food Inc. that shows how Monsanto crops would cross pollinate the farmers nearby crops from the farms using theirs. They will send detectives out in the middle of the night knowing this happens, and then sue the farmers for illegally using their patented crops. Not worried about the suing, but am worried about the plant modification.
I really hope that I'll see a change in fortune enough this year to get just a few acres of land. Doesn't need to be anything on it. Just the land.
Of course if it gets to the point of no return and one needs to go live in the woods because of meltdown, the rules of ownership are outside the window and one grows in an area that seems safe from the chaos. :)
Can you not put up some kind of netting to seperate your crops from the gmo ones? Or just grow different crops that won't cross pollinate. Find out what they are growing and which are GMO and don't grow those things and you'll be ok.
I don't believe a net can keep pollen out, but the different crops idea might work. I'm not sure how far pollen travels in the wind and would need to understand that and then see if I could account for all crops within that radius for it to work.
I meant the fleece kind of netting, the white stuff. You'd only need to cover the plants when they were flowering and probably have to pollenate them yourself.
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I was very proud of my perfect garden and yours is beautiful and cozy too 🙂
Lovely post 🌺
I don't think it will ever be perfect or even finished. It'll keep changing for a while yet. Thanx
Fantastic work seeing it evolve and I hope you have great success with doing a Polly tunnel.
super cool