Plans for spring? | General Homesteading Discussion | Forums

I have so many things that I want to do, but am kind of holding back. The wife and I are renting right now, and are planning to buy a house in the near future. So I don't want to do a bunch of work, just to turn around and leave it behind once we buy a place.

I have been stocking up on stuff for my projects though, so once we do buy a house, I can get started right away. I scored about $600.00 worth of tempered glass for free off craigslist, that I plan to use for a green house. And I just picked up a few food-grade 55 gallon drums that I'm going to use for a water catchment system.

I recommend you look into building a hugelkulture (I might have spelled that wrong) bed if you have problems with drought. Essentially you bury larges amounts of wood under your garden bed. The wood begins to break down, and acts like a sponge, retaining massive amounts of water. I've seen some people grow tomatoes in Az using this method, and after the first year, they almost never have to water their plants.

I think Kvr actually built a hugelkulture bed if I recall correctly, maybe he has some resources that would help you out?

A lot of people claim that using wood in your garden is bad because it takes nitrogen out of the soil. While they're not completely wrong, they're not completely right either, and I disagree about it being a bad thing. Yes, it is true, when the wood begins to break down, it takes in nitrogen. But as it continues to break down, it also releases that nitrogen that it took up. So it's kind of like a slow release nitrogen. If you're concerned about it (which I wouldn't be), you could always hit up you local fishing pond and bring back a few bluegill or something to burry along with your logs.

You don't need to use burlap sacks or anything to separate the wood. I'm not too familiar with wicking beds, but it sounds like hugelkulture would be easier on the wallet just because of the materials involved.