I have been focusing my
energy on finishing my
greenhouse. So a lot of the garden tasks that
should have been done in the winter months didn't get done. Now I'm scrambling to get things done.
5 of my garden beds were unusable.
2 hugel beets that needed gopher protection 1 was built a few years ago. I lined it with thick branches. Last summer it became apparent the gophers made it through. I removed the soil to ground level. Laid down hardwire cloth down. Put the cement blocks back around the bed, and filled it back up. The other one was the first hugel beet I made. It had a 4"
wood raised bed around it. I always used it for garlic and onions, and never had any gopher problems until last summer when I planted a zucchini in it. It didn't take long to realize gophers just didn't like garlic and onions. The wood was falling apart, so I built a new one and attached hardwire cloth to the bottom, so I can use it for anything I want.
2 are raised beds I built 2 years ago. They both had sunk about 12" to 14". 1 had been taken over by calendula, and onions (I didn't plant, maybe seeds were spilled in it). I removed the plants and filled the bed up. The second was a total pain. Bermuda grass had found all the little spaces where the corrugated steel didn't meet the wood. The soil was so amazing I didn't want to discard it. I didn't want to have a raised bed full of weeds. I sifted all the soil in the bed. Then I removed the steel panels and replaced them with pallet wood. I also put a bottom on it trying to seal all the cracks. Then I lined it with weedcloth. I put walnut logs on the bottom, then used soil from the
chicken yard, the soil I sifted, and organic
compost and organic soil.
Last and certainly not least is a regular raised bed that I want to convert to a hugel beet. It was made with a weedcloth bottom and cement sides. I moved the blocks. Removed the weed cloth. Dug 2' down. Filled the bottom with walnut logs,
native soil, branches, soil, to ground level. Lay hardwire cloth down replace cement blocks, and fill with soil for the
chicken yard, organic compost, and organic soil.
Did a bunch of weeding, not my favorite chore, but satisfying, because of the wood chips the weeds come up
roots and all.
I still have to add wood chips to the paths, but other than that the veggie garden is ready to plant. Just in time. As of tomorrow the night temps shouldn't dip below 50. I wish I could say I didn't have a bunch of other tasks that should be done, but at least the main veggie garden is ready.