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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 10, 2019 19:35:30 GMT -5
Late yesterday, and again today, I added another layer of soil to the bed. First, I did something unusual - I put a layer of cardboard over the first layer of bottom soil, which hopefully will delay any of those weeds from growing up quickly from that bottom layer. It is just a layer of pieces, so weeds can come up through the cracks. Water will have no problem of draining through, and eventually, the cardboard will decompose, along with the other things underneath. The first layer of mix I put on the cardboard was compost and coir, about equal amounts, tumbled in the composter to mix. Then I put a layer of some old mix from 2 SIPs, mixed with almost as much coir. A layer of cardboard layed over the bottom soil, then a layer of about 2 cu ft each of compost and coir, mixed together. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Strange thing was all of the sprouts in the compost, which looked like tomato, and were probably due to the rotting tomatoes tossed in there! Sprouts in compost, probably tomatoes, from rotted tomatoes I composted. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Another layer added to the bed, about 4 cu ft of old SIP mix, and 3 cu ft of coir. by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by desertwoman on Sept 10, 2019 20:06:09 GMT -5
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Post by binnylou on Sept 10, 2019 20:17:03 GMT -5
pepperhead212 , are you ready to start building raised bed #2 ? and...did you hydrate the coir before it was mixed with the compost?
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 10, 2019 21:47:06 GMT -5
binnylou Making the bed was easy, but filling it is the hard part! Not sure I want to do this again!
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Post by binnylou on Sept 10, 2019 23:09:33 GMT -5
pepperhead212, besides the benefits of moisture retention and nutrition from decaying logs, one of the reasons I’ve been using hugelkulture method on our last six beds, is those logs do help fill the bed and then I don’t need so much soil to fill/partially fill the bed. The three newest beds aren’t filled to the top but the plants don’t care. Their roots find their way down between the logs. I really like to know what I’m adding to my beds...not really comfortable adding bagged soils to my garden. I realize most folks don’t have access to logs like we do.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 17, 2019 23:57:40 GMT -5
I got about 6 cu ft more of some organic topoil, plus maybe 3 cu ft more of coir mixed in (plus some kelp, that I have in there, and some miccorhizae that I had, for mixing into the potted plants in spring. I figure about half that much again, and it's filled. Tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous, so hopefully I'll get finished that part. besides the benefits of moisture retention and nutrition from decaying logs, one of the reasons I’ve been using hugelkulture method on our last six beds, is those logs do help fill the bed and then I don’t need so much soil to fill/partially fill the bed. That's the main reason I got this idea! And I did get a lot of logs and thick branches in there. My neighbors were probably wondering who cleaned up that alley! Fortunately, I don't have to worry about roundup having been used, or anything like that back there, as they don't even worry about the appearance of the overgrowth of vines, and the like - I think the ones down there are all renters, and only mow the lawns out of necessity...sort of like me!
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 18, 2019 18:03:53 GMT -5
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Post by binnylou on Sept 18, 2019 18:28:58 GMT -5
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 18, 2019 20:29:52 GMT -5
binnylou I'll have a few leaf lettuce, chard, and kohlrabi, but mostly Asian greens. They have are the fastest growing, as a rule, and also more cold resistant.
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Post by desertwoman on Sept 18, 2019 21:36:02 GMT -5
Apologies if you've already mentioned it, but what are you using for the hoops? pepperhead212,
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 18, 2019 23:09:21 GMT -5
desertwoman The hoops are 1/2" metal conduit. Way back when I made them, I cut off 2' of each of them, and bent them, to have the ends 4' apart. binnylou I did not see your question about the coir. I did rehydrate all of the blocks of them overnight, then took this thing - don't even know the name, but it's battery operated, and churns up the soil, for weeding - and broke up the coir, before adding it to the tumbler, along with the other items. A few little clumps remaim, but not many, as you can see.
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Post by desertwoman on Sept 18, 2019 23:22:46 GMT -5
How did you bend the conduit? The shape looks so smooth. Machine? pepperhead212,
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 19, 2019 0:09:00 GMT -5
desertwoman This might not be the exact thing, but something like this: www.amazon.com/Gardner-Bender-930B-Aluminum-Electrical/dp/B00004WLJB/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2NYUN6UUFNERG&keywords=conduit+bender+1%2F2+emt&qid=1568868018&s=gateway&sprefix=conduit+bender%2Caps%2C601&sr=8-2I was looking to get about 96" or thereabouts, above the ground, since I had 118" wide covering for it. And about 4' across, so the radius of the circle would be 24", and the half circumference of the circle would be 24π, which is just over 75". After giving you this info, I remembered that I cut only 20" off each, and started bending at just over 12", to the same mark on the other side, and it worked out great - a little extra bending, if it was off, but they were almost perfect. You have to bend it 180º, And I think that I did it to the 30º mark, and divided the section to be bent into 6 (about 12.5").
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 29, 2019 16:35:26 GMT -5
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Post by binnylou on Oct 5, 2019 11:52:18 GMT -5
Question of the day...I said to hubby “wanna make three more raised beds?”
He didn’t say no...he just said he didn’t know where he would get the wood. Our lumber yard went out of business this fall.
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