Federal Reserve - Food Shortages - Unemployment - Civil Unrest - Job Losses Skyrocket

One good Idea, Instead of making a ground level veggie Patch, grab some sleepers and add some height to it.
Easier to mow around with out flicking lawn clippings in the bed which helps with less weeds, dont have to deal with soil compaction as much, and has better soil drainage so if you get heavy rain you wont have the veggies sitting in a swimming pool.
Sort of like this, obviously you can go bigger than this one which is only 2400mm long X 1500mm wide
Anyway what your doing is good, Just an idea to make it easier for you to maintain

 

Jason, good idea, but folk perhaps need to consider with fixed garden beds, they can't allow for the change in sun angle.
A garden bed on the South side of that fence may get too much shade for many crops.
If however it is on the Northern side, it's perfect.

Is it your garden?

 

Dude, I appreciate what you are saying about getting back to basics & ass into gear growing our own stuff I have been doing it for a long time! As Jason has pointed out the veggie plot that you are preparing should be raised as he has pictured. The size of them his up to you but I would suggest that they are no bigger than your reach into the middle from all sides this makes them very manageable & you don't have to walk over them for tilling or planting. In planning the plots on the property have some in full sun, some in sun in the morning & shade in the afternoon, & of coarse a few in full shade. This allows you to grow a much wider variety of veggies. I would also suggest you plant many fruiting trees on the property for shade where needed & wind barrier control as needed.

From my visual observations, the soil you are planting into looks ... well horrible, I must say. & almost for sure will consume a lot of water for a tiny end yield at your table. When planting out a crop it should be in organic-rich soil that looks black like the example pictured from one of my garden beds.



With you being in Texas there would be no shortage of cow, horse manure, & hay to get the basics of the plots started. Cow manure you can add to barrels & then steep it with water a few weeks for a good water-based fertilizer! If you have chooks add a few handfuls of their shit to it too for the nitrates. A little tip I use in my soil is gel balls! these are good for soil aeration & better matter decomposition, & as a bonus, they retain a lot of moisture in the garden once they have expanded.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/7-8mm-H...rentrq:10f974e51720a0f2bc1440acffef2b74|iid:1

Last, of all, I would highly recommend a soil wetting agent periodically for best water penetration if you decide to keep your veggie plot the way it is. Best of luck with it

 

No its a customers bed. But I did build it
Yes your correct about the amount of sun this bed gets, However this was for one type of veggie only that didnt want full sun all day.
So they had another 4 of these In a more constant open sunny location.
This is just the first picture I found on my desktop lol, the other four are centrally located in a square configuration with enough Room between them to run a mower between, But also make it easy to access veggies,weed and maintain with out reaching to far.
The customer had pathetic soil in the yard, and the customer for years had ground level beds, their plants struggled and they were constantly having to condition the soil, it was a constant up hill battle and so they gave in and went raised and trucked in some good soil from the landscape store

I do Landscaping and lately 90% of my jobs have been garden beds for veggie patches, Virtually Customers have similar concerns as the OP. Plus those stimulus checks have increased demand allot lol. But definitely like the OP there is a bigger demand from people right now tobe more self sustainable.

 

Jason, great timber work mate. Is that Red Gum, Jarrah or...................

 

Thanks for all the kind words, and ideas!

The soil I'm planting in is pretty good, and I have added manure to it as well as worm castings. I will consider the beds and adding compost as that is a great idea.