Subject: permaculture garden beds

From: [email-masked] (Lawton/Miller)
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 1996 15:07:00 -0700

Many thanks to those of you who sent ideas and suggestions for my
Eugene-area vegetable beds. Here's what I did:

I trampled down an area of the overgrown garden. Over this, I put lots of
newspaper, some of it in single or double sheets, and some of it shredded
in long strips. I watered it down every few minutes, to be sure to soak all
the layers and to keep it from blowing away! I didn't know if I should
shred it or not, but I remember reading about nearly-pristine 20-year-old
newspapers being discovered in landfills, so I thought I'd better do this.

Over this, I put the weeds and grass from the compost pile. There were also
kitchen scraps and horse manure in this compost. Again, I watered
thoroughly. On top of this, I put a layer of hay, and watered again. Then,
I put the soil that was here, except I don't think that it is soil--it
almost seems like a composted leaf mulch. Anyway, it's black, and more like
soil than anything else so far! Into this stack (about 2 feet high by now),
I planted the small sets of peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, squash, and one
rhubarb plant I couldn't resist. Let us pray....:-)

I've never seen anything like it, and I'm sure glad the neighbors didn't
come by to ask, because then I'd have to spend the whole morning teaching
permaculture instead of working!

Another question, please: there are bags of rock phosphate here. We didn't
use that in the southwest, where I'm from. What is it for? Would it be a
good idea to put some of that on my new beds? (Never one to waste
anything).

Lee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The real tragedy of middle age is
a slowed metabolism.
        Mary Willis Walker
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~