The Walden Effect: Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

Laying out the new garden

Throwing compost

Starting a new garden is always an exciting undertaking. This time around, I'm learning from past mistakes. So the rows are all straight and perpendicular to the (not-yet-erected) fenceline. Perennial bed widths are planned based on their eventual occupants --- narrower for asparagus and wider for brambles. And aisles are a universal 29 inches wide.

I'm going with the ultra-simple kill mulch in most areas --- compost over cardboard --- although I know I'll have to deal with some perennial weed intrusions over the course of the first year. Blueberry-bed preparation is more complicated, though. Stay tuned for details in a later post!



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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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That's the nice thing about having a fresh start! Now you know what does and what doesn't work so you can have the best possible outcome :)
Comment by Kayla Mon Mar 12 00:33:42 2018
Any reason for 29 as opposed to... say 30?
Comment by Eric in Japan Mon Mar 12 01:38:39 2018

Kayla --- I love your positivity!

Eric --- I know that's the oddest number! We actually started with a width of 24 inches, figuring we should maximize space. But as I started laying out the beds and imagining them full of overflowing plants while I tried to wheel a loaded wheelbarrow between them...it just felt too close. So I inched the aisles wider until it felt good, which happened to fall on a prime number. :-)

Comment by anna Mon Mar 12 12:38:49 2018





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