The start of the Medicine Wheel Garden.
Sheet Mulching is a very basic and important Permaculture skill.
Sometimes called “blanket composting”, “no-work” or “no-dig” gardening, it is very representative of Permaculture in terms of modeling Nature.
This is the start of the Medicine Wheel Garden.
The Medicine Wheel in full bloom.
The Medicine Wheel in full bloom.
Other pics of the Medicine Wheel Garden if you want.
Sheet mulch and cairn
It is a great way to build healthy soil fast, and is an effective means of carbon sequestration.
Here is a question from Stele Ely:
What’s the fun’nest thing I can be doing now to get my sheet mulching ready for 2010. Thanx, Stele
Hi Stele,
Hey, lookin’ good!
And thanks for asking about FUN and sheet mulching.
I think the fun’nest thing about sheet mulching is making sure the worms are happy. Worms are so fun!
They do great stuff for the soil. And it takes so little to make them happy.
For breaking down leaves on a sheet-mulched, or just heavily mulched bed, sprinkle in some soil, water it well and cover. Watering it makes all the difference. Or, catch it after a rain or snow and cover. A cover of carpet (wool, with jute backing is ideal) works well because it will let moisture in. Also, as Barbara mentions, just the bags of leaves on top of your heavily mulched bed makes for a great worm-bed. They have all they need–it is dark, and moist, and they have a little soil for their little gullets. Munch away, wormies!
For over-wintering your lettuce, winter greens (Siberian dwarf kale is the supreme that I’ve found) and root crop bed, Reemay row cover, which offers some insulation value is great. Also, you can water through it. When the really cold winter hits, a double layer of Reemay plus plastic sheeting will be the trick. Last year, we loved our “leaf-wall” cold frame–structural support was 2 x 2s screwed to the wood planks of the raised beds.
This year, we are psyched to see how our “straw-clay” cold frame will perform. Kale, chard and parsley are looking very happy in there.
Sounds good Z,
The Siberian dwarf kale sounds like a tough little plant. I have seen some of the bigger kale do well… even after the freezes. I will have to look for the Siberian dwarf kale seeds.
Mahalo, Stele (just another optimistic eco geek)