My chickens aren't allowed in the veggie garden, but they do go scratching in some of the flower gardens.

I am taking advantage of setting up my back veggie garden areas now instead of waiting for spring. Have already laid out bought compost in rows where I intend to put tomatoes next season. Have now decided to lay a thick carpet of leaves in the paths in between so I am starting on that.

I figgure the more gets gone now the better for the garden.

Wow thanks for all the replys!! Ive been working on my beds as much as the weather and kiddos will allow! Ive gotten several of them cut ready to assemble but only one completely done and staked down. I only use recycled or repurposed materials. These were made from unused pre fab fencing that hadn't been stained i reinforced them with repurposed pallet wood and lumber that was thrown out on a job site that was to warped to build with. I stapled recycled thick plastic birdseed bags around the inside to help keep the wood from rotting and painted the outside with deck paint i had left over from the summer. Also stapled recovered chicken wire from my local recycling center on the underneath to keep the moles out. I did a lasagna stack with cardboard being the base, then straw, compost, top soil, grass clippings, top soil agian and compost.

Also added a fun little removable flower box on the end. Also found it at the recycling center

Looks great!!!

GreenAmbitions said:Also added a fun little removable flower box on the end. Also found it at the recycling center

I was wondering what that was at the end!

>> I stapled recycled thick plastic birdseed bags around the inside to help keep the wood from rotting



I use concrete paving stones stood on end as raised bed walls, and water/humidity flows right through those freely, making corners and edges dry out to dust before any other part of the bed is dry at all.

Like you, I line them with heavy-gauge plastic that would have otherwise been discarded. For me, they are usually from bags of bark or store-bought manure-compost.

Looking Good! Now you have to wait for spring.

Been checking things out here as often as possible, lots of info on this forum heres a little update on my beds. Slow and steady lol

Looking good their Tom! At least the weather has allowed you to continue making progress.

I worked 2 hours yesterday, layering leaves and coffee grinds in my compost system. The resulting product will become the major amendment to my spring/summer gardens. Not spending $$$ on garden soil anymore...

Did my best to get the leaves and grinds layered on Sunday, but, all I could manage was dumping as many of the 15 bags of leaves my neighbors had left in my side yard, as I could before the rains came, LOL. So, instead, I "plugged" my 2 Geobins with spent coffee grinds from Starbucks. I used a long, pointed wooden handle to poke holes straight down through the leaves, dumped coffee grinds down the holes, and watered them in.

I also layered two large trash cans before dark... Alternated layers of leaves and coffee grinds. Everything should be heating up in about 2-3 days.

As I was finishing up for the day, I noticed there were FOUR more bags of leaves added to the pile, LOL!

Keep those leaves and coffee grinds coming!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Lots of work but it will really pay off.

Thanks, Rita!

Hey all just an update ive been working as much as possible on the garden and have a number of things planted under covers. potato barrels, strawberrys, onions, kale, spinach, carrots, swiss chard, several varietys of lettuces and garlic. Also have my tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and cabbage under lights inside

Also wanted to share a tip for saving a few dollars on a tunnel build. Though im not sure how long they will last but they are working as of now lol i have a lot of overgrowth beyond my tree line and i took a bunch of young pliable willow trees and some sort of large straight branched bushes that i cut and used for the hoop build. I used twine to tie the intersecting supports, seems pretty sturdy and its stood up to a few days of 20-40mph gusts of wind

Interesting idea! You do know the willows will probably take root don't you? That is if they were not dead when you cut them.

That i did not know lol i will have to keep an eye on them and make sure they are not a permanent build lol

Thanks are looking great!

Tom, I am impressed with your progress with your garden beds. Tell me, you have transplants under cover outdoors now? Or did you start them from seed outdoors?

Another question for all: can I incorporate coffee grounds directly in my vegie garden soil next fall? Will it decompose by spring? Should I add leaves to it too?

Cayuga said:
Another question for all: can I incorporate coffee grounds directly in my vegie garden soil next fall? Will it decompose by spring? Should I add leaves to it too?

Yes, and yes! The more organic stuff you can get into your garden, the better. The leaves are best put on after they've been more or less shredded up, such as with a lawn mower (that's the only way we "rake" leaves in our yard, we mow them up into the bagger and then put them on the garden). If you can get things worked into the soil in the fall they will pretty much disappear over the course of the winter; or you can wait until spring to do that -- I've done it both ways. I haven't done any roto-tilling of my garden for the past 2 years, so the non-decomposed leaves become mulch in the spring -- and that works great for me, too.