Hello! I am new to the forum, what a wonderful community and resource.
I am converting an old gravel pad picnic area to garden and looking for a wee bit of advice.
Approx size 14ft N/S x 22ft E/W, with a nearly unnoticeable slope E/W
Fence along north, house in east, trees to the south, trees, fence and shed to the west, grass lawn that I can eek more growing space out of 🙂
Lower Mainland, BC, Canada, zone 8a
The gravel, builders sand and landscape fabric have been removed along with bigger stones.
This leaves the area sunken below the grass line, so at the subsoil level. Hmmm…now i wonder:
-Should I be trying to “fill” the space with something to lift to original ground level before creating 4-6″ deep no-sides beds with my compost, or can i just build my beds and paths and end up not too far above the remaining lawn?
-I am renting and sharing costs for this initial stage with other tenants and landlord. In this situation, would a reasonable bed depth be more to the 4 or the 6″? I don’t want to skimp on the first season, but an inch saved here can be used to help other areas of this neglected yard that i have taken on.
– Orientation/space optimization…Along the north fence, I extended an old bed to run full length of yard, about 2 1/2’wide or so, for some taller veg/herbs. There will be a narrow path between this and the old gravel area, leaving about 11′ 22 plus wiggle room to play with. At first I was thinking for space and speediness, just run 2 long n beds E/W 3-4′ wide, with a path in between and good edges at the grass and get growing! Can always reshape or reorient in the spring since beds have no sides. Now that i am actually in the space I wonder if I am bonkers and bass-akwards and would be better off running multiple beds N/S with more little pathways. Access isn’t an issue for pathways, will work either way. This area is primarily for veg and herbs, a mix of taller/shorter and quicker/longer crops, and I favour block/patch planting style to single row when possible. Does anyone have experience where they ran beds one way then decided to run the other? Or, does anyone have a suggestion of what they might try first in this spot?
Thank you for any feedback. Am so excited to finally have a plot to play with using Charles’ techniques. Happy harvesting and fall planting!
Kara
