Friday night Enviro Girl talked to a friend who wants to grow her own tomatoes, some pepper plants and onions. “But I don’t want to till up my whole yard,” she sighed. Enviro Girl shared the lazy way to make a garden bed with her. And she reminded her friend that square-foot gardening is all the rage these days. A lot of produce can come out of just a few feet of lawn. In fact, a 4X4 area can feed a family a year’s worth of peppers, onions, tomatoes, beans and lettuce. But first, you have to prepare your garden bed:
Step 1: cover the desired area of turf with 5 layers of newspapers.
Step 2: cover the newspapers with 2-3 inches of shredded mulch.
Step 3: Wait 6 weeks and then dig in and plant.
Go to Square Foot Gardening to learn more about how a little space can grow a lot of food. If you cover your turf this March, you’ll be ready to plant by May!
I’m always amazed by how much food I can grow in a small space.
And, I never dig up the sod. Like you, I just put the newspapers (or cardboard) down and cover everything with mulch.
OK, what kind of mulch? The kind I usually see in the garden centres is made of wood chips, and you wouldn’t want to dig those into your garden, they won’t break down. So what is the mulch that y0u use made from?
I use shredded bark–I avoid the bagged kind in garden centers because they can bring in some pretty nasty and invasive bug species. Try a local landscaper for your mulch.
Alison, I personally prefer either shredded (not chipped) wood or cocoa shells. Yes, mulch that smells like chocolate. You could also put down dirt or peat moss, but you need to thoroughly wet the peat moss afterward or else it will blow away.
That’s how we created the new tomato bed! I plan to pick up a batch of topsoil to cover the layers when Planting Day nears.