My Lockdown Edible Garden - Part 1

Mid May - My finished Edible Garden area

A few months ago I started a new blog series to run alongside a year long design process I had started for the garden at my new home. Then the Coronavirus Pandemic became a very real thing and realising the scale of changes we were urgently going to have to make to our lives, I decided to make an edible garden ASAP. My main reasons for creating this garden at this time rather than continuing with the long term period of observation I was part way through, was to give myself an immediate project which I know from past experience would hugely benefit my holistic health and well-being, at a time of probably prolonged changes, uncertainty and grief. Given my existing health limitations plus the limitations of the pandemic “lockdown”, I designed my new garden to be as simple as possible to implement and to use as few bought in components as possible. In addition, this design aims to be easily changed or adapted for the long term when more time has been spent as planned on the observation and analysis phases of my original project.
 
Here is a photo journey of my lockdown Edible Garden so far : -

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The first bed created is a keyhole type design chosen to maximise the growing area while providing good access. It makes full use of the south facing stone wall. I used empty beer bottles I'd been collecting for a rainy day for the bed edging.

I lined the bed with large sheets of reused cardboard then topped with a 3-4 cm depth of wood chip I had processed when some trees in a different area of the garden, had been pruned in March

I then created the "path" area using more cardboard and a thicker layer of woodchip. The metre lengths of tree branches to edge the second bed are again from the tree pruning work undertaken

The second bed edging was completed with more metre length branches. The bed was then layered with cardboard and wood chip in the same way as the first bed

I sank a bucket into the area near the back fence which gets equal sun and shade, as a tiny pond to benefit wildlife

I then placed some stones and a piece of branch in the bucket to allow insects to safely drink and provide a way in and out for any small mammals needing a drink

I then placed a layer of 6 month old partially composted materials from my composting system

....and then a layer of bought in organic compost. Some of my neighbours joined me to buy a pallet of bagged compost to be delivered to our street, making things much easier for all of us with regard to the lockdown conditions of the Coronavirus situation as well as being financially cheaper to buy

My finished Edible Garden area - the beds are topped with spiky twigs to deter cats and birds. All ready to get planting into now! The shady strip of grass at the right side of the area has had some perennial wild grasses and herbage seeds sown into patches of bare soil, as well as edible flower/pollinator seeds sown into the edge alongside the fence. The function of this small area is to mainly be a space for wildlife habitat.