Starting my first Garden. Back To Eden Garden and planting in the same season?

[RonaldF]

Ok so my question is this.

I decided I want to plant a raised bed garden in my back yard this spring/summer and came upon the Back To Eden gardening method and want to use it. In many of the videos I have seen, they tell you that you have to condition the bed/mulch and many say to start in Fall so it is ready by the spring.

If I am starting now instead of the Fall, is it still doable? Or do I have to lay down the bed/mulch and wait until next spring to start planting?

My raised bed is going to be two layers of cinder blocks which gives me a depth of 16 inches. If I laid down the weed barrier (Cardboard) and add 10-12 inches of topsoil/compost mix, then 4 inches of woodchips, would it work for this spring/summer?

 

[Beth_B]

Where do you live, or what is your USDA growing zone?
This is pretty much critical information in order to answer your question.

 

[Becky]

Agreed. Welcome to the forum @RonaldF!

 

[roadrunner]

I agree, your Hardiness Zone is a major factor. However, another major factor is moisture; I've mulched over much of my yard, replacing grass with mulch and whatever grows there. Living in Florida, much of my soil is simply sand and because I've mulched over so much I can't tend to all of it in the same way, that would require too much resources.

The places that I've spent a lot of time building up, i.e. burying compost and watering...., have turned into some very rich, black soil, but the other places only show a very slim line of topsoil. So if you want good soil, you gotta do more than just cover it up and the biggest thing you can do is keep it moist, but of course your temperature factors in.

A lot of people ask how long it takes for this or that to break down, but it's kind of a pointless question if you don't factor in how much moisture is present, the temperature and even the population of animals in the soil, both in quantity and species.

My recommendation is to just start, but don't expect too much in the beginning. Give it time.


BTW, this is my neighbor's yard, see all the bare sandy spots. That's what I had to work with, at first not much grew, but now I can grow anything, including heavy feeders, such as banana plants

 

[John Smith]

The back to eden gardening method is finally working for me, but I started it in 2013 and I am just now starting to see nice vigorous growth in my plants. It is safe to say that if you don't till or dig your soil first, the ground will be too hard to grow most plants during the first 2-4 years.

 

[roadrunner]

The back to eden gardening method is finally working for me, but I started it in 2013 and I am just now starting to see nice vigorous growth in my plants. It is safe to say that if you don't till or dig your soil first, the ground will be too hard to grow most plants during the first 2-4 years.

That was my experience, I had to till all my Bermuda grass into the soil in the beginning, than I sold the tiller and haven't used anything since -- I didn't have the patience to wait the couple years. The worms and all the other organisms now keep it tilled. But even with tilling and stuff you see improvements over the years. I use to never see ladybugs in my garden, when I first started, but now they're well established and it's common to not only see them, but to see them mating and I do see a lot of the eggs and larvae also

 

[roadrunner]

BTW, I also dig once in a while, but that's only to create a mound of wood in the soil, it's called a Hugelkultur