How to Start a Garden

From the Hippocrates Health Institute Garden: 

Are you considering starting a new vegetable garden next Spring? Sheet mulching in the Fall is an excellent way to convert a part of your lawn into a nutrient rich garden plot ready to plant seeds and starter plants in the Spring. The secret to successful gardening is in the quality of the soil. Sheet mulching is the application of thick layers of organic matter which, over the winter convert into rich loom as a result of the action of the trillions of microscopic microbes in the soil.

Choose a location in the yard that is relatively level and receives the most amount of sun throughout the day. All other things being equal your new garden plot should be located relatively close to the house, close to the water hose faucet, and close to the shed (where you will be keeping your gardening tools. Here is what you will need to get started:

Ingredients:

1. Compost
2. Mulch (or seed-free straw)
3. Rock dust
4. Cardboard
5. Mixed organic material (grass clippings, leaves, kitchen food scraps, wheatgrass root mats, and/or seaweed.)

Preparation:

1. Spread a 2 inch layer of compost over a 10’ X 10’ area of your existing lawn. Wet it down with the hose.

2. Cover the compost with at least two layers of cardboard. Wet it down again with the hose.

3. Cover the cardboard with another 2 inch layer of compost. Sprinkle a few pounds of rock dust evenly over the compost. Wet it down again with the hose.

4. Cover the compost with at least12 inches of mixed organic material (Grass clippings, leaves, kitchen food scraps, wheatgrass root mats, and/or seaweed.) Wet it down again with the hose.

5. Top it all off with 2 inches of mulch. Wet everything down well with the hose.

Occasionally water your garden-in-the-making to keep it moist. Soil microbes and earthworms will toil through the Fall and Winter to decompose the organic material, cardboard, and mulch leaving behind a nutrient-dense loom ready for planting in the Spring.