Mulching

We were sent to help the second years with one of their projects, Sheet Mulching. In this you pick a piece of ground that you would like to make a garden or grow vegetables in, now make your garden.  No, it's not the kind you're thinking of, working over the ground, wetting each day, this is an INSTANT garden.  You choose your spot, chop down any big plants in the way, if there are small plants you can build the garden over it, it's more compost which means more nutrition for the ground.  Next you throw a layer of compost or fertilizer in the shape you want your garden, try and stay away from obvious shapes like squares and circles since bugs tend to target these shapes.  Next put greens in, which means live plants that you've chopped down.  Cover that layer with a layer of cardboard which overlaps each other in order to keep moisture inside the mulching and older plants don't get oxygen and die.
Add more layers, one layer that's easy to decompose and one that's a little more difficult but remember your layers need to be biodegradable material.  On the last layer, throw lawn clippings or leaves as a 'cosmetic' layer to hide the chaos underneath.

Now in order to plant things, make a hole from top to bottom, only wide enough for the plant you are planting and watch it grow...

Kitchen scraps can also be used but if you have wild animals or pets that have access to the garden, avoid doing this.

REMEMBER!  Water each layer before adding the next and give water throughout but if  you do forget, it's not the end of the world since the layers seal in the moisture.

We planted pizza seeds.

The finished project, well almost, they still need to plant the plants.