new garden technique

NEW GARDEN TECHNIQUE
first there was the square foot garden that i wrote about in
several blogs such as this one

then there was the keyhole garden that i wrote about also
in several blogs such as this one

then there was the keyholeless square foot garden seen
on this blog
this one was made for one of the habitat houses

then there was the anthill garden or the hugelkunter method
of gardening in this blog

i was looking at my garden a few days ago and thought
each of these methods have benefits that make them a
good garden method
so what if i combine them all into one garden bed and gain
the benefits of all of them into one

so i did and i call it the hugelhunter keyholeless non square foot
garden

i use water troughs to make small ponds in to provide water for
our animals and for wildlife
i also added pond plants to make them attractive and
add goldfish and minnows to eat the mosquito larvae
its pretty and functional

one of my 4.5 ft in diameter 12 inch high ponds leaked
so i replaced it and took
the metal trough and cut out the bottom

then i went to my garden where i had a 4 ft x 6 ft square foot bed
and dug down into the soil for 20 inches
yes i hit rocky soil which is why using raised beds are the best
way to garden around here

(for those who dont know what the blue thing is its a rock bar
for those who dont know ill teach you what its used for just
come visit the country n sometime)

then i placed the circular trough over the hole i dug
like in the keyhole garden i added layers of cardboard on the bottom
and on the sides and covered that with layers of newspapers
this will eventually breakdown into soil and also captures
moisture in the soil
a real problem here with the drought-moisture
a central 4 ft high composter was also added to the middle of
the bed

then like in the hugelkunter or anthill garden i added limbs and
trunks from some downed trees
these will absorb and hold moisture into the soil and eventually
will also breakdown into soil and will also release its nutrients into
the soil

then i added layers of twigs
layers of dirt
layers of my country n shredded leaves with chicken manure and
feathers compost
layers of leaves
layers of newspapers

this is repeated until the circular garden bed is full

then i added a layer of good hill country soil from the natural gardener
then i will finally add a layer of good barn yard compost also
from the natural gardener

so now i have soil thats almost 3 ft deep and full of nutrient rich soon
to be soil that also will trap moisture
i will continuous feed nutrition into the bed with the central composter

im now replacing all 6 of my 4 ft x 12 ft beds with this method
without the central composter
to save on water use and to increase the depth of my soil and to
increase the nutrition in my soil

tadang
the organicgreendoctors hugelkunter anthill non square foot keyholes garden

could this be the answer to this areas home gardening with its gradually
decreasing rainfall and decreasing availability of water

the organicgreen doctor