I live near the bottom of a long hill, but not quite right on the drain. I have a large swath of lawn on the south side of our property where I want to create a very large perennial bed. In the spring this area of lawn gets quite soppy. I think a bed directly in the ground would create quite a bit of rot for the perennials. I think a raised bed would be perfect. I envision a bed bordered by medium field stones to mimic the feel of the large boulders that line the existing beds.
Just for curiosity last spring I had a landscape company quote me prices for various sizes. Ha! The size I envision would have cost $6000!! The smallest size they would do would have run $2000. So the next plan was to buy the "ingredients" and make the bed myself. The money never materialized for that either. But I did find a source for lots and lots of rocks just down the street. Not exactly the size I had originally planned. But free (except my labor)! I started hauling them in the fall. I will resume in the spring.
I had hoped to have a load of soil, compost, and worm casting mix delivered this year and spread it and put the rocks around that. But my old dog has needed lots of medical attention so my summer fun money has been diverted. I'm now thinking a modified hugelkultur bed is perfect for this project.
I have about 15 bins of clay that has been removed from existing beds as I was amending them. Could I use these in some way? I really need to find a way to use this clay.
We have a large wood pile of maple and maybe dogwood?? that were cut down in 2012. That has just been sitting around stacked by the fence uncovered since then. I have access to a pile of old spongy wood from my neighbor across the street. I have some bins of shredded leaves and I am sure I can gather more old leaves from another neighbor. Plus access to lots of fresh grass clippings. What am I missing? I currently do not compost so I would have to buy compost. Could I throw kitchen scraps directly into this pile since it will all get covered? Also, I would have to buy some good soil to top everything I would imagine.
My neighbors won't be too happy with this project the first year I'm sure. Heck, I won't even like the messiness of it at first! But it seems like a good option given my lack of funds but availability of free materials.
What do you all think?
