garden news-new garden plot

GARDEN NEWS-NEW GARDEN PLOT

since i started gardening at our community garden five years ago i have had my personal plot in the same part of the garden
it is 20 ft x 18 ft or around 360 sq ft
i spent a lot of time and effort into making the plots soil rich and nutritious
i however yearned for a larger plot

recently this plot which is actually two plots became available
the previous owner had let it go and hadnt taken care of it
it was grossly overran with weeds which are like bermuda grass and mint that had gotten out of control
both are a gardeners nightmare
it is rhomboid shaped and is 32 ft at the top of the rhomboid and 22 ft at the bottom of the rhomboid
it is 22 ft in height 
it is about 580 sq ft

its is almost like having a third plot
it gets full sun
my old plots butted up against a large oak tree that shaded it a lot 

so 
i decided i was up to the task

the first thing i did was to cover the whole plot with a layer of plastic to kill off the weeds and mint
i will leave this in place for at least a year to allow for the death of the weeds and mint
i plan to garden with raised beds and strategically placed holes in the plastic for some plants
the soil under the plastic is good soil

i did this in our yard at the country n and after a year gradually landscaped the front yard area
i also did similar things at our habitat for humanity houses to kill off bermuda grass

i will be doing some spot treatment with a mixture of orange oil and vinegar and soap to kill off any stray vegetation that shows up


i brought my 4 3 ft x 7 ft frames from my old plot and placed them oriented just like they were in the old plot
the frames were filled with soil from my old plot and some raised bed soil from the nursery and some mulch and some compost from our compost bins
a thick layer of mulch was placed over the plastic surrounding the beds


i then brought the other 4 frames over from my old plot
adding the same stuff to the frames and the thick layer of mulch to the plastic


here is the middle of the plot
down the middle of this area i will place about 6 30 gallon nursery containers to grow veggies
each will have its own dripper

since i spaced these frames just like i had them in my old plot i will be able to transfer my old drip lines over with minor modifications

i also plan to add a row of raised beds along the fence set 2 feet from the fence line
i will use concrete cinder blocks to make a bed like we did at several local schools in texas
i will add another one of these concrete beds along the fence line to the right
i like to use the holes in the cinder blocks to plant things like herbs onions garlic strawberries lettuce etc

but mainly doing all this allows me to plant more tomatoes

more pictures will be posted in the future as the garden plot is completed 

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the organicgreen doctor