This year we wanted to start to convert the garden to use no dig beds so to start these I built 4 of these simply out of the remains of a neighbors shed floor planks although they are strong these are the only 4 for this year and i have done these as an experiment for the rest mainly to find out what is the best soil - material to use inside them
no1 is 4'' of grass cuttings which has 8'' of rotted manure on top
no2 is 10'' rotted manure
no3 is 10'' of our own compost
no4 is 6'' green cuttings and 6'' of rotted manure
total is full of around 1.5 ton of material
the first thing I done was to cover the ground in landscape material and attach some short boards to the size we wanted [these are 5ft x 5ft] and 9in deep to these I have made some waterproof ply high sides 14in high which will allow me to add a cloche roof so each can be covered and promote germination and prevent pest's while seeds/plants and in the early stage
the soil is in a layered form starting with cardboard at the base to really act as a mulch then there was a layer of garden clippings and grass cuttings followed by a 6 in layer of free rotted horse manure - home made compost [as above]
the paths between these are going to have paving slabs and gravel on which I already have ready to use which I got from a free to collector add last year
as and when I get the time and materials I will be building a whole load more of these so we can gain out put and save time and effort
total spent - £0
total time 4 hrs
no1 is 4'' of grass cuttings which has 8'' of rotted manure on top
no2 is 10'' rotted manure
no3 is 10'' of our own compost
no4 is 6'' green cuttings and 6'' of rotted manure
total is full of around 1.5 ton of material
the first thing I done was to cover the ground in landscape material and attach some short boards to the size we wanted [these are 5ft x 5ft] and 9in deep to these I have made some waterproof ply high sides 14in high which will allow me to add a cloche roof so each can be covered and promote germination and prevent pest's while seeds/plants and in the early stage
the soil is in a layered form starting with cardboard at the base to really act as a mulch then there was a layer of garden clippings and grass cuttings followed by a 6 in layer of free rotted horse manure - home made compost [as above]
the paths between these are going to have paving slabs and gravel on which I already have ready to use which I got from a free to collector add last year
as and when I get the time and materials I will be building a whole load more of these so we can gain out put and save time and effort
total spent - £0
total time 4 hrs