The first thing you think of when you think of a garden are beautiful raised beds made out of perfectly shaped lumber.
Am I right?!?
When it comes to the garden and raised beds, I am here to tell you that you are doing it all wrong my friend. On the homestead things need to not only be efficient and productive but they need to be cost effective. I TOTALLY understand the desire to look out your window and into your garden and see beautifully made raised beds. And to be honest when living in the city, your mind is trained to think that is the only way to get it done. We have seen this over and over. We also see it in friends who have recently escaped the city and now live in the country. That mentality of “neat” is still alive and well. But do you know what I want to do with that mentality….
I want to take it away from you and throw it out the window while driving 80 mph down the highway.
Yea… I said it. The key here my friend is to re-train your brain and step outside that comfort zone. What is your goal? I am only going to assume that sense you are reading this and have landed on our site it is because you have homesteading aspirations. Well as a homesteader, what is your first goal?
To grow food, right?!?
That is all you should be worried about. Not how “neat” everything would look in beautifully raised beds. Because you will not only save time you will save a shit ton of money. Let me tell you a small story. Jason and I are apart of this program in our area called Build It Up. It is a gardening program, we joined to learn about growing food in our new area. At the end of the class it was Q & A time, to which a student asked a question in regards to her raised bed that she needed to fill. As she was describing her dilemma she also mentioned that she was really only limited to this one raised bed because it cost them over $1,500 to build.
I am sorry…..WHAT?!?
My friend…don’t make the same mistake. The goal here is to grow food, not to have beautiful built raised beds out of lumber. I am going to let you in on a little secret that is not so secret.
No Dig Raised Beds!
The concept…you lay a few layers of compost (nitrogen) and carbon and that is about it and guess what? It cost less than a fraction of a raised bed made out of lumber. Check out how simple this is to make.
How to build no dig raised beds:
Step 1: Measure out your bed area.
Our raised beds are all sorts of different lengths because we have the freedom to do so but all of them are no wider than 3 feet. 3 feet is the perfect width to either reach the middle comfortably or step over it to harvest. We used some wooden stakes and a string line to help keep us straight.
Step 2: Start your layers.
We threw down a soil amendment called Gypsum because we have very compacted clay soil. Gypsum will help to relieve that. Then we threw down a bag or two of cow manure. Next, we laid down some cardboard. (Want to know a secret 🤫…visit your local Starbucks and ask them if you can take all their cardboard from their Roasting Plant order. They will be happy to save it for you…but here is the thing DO NOT FORGET TO PICK IT UP. They ain’t got the time nor the space to be saving that shit for you! )
Next, add some straw or hay down. We used the hay from our duck house, so it was nice and rich with duck poop! Then we added some old leaves that we had collected during the fall, and by we I mean Jason! Then, we threw down some straw. Then, some compost. Lastly, pile on some more straw.
Technically, that is all my friends. We go a bit above and beyond and added some soil admendments but that is about it.
Step 3: Plant Your Ass Off.
All you do to plant is pull back your straw and into your compost layer and plant your seeds/seedlings, gently cover back up with straw and that is about it.
How easy was that! If you are more of a visual person, which I mean come on…aren’t we all. Check out our video of our No Dig Raised Beds.
Until next time…
Grow On My Friend,
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