Getting ready for an installation. Tools and most materials we've brought on our bikes and trailers, and the finished compost we'll be adding is about to be delivered to the site.
Cardboard's a-comin'.
The before picture. If the existing vegetation in the yard is soft and herbaceous and non-aggressive, we may leave it down as a first layer of mulch.
One wheelbarrow at a time.
In this yard they were lucky enough to have no invasive weeds, so we didn't have to put down cardboard to suppress them. Here we're building up the vegetable beds with compost, so we can grow vegetables right away as we work to improve the soil deeper down.
Efficient use of paths maximize growing area, and make the landscape more elegant and usable.
By now, we've added the drip-irrigation system (the trailing black lines) and the square-foot string grid (the white boxes), which help us organize and maximize our planting ability. There is also a first layer of straw mulch on top, which slows evaporation from the soil while keeping moisture, and therefore soil life, at the soil surface. The lettuce is loving it.
Lunch. Next we'll put the rest of these plants in their permanent homes. Many are perennials and really will be there as long as they're allowed.
A city full of farmers coming into focus.
Where wheelbarrows don't fit, we bring in the compost by the bag- or bucketful.
