New Year, New Bed

Here are some pictures of the new bed we are planning. This location is plagued with poison ivy. Shortly after we moved in,
we noticed the poison ivy hedge on that side of the driveway and avoided it. This year,we did our best to fight it by digging up all the sprouts as they emerged, but soon, we lost the battle. Someone suggested round-up, and the problem was so bad that we actually considered it. Depending on how this year's poison ivy battle goes, we may resort to it.

Since neither of us have much experience with gardens, we may not have done this correctly, but this is our attempt at a no-till garden, a-la Ruth Stout. (We used this method in our main garden as well, but were not as careful or deliberate with the layers.) We started with a layer of cardboard, to act as a barrier between the poison ivy and the plants. We covered this with several layers of newspaper, then watered it all down. On top of this, we put a thick layer of dried leaves.















Cardboard, newspaper and leaves (from friend, Steve. Thanks!)















I am pouring more water on the whole thing (cardboard, paper, leaves) to hold it in place.

On top of all of this, we brought in the top layer from our compost pile, the green stuff that hasn't decomposed much. On this, we put a thick layer of dark, finished compost.















Compost topping over thick layer of wetted leaves, newspaper and cardboard.

On top of all of this, we added a layer of topsoil, then a final layer of leaves as mulch. After this, we took the emptied leaf bags, cut them flat, and staked them into the bed. I was hoping the plastic would help the leaf mulch keep the weeds out, but I am not sure if this was a good move or not. I hope the plastic doesn't leach anything awful.















We trimmed the sides with small bits of sticks, which we hope will become mulch. In the Spring, we plan to plant a hedge of amaranth (from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. It's called "Love Lies Bleeding, and Thomas Jefferson grew it in his Monticello garden too) and maybe something in front, preferably another food crop.

ADDENDUM: After some thought about the possibility of what might leach from the plastic, we removed the black plastic bags. The leaves are fairly mulched and should stay in place (mostly).