What Gardening Method Should You Use?
When I started gardening, I went with the most common idea of gardening…row gardens. My grandfather gardened that way and so did his mother.
My thought; don’t fix it if it’s not broken, right? But that is not the only way!
After doing some research, I discovered the no-till garden. Yes! no back breaking work.
The no-till method I followed is called Back to Eden. Basically, you cover the garden space with a ground covering like wood chips, pine straw, leaves, any natural material.
Underneath the covering is newspaper (or any other natural paper) and organic compost.
I loved this idea! Especially since I didn’t have to till the ground. Even after having a successful garden with Back to Eden, I wanted something more. So I combined it with square-foot gardening. This technique allowed me to plant outside of rows and create a more functional and appealing garden.
Square-foot gardening focuses on planting a specific plant in a 1 foot by 1 foot area. For instance, if you have a 4 foot by 4 foot (or 4x4) gardening space, you would have 16 square feet to work with. Planting 16 plants, or even more depending on the plant space requirements.
This was great also, but I desired a more appealing garden that could be seen as a beautiful addition to the landscape. Then raised garden beds entered my life…
Raised garden beds changed the game for me! The beds provided the natural beauty and function I longed for.
And to make things even better, I could combine the other gardening methods that I loved and could not abandon! This is what we use at 31 Eden…
Raised garden beds, planting according to square-foot, with a covering of wood chips.
You can choose any or all of these methods! Which do you think would be best for you? Not sure? You can always CONTACT US and we can help you.
Happy growing!
