Hey everyone! I'm a bit behind on my garden planning, but I'm excited to get started this year. I have a 10x13 plot ready for an inground garden, and I'm looking for tips on how to make it fertile as quickly as possible. My budget is super tight—around $50 for fertilizers or amendments—but I'm aiming to work with what I can find for free.
Right now, I plan to use cardboard as a weed barrier, then cover it with a few inches of free wood chips and yard waste from the county dump. On top of that, I want to add some horse/cow manure compost that I got from a friend. The compost is older, so I believe it's pretty good quality. My main concern is whether the wood chips will block root growth. I live in central Virginia (zone 7B), and summers are hot and humid here, so I hope the layers will decompose quickly. The underlying soil is mostly clay, and I prefer not to till much if I can avoid it, which is why I'm considering this mound approach instead of traditional raised beds. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
2 Answers
I would leave out the wood chips if I were you. They can pull nitrogen from the soil, especially if they’re new. I’ve used wood chips for weeds before, and they can really slow down plant growth at first. Good luck, though!
Your plan can work, but have you thought about using cheap pallets or bricks instead? A big mound can get messy pretty quickly. I can easily find wood planks around my neighborhood. Instead of a mound, you might dig some large holes in the clay and fill those instead. Just a heads up, wood chips can take quite a while to decompose!
Great idea about the pallets! Are you saying I can just put compost directly on the cardboard? I've heard you're only supposed to use about 4 inches of compost. Do you think the roots will be able to grow through the cardboard and reach the soil underneath?