Deep bed in the back yard

Many people have lovely gardens around their homes. However, very few people do active gardening around. Relax, I do not want to persuade you to do breathtaking gymnastics with shovels, garden forks or diggers in the back yard:-) Gardening would never replace yoga or Thai chi, but I really think it might be one of the mental trainings that open new perspectives for many of us.

Being a passionate gardener I would like to share a useful tip with those who would like a challenge to the traditional shrubs, evergreens and lawn home gardens. What is more, you can produce your own vegetables in a practically useful and simple way, so you can provide most of the palatable and health saving greens you need in your country kitchen.

To tell you the truth, there is one more thing. It is very difficult to buy fresh vegetables in the country in Hungary. There are several reasons, but traditional markets where farmers could sell their home made products do not boom. So if you are reluctant to visit supermarket vegetable corners, deep bed gardening is the best thing you can do.

Basic principles. Deep bed gardening is an ancient technique in several cultures, but it has a renaissance through our Western world. There are two very simple rules.

1. Firstly, when you create your vegetable bed, rotate the soil deeply in the ground, and,
2. secondly, never step on the bed.

You can keep soil loose and thick this way, the roots can go down, and you can grow the plants much closer together.

The only thing you really need is a sunny area in your garden. Shade or semi-shade won't do if you want to produce vegetables. So decide upon the area for your deep bed. Once you know the size and the shape of your bad, you can get to work preparing the site. Sign the borders with wooden sticks. Use your tape measure. I suggest that your vegetable bed should not be wider than 2 meters; 1,5 meters is well enough; but it can be as long as you want or as it is allowed to. Get a digger, and dig a trench a spade length deep. Put the earth aside. Don't mind if you get heavy soil „bricks” full of green wires: the roots of grass and any other plants, including seeds as well. Had you lawn or uncultivated area there on the spot, your bricks might be quite massive. So, now you have the top of the soil on one side of the trench. Go through it again, and get out the under-soil from the bottom of the trench. Dig one more spade length deep. Put the soil you get from the bottom of the trench to the other side. Yeah, this is the most tiring part of the work.

Now comes the filling up. First put as much recyclable green waste - branches, leaves, tree lopping, plant stems and other pieces - in the trench as much you have. Corn stems are great. It is always a problem what to do with corn stems – if you make your vegetable bed in the autumn, around corn harvest, the answer is given. Place bigger chops at the bottom of the trench, then the smaller pieces. You can fill up the trench with these green remains. They will fertilize your bed for years.

When the trench is filled up with green waste, get the green bricks – the ones you removed first – and put them back, turning them upside down, so that aggressive plants could not survive. You now have only the under-soil on the side of your trench. Mix the under-soil with compost or organic fertilizer (manure). Then you can move back the dead soil, you got from the bottom of the trench. You produce a narrow and tiny, little hill. If you want to give a special shape to your deep bed, you can easily produce a deep raised bed. Just follow the instructions about raised beds and fix the borders with bricks, timbers or anything that would fit into your garden.

Your sun loving deep bed is now ready for planting. The soil is deep and well-prepared so that you can grow vegetables really close to each other, thus get much more greens than in the traditional ways. A deep bed is not only an aesthetic object, but also a useful part of your garden, filling you with spiritual joy, offers you permanent physical training and provides organic vegetables for your kitchen.