Nomad Kitchen

This is what we did today...

Today we dug a sunken bed in order to have fertile soil that holds water during the dry summer. this is based on learning from Doug Crouch. We removed the weeds and added them to our compost pile. Then removed 5cm of the topsoil and put it to one side. we then dug down 40 cm and put all the soil on the paths around the bed. We made keyhole paths in the middle so we can access the bed. Tomorrow we will add the topsoil to the bottom of the sunken bed, we will then layer compost, green mulch and brown mulch until the bed is almost, over the next year we will add compost teas, worm extracts and bio fertilizers to ensure their is active microbiology in the bed which will help break down the mulch into compost. We will also grow green manures such as clover, beans and elphaba in the bed and chop and drop them in place to build the mulch. Then in spring 2019 we will plant perennial nitrogen fixing plants at the end of each keyhole path and annuls in the main beds, all planted in rich soft compost that has been created in the sunken bed. This sunken bed will hold moisture and be extremely fertile, both saving water and giving the plants what they need. a lot of upfront work but should yield better in the future.