5-10-15 How much soil?

Calculated soil/dirt requirement for 12 x 6' raised bed.

Thanks to Soil requirement calculator

For 144" (length) x 72'" (width) x 8" (depth) = 48  cubic feet or 1.7778  cubic yards of soil

Bought 48 bags of Earthgro - Organic Humus and Manure = $83.52

Mixed with existing/leftover peat moss/potting mix from previous gardening 

Planted our poly-culture crops and sowed seeds

5-9-15 The beginning, DIY raised bed

 Bare dry dirt with lots of spiders

 Went shopping in home depot:

[2" x 12" x 12'] x 3 (all cut in halves for transportation) = $63.21

Scrap wood/plank (for reattaching the 12ft) = $0

 3 quarter inch board screws  

 

Naomi at work.

All finished in 1 hour. 

Thanks to How to Build a Super Easy Raised Bed

Our first community garden plot

Naomi and I have been doing some gardening since last year. However, our gardening experiences were limited to either indoor (requiring artificial lights) and balcony (not optimal direction for good lighting). Both of which are fun and taught us a lot but did not truly capture the essence of nature, an ecosystem. This year, Naomi and I have stumbled upon Fairlawn Community Garden and decided to try it out.

Land: 20 x 40 ft
Cost: $60 (3 year plot)

Objective:
- Getting closer to mother nature
- Experiment with cover crops to replenish our soil
- Experiment with poly-culture gardening
- Find out what works and what doesn't
- Have fun!

Goal:
- Keep a log of success and failures
- Grow some food
- Attract beneficial insects
- Reduce weeds with cover crops or cover crop mulching
- Not getting warnings for untidiness

References:
1. Midwest Cover Crops Council
2. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
3. Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyculture
5. Companion planting chart