Comments by "Ray W" (@rayw3332) on "Off Grid Cabin Living: A Simple, Free Way To Build Raised Garden Beds" video.

  1. Now. As long as the chicken manure is matured (well rotted). Do not add fresh manure to a garden. You can wait for the other amendments, but I'd put 2-4 bags of compost/manure in each bed, preferable over garden soil, but I see that is needed too. You'll need to get multiple compost piles going. I make mine of 36" tall quarter inch hardware cloth wired into 4 foot across cylinders. Take some soil in your hand, if it balls up and holds instead of easy crumble you'll need some sand, if you've got clay. You can add peat moss as organic for clay soil and what's called clay breaker or inorganic gypsum. Rake up sawdust (carbon) to add to your chicken manure (nitrogen) piles, only. Buy a $10 pH meter downtada hardware store as you're likely acid, fireplace ash would offset acidity. pH important for ionic availability to plants. Chickens eat ticks too. Some shade at your two farthest beds. So add matured manure, soil, compost or other amendments, THEN retill, work it in. Nothing wrong with a good sprinkle of (shh!) 10-10-10 or 14-14-14 fertilizer. Deer will be an existential threat to your garden as are woodchucks, ravenous. A heavy steel tool called a mattock essential to chop out roots or stumps, jimmy out rocks.
    3
  2. Groundhogs really bad ... one can mow down a garden overnight.
    1
  3. You'd have to put out the dough for it but the thing won't quit and does a TON of work. A Craftsman lawn vacuum. Or another like brand. Looks like a mower, has a vacuum/scoop thing in front, rotary chopping blade inside, big detachable collection bag in back. Make tons of chopped leaves (handles small twigs via chute) perfect for mulch, or better filling your new compost bins I told you about. Chopped leaves decompose much faster than whole leaves. Grass clippings and chicken manure for your nitrogen, chopped leaves for carbon. Add water Cierra rakes leaves, you vac & chop. Trust me.
    1