It's Easy! or Not Your Grandpa's Garden

Note:  This was written when I lived in Tennessee.  I moved to Texas last fall and today I am going to go out and work on making a new little garden spot at my new-to-me house.  I will be using this method.  I wish I could have done it in the fall, but I didn't.  I will be using cardboard, newspapers, and leaves.  Hay is very expensive here, so until I can find a source of used bedding, I won't be using that.  Go get your garden ready, y'all!

When you think of gardening, do you think of a big half-acre garden with rows marked off with string to make them straight? Do you think of hot summer afternoons of hoeing weeds? There IS a better way! You can do this, and you can make it easy. Stick with me and I can help. The most work in my garden comes at planting time and when I prepare beds as I prepare for the next season.


Think about that long-ago garden with rows. People walked on over half the garden. Walking on the soil compacts it, and is a bad thing for the soil and for the plants on each side. What if you took 3 rows and slid them together? Now you have a wide row about 3-4 feet wide. You can walk around it and never walk in your planting soil.

This is not fancy, y'all, but I can grow a
 lot of good food here!

Keep in mind that unless you have a reason, you don't need to make raised beds. You just need wide rows with dedicated walking spaces between them. Think about the size of a lunchroom table. That's a good size for a wide row. You can make it 8 or 10 or 12 feet long; whatever you like. You don't want to make it too long because that makes it harder to get to the other side. You can fairly easily dig that size bed up with a shovel. And if you have another “shovel operator” to help you, it's even easier! You don't need a tiller or a tractor. You can DO this!  (If you have access to a tiller, you can certainly this first year go ahead and till this area, then cover with hay, etc.) As best you can, pull out the grass, shaking the soil off as you go.

The beginnings of a new bed.  

If you are like me and don't even want to dig, you can start in the fall and lay down  a layer of cardboard first, then newspapers or shredded paper and then either hay, grass-clippings, or leaves that you have run over with the lawn mower.  Let the worms work it all winter, and by spring you'll be ready to go.  I, however, did not do that last fall on the new spot I am making, and so here it is March and I'm just making that new bed.  I will not dig it up because there are
too many rocks here and besides, it sounds like too much work.  So I'm making my bed and will wait a few weeks and punch throught the layers and plant some things there.  I'll keep adding hay all summer and by next year it will be even better. I won't plant my precious tomatoes or peppers there, but I'll plant something.  It is not a big deal.  

What if you don't have shreded paper?  Just use whatever you have.  If it will rot, then it's probably good.  Do you have donkeys next door like I do?  Then you can add some shovels of donkey manure.  (Don't use dog or cat poo. You don't want their parasites---which could become YOUR parasites.) 

There is a layer of cardboard, then a layer of shredded paper,  Last is a layer
of hay.

That bed will eventually be higher than the surrounding soil because it will get “fluffy” from all the organic matter you're going to add and from the earthworms working the soil for you.  If you have a NEED to make a raised-bed then whatever you do, don't use old cross ties or landscape timbers. The cross ties have creosote which is carcinogenic,;the landscape timbers are treated. All this bad stuff will leach into the soil where you are growing food to eat. Don't do it. In this part of the country, cedar is the best choice.  


Cover the soil with grass-clippings (that have not been sprayed with herbicide) or hay or chopped-up leaves or shredded or torn paper (only black and white newspaper, not colored ads). Pile it up thick. This deep mulch will serve a few purposes. It will keep weeds from growing, which equals no hoeing! It will hold moisture in, and it will rot and enrich your soil. The earthworms will eat it from the bottom side and will speed up this process. Earthworms will “till” your soil when you give them organic matter to eat, and you will actually be able to dig in it with your hand!


(Just so it doesn't get left out--Do NOT spray with pesticides. It is bad for you and your family, and it is totally unnecessary. Most pests can be hand-picked.)