Permaculture Gardening, Part 4

Reader Contribution by Michelle Martin

Building Layered Garden Beds

Last summer (2013) we read about building garden beds using a layering system. This entailed making layers of logs/sticks, cardboard/paper, compost, soil, dung and straw.

The idea is that the logs/sticks break down and replace nutrients into the bed. The cardboard and paper hold moisture. The compost and dung improve the soil immediately by adding organic matter and the straw acts like a mulch, suppressing weeds, slowing evaporation and stopping erosion of the soil by the wind.

We have one area in our front garden where there is natural shade in the Summer. Trees have grown along the outside of the fence and we have an almond tree inside. In the summer the leaves give shade and in the winter the bare branches allows the sunlight to stream down.

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