Comments on: Small Kitchen Garden Design: Layout

By: Janet Kirkpatrick

Janet Kirkpatrick — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 17:46:55 +0000

I had a large area I wanted to convert to a vegetable garden that was compacted with clay soil, had been a gravel road at one time – so was in awful shape.

For the first year I cleared it, topped it with leafgrow and put in a few plants. Then in the fall I planted a cover crop of rye.

The next spring I did not till in the cover crop except where I was planting but kept it cut back until it died. It kept the weeds at bay well into summer. And then again in the fall I planted a new cover crop.

This spring my soil is wonderful! I can’t express enough how much planting cover crops in the fall can do for soil. It’s full of earthworms and easy to till when needed – but it is so large I only till where I am going to plant.

Remember – cover crop – cover crop – cover crop.

By: Your New Home Kitchen Garden Planting Bed | Your Home Kitchen Garden

Your New Home Kitchen Garden Planting Bed | Your Home Kitchen Garden — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:12:41 +0000

[...] dimensions for a planting bed, consider whether you’ll need to walk in the bed; my blog post, Small Kitchen Garden Design Layout can help with this [...]

By: Small Kitchen Garden Soil-Preparation - 1 | Your Small Kitchen Garden

Small Kitchen Garden Soil-Preparation - 1 | Your Small Kitchen Garden — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 04:06:33 +0000

[...] ago, I define a traditional in-ground planting bed as one that is simply a soil patch in which you garden. The patch is large enough that you need to [...]

By: admin

admin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:58:05 +0000

Daisy, thanks for the suggestion. My garden is a walk-in, and it gets compacted badly because there’s a lot of clay in the soil. I mulch heavily with lawn clippings, and wade in them all season. Putting boards on the mulch when I need to be in the garden would cut down on the mess I track into the house…

By: Daisy

Daisy — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:39:19 +0000

I have a walk-in bed, and I use old fence boards as stepping “stones.” This helps minimize the need for weeding between sections, but doesn’t really help with the soil compacting. I do chance the layout every year, and I think that helps.