On Wednesday of this week, we officially kicked off our exciting new partnership with the “Days at Dunrovin” online community by heading North to Dunrovin Ranch in Lolo for a garden prep permablitz. ABC Acres joined up with the Dunrovin team, and a couple great volunteers, to begin the transformation of a garden that was in need of some permaculture TLC. All involved were enthusiastic and lighthearted as we set out on the task to create four separate garden method demonstration areas in Dunrovin’s 5000 square foot garden area. There was also the not-so-small matter of moving a wood chip pile the size of a small garage from outside the garden and spreading it out in varying depths for our four distinctive garden spots.
We began with our sheet mulching garden area. First brown cardboard is laid down in an overlapping layering to keep those unwanted plants from germinating. On top of that we heaped a generous helping of wood chips to a depth of around 8 inches. This will ensure no weeds competing with our garden plants, as well as creating a great environment for soil life, and holding water in the soil for a much longer time.
Our second section display’s what is known as the “Back to Eden” gardening method, and begins in a somewhat similar manner to sheet mulching. However, we did give a small fertility boost with some horse manure we spread over the area, which would typically lead to a new introduction of undigested weed seeds in the horse manure. To keep that from being an issue, we again used a weed-suppressing layer, only this time we use non-glossy newspaper instead of cardboard. On top of that we placed about 1 inch of compost from Eko Compost in Missoula. We then mulched over that with about 4 inches of wood chips. We would have spread a light top dressing of composted horse manure over the wood chips, but their pile was frozen. We offered them the option of spreading used coffee grounds from the local coffee shops over the winter instead, as this will help fertilize as well.
Next was our preparation for the future Square Foot Gardening demonstration. We were out of cardboard and newspaper at this point, so we applied a generous 7 to 8 inches of wood chips over the area for to discourage weeds. Later on, raised beds will be built on the wood chips, and compost will be used to fill them up for planting.
For our fourth and final section, we simply spread a very light layer of wood chips. We will demonstrate a method of soil building called cover cropping. A diverse mix of seeds will be broadcast on the area in early spring to help build fertility and add organic matter to the soil, while also offering a potential food for people, livestock, and pollinators. This space will also showcase unique, smaller-scale gardening methods in the future.
We truly enjoyed working joking alongside the Dunrovin Ranch crew, and look forward to assisting them with bringing permaculture to the Days at Dunrovin online community, as well as all the visitors of their horse guest ranch. It will be fun to see how the garden develops this spring, and to show everyone how productive and enjoyable permaculture can be!
Blessings,
Grant Shadden
