I am going to try gardening again in the bottom land. It is so flat and fertile I just can't leave it alone despite my misadventures with trying to garden so far from the house. This time though, I am taking another approach. First of all, I am not going to have it plowed again. The more I read, the more no-till methods make sense to me. And secondly, I am going to plant something that most wildlife will leave alone: pumpkins.
Pumpkin planting time is months away, but the time to prepare no- dig beds for them is now. The method is simple. Lay down a thick but biodegradable first layer and pile up 6-8 inches of available organic matter on top. I am using what is readily available to me which happens to be a layer of cardboard topped by old hay and horse manure. Some of the beds will probably have chicken bedding and manure instead once I get around to cleaning out the hen house again.
I did two beds in two hours today and that included having to scoop up the manure and hay from various places around the barnyard. The organic matter will have 3 months to break down and then I should be able to dig down, cut a hole in the softened cardboard, perhaps add some potting soil or compost to the hole and plant my pumpkins seeds. The rest of the bed will continue to decompose over summer and help feed the plants. I will post updates as this project progresses.
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