I am a very part time gardener, trying to find balance with many other roles and interests,. Soil is clay in a forested area. I know, it's a primary permaculture error, but I inherited this home and garden. It has been very productive in past. Have deer/rabbit fencing, couple fruit trees, about 700 square feet. I'm starting raised beds as every year, the clay soil seems to need a lot of amendments, and bending and stooping is more difficult. QUESTIONS: 1) I have a pile of 2-year-aged wood chips and thought to put some in bottom of the raised bed as a short- cut to a hugelkultur approach. What depth of wood chips would be good? What do you think? 2) I have corrugated steel panels to build raised beds, 27" wide = height/depth of raised bed. Western Nevada County Gardening Guide states to protect from voles need 1/4" galvanized wire mesh 10" below ground level, and 12" above. For gophers, 1/2" wire mesh buried to depth of two feet and extending up sides. I have 1/2" wire mesh for bottom, could submerge sides down 12" to keep out voles. Would that keep gophers out? Is it a matter of protecting at least 2 feet of roots, or a matter of needing 2 feet of ground to discourage gophers from digging that far? Thanks for your advice.
Hi Solidlight, For some info about using woodchips, you might read this thread: https://permaculturenews.org/forums...ips-really-take-nitrogen-from-the-soil.15417/ In your case with aged wood chips, I would certainly try it with a layer maybe 1 inch deep covered with another layer of "green" material (or manure), then your compost/soil on top to fill the raised bed. I believe that your wire mesh "bottom" will keep the gophers out of the raised bed, however they still might dig beneath the mesh. The bulk of annual vegetable roots should be within the protected 2 ft depth. Around my parts, the gophers would likely set up their winter dens beneath the wire mesh/beds to help them stay warm during deep cold spells.
i'm glad i do not have to deal with gophers! if i wanted to put down fence to keep gophers out of a garden i'd dig the area out, put the fencing down and then backfill with amendments as needed. well rotted wood chips, mostly i would mix them in throughout the top layers where plants will get the most benefit (a foot or so for most veggies). for root crops like carrots i would screen it to get rid of the larger pieces. unrotted wood chips, use as mulch on top. haven't seen voles around often. we have a semi-feral cat which hunts here and keeps them from getting out of hand. too bad it does not keep up with the chipmunk/ground squirrel population which can be explosive... these we have to trap or they would undermine things we don't want disturbed. as much as this does bother me i can't wire mesh the entire property.
Welcome Solidlight, You are off to a great start. I also work with clay. It does have its benefits. The way I set up my raised garden beds, is I dug a ditch around the parameter of the bed on the inside of the walls of the raised beds. I did this to catch the rain run off from our house and to capture any water from the hose. This is working really well. I am growing more of a cover crop on it right now. Soon I will be building the walls to the bed and layering it with straw, wood chips, compost, cardboard, branches, ect. I live in a 10 year old neighborhood so the clay has been compacted with earthmovers. Landscaping companies use a jack hammer to dig holes here. I do not recommend that you mix anything into the clay. It will just become anaerobic and create disease. If you would like to see pictures and a more complete description you can join my facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1629698967307326/ Two experts with soil and fungi are, Dr. Elaine Ingham Paul Stamets Here are some of their videos,
Grace an interesting reply, but my experience with using wood chips mixed in clay doesn't match. we have raised beds and full sun in most places and that may help a lot in keeping such issues from happening.