Weed-Less Water-Less Gardening

The first time I heard about weed-less water-less gardens I immediately though someone was talking about hydroponics. Not so. What these gardens are are layers on layers of organic materials piled a foot or more thick.

Start by clearing the grasses or other plants, but the easier way is to put down layers of news papers. . .did I mention this system involves layers on layers?

Then comes the organic materials- food scraps, grass clippings, leaves, weeds and such. This layer needs to be nearly 24 inches high when you make it and by time it is ready to plant it will have settled to a few inches. So it goes, more layers of news papers (if you have weeds popping through) and more organic stuff. Higher and higher.

Though you can do this layering any time of the year, you want the pile to sit over winter before you plant. To plant, take your trowel, stick it in the compost and open the pile wide enough to stick your plant in. And then it begins again, more news papers around the plant keep weeds at bay and you can put on more layers of organic stuff all season long.

DO NOT TIP THE SOIL - JUST LAYER AND PLANT. . . and then layer again.

You can throw in ashes if you burn wood (just spread it around), you can throw on anything organic but if you do this manure - don't plant leafy greens or root crops in the area for a few years, just fruiting plants like tomatoes, green peppers and the like.

Harvesting is easy too since the root crops pull out and are rather clean.

The only problem I've had with this system is the top of the pile heats up earlier than the other gardens so I think I can plant some starter plants and usually I get out there and find the pile frozen solid just below the surface. It takes a little longer to throughly heat to plant unless you are doing cold hardy crops.