Yesterday was the ground breaking day to get some raised beds built and filled so that we could get cover crops in the ground anticipating rain this week and using the last little bit of nice weather for germination. I had prepared the site a couple weeks prior with some glyphosate. The area we are using to plant had some seriously potent weeds.
The plan was to get six raised beds, 4′ x 12′ by 8″ tall placed in this area with 3 foot paths between them. We had received a donation of lumber from an amazing local partner, Mike’s Lumber LLC on 93N, of all the wood to construct the planting beds. Huge thanks to Mike!!
Our original orientation would be north-south, but we had some last minute questions about property lines, so we placed the beds on an east-west orientation in case we had to move row two.
Next we laid cardboard on the pathways and the bottom of the raised beds. Thick cardboard for the paths, thin stuff that will break down by next year in the beds. We put landscape fabric on top of the paths, and then spread wood chips on top of the fabric. Weeds are a real concern to me and if I get a chance to minimize them I will. A good start on weed control will minimize them potentially for years. Huge thanks to Athens-Hocking Waste Recyclers for a load of wood chips for the pathways.
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- first layer weed barrier
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- wood chips mulch as second layer weed barrier
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- Sam prepping a seed bed
Then once the beds were ready a cover crop mix of rye, vetch and clover was planted and watered in. The cover crop will help the compost we filled the beds with become more bio-active and be ready for spring planting. I am hoping that we get the second row filled and cover cropped as well. We were waiting on permission to plant from the neighbors and thankfully got that permission shortly after this part of Phase II was done.
A huge thanks to the work crew: Sam, Brad, Bob and Robert from HAPCAP. We also had two sponsors contribute materials that Sam and I want to recognize for their generous donations:
- Mike’s Lumber LLC
- Athens-Hocking Waste Recyclers
The Phase II work crew.