Garden ingenuity

Because there is never enough space, I decided to add some new vegetable beds this year.  Since we're currently putting up a privacy fence, section by section, most of my garden operating costs are otherwise diverted.  Let's face it, Home Depot and Lowe's are getting it anyway, but I'm spending it in different departments.  So I had to be creative.  And creative I have been. 

I took a look at all the lumber and fencing panels I still had left and formulated a plan.  I laid out 2 beds with outside dimensions the same as the inside dimensions of my cinder block trellis beds, the plan being that after I'm done spending on new fencing, I can go back and purchase cinder blocks and place them around the wooden beds that I built, and just let the wood rot in place. I used some old garden edging logs and 2x4s for the uprights, I even had some 4x4s for a few of the corner posts.  I used old fence pickets for the sides. 

I didn't have either the time or the inclination for digging this time around, so I laid down several layers of cardboard to form a grass and weed barrier. 

Then I took all the garden cleanup debris, old firewood,  tree trimmings, and

 anything else I could find and cut/broke/folded/smashed it to fit inside the bed.

Then I stacked straw bales on top.

It's not pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but it will get the job done. It's basically hybrid garden beds utilizing the hugelkultur, raised bed and straw bale gardening techniques.  The straw bales are "conditioned" by speeding up the decomposition with watering and fertilizer, then you plant into them and they continue to compost as the season progresses.  The garden debris will start to decompose from the bottom up as debris piles do, plus the larger limbs and firewood will hold onto water and release as necessary.  At the end of the season, I'll cut the wire on the bales and the composted straw will just filter down and continue the process of breaking everything down.  I keep all the carbon from my property and add it all back into the soil to grow in. As you can see in the photo, there are some smaller, single bale planting beds as well.  I had 2 "pots" given to me by a friend that were created by cutting a 55 gallon barrel in half to form 2 troughs, which I filled with garden debris and stacked another bale on top.  

 I decided to plant sweet potatoes in the 2 single bale beds.  I took an old broken rake handle and started 6 holes in the top of each bale.  Side note:  my broken rake handle has proved to be most useful and versatile in the garden.  

I enlarged the holes with a trowel. 

Filled the holes with potting soil.  

And popped the sweet potato slips into the soil.  Patted down and watered.  The sweet potatoes are lovely vines and they will (hopefully) drape down over the sides of the bales and cover them up. 

 I've never grown sweet potatoes and I've never grown in straw bales, so this will be quite the experiment.  

The longer beds will have cattle panel trellises just like the tomato beds and I'll be growing cucumbers, melons and squash in them.  They've already started sprouting!  

Garden ingenuity at it's finest.