Large Basket Garden

Buy a 50 ft. roll of turkey wire 4 ft. high with 2" x 4" spacing. Cut it in three 15 ft. lengths with 2" extra wire sticking out at one end to hook onto the other end. Bring the ends together to form a large cage about 4 ft. in diameter. Use the 2" piece to hook the ends together from top to bottom. Now weave vertical blind slats in the fence wire horizontally all the way around from top to bottom to make a large basket. This 50 ft. roll will make you three baskets. Be sure you locate each basket on level ground. Fill each basket with leaves,any kind except pine needles, and keep adding leaves for at least 2 weeks as they settle. This is very, very important because the leaves will pack down like a sponge. At the end of 2 weeks put at least 6 inches of planting soil on top covering the entire surface over the leaves. You must plant now because the weight of the soil will press the leaves down further and it will be hard to plant reaching over the fence wire after it settles. It will continue to settle for about 2 to 6 weeks depending on the type of leaves and the amount of rain. It should stop settling at about a 3 ft. height or waist height, ideal for those using wheelchairs. After the soil has settled to this point cut the top 10 inches of the fence wire off leaving 2 inch pieces sticking up all the way around, about 90 pieces. Bend these down inside to avoid being cut by the sharp ends. Save the part you cut off for use later. In 2 to 3 years it will have settled to about 2 ft. or less. This is slow composting also known as anaerobic digestion. In the end you end up with good humus. When you are ready to start over just lift the wire cage off leaving a large cake of humus, set the cage in a new location, put the 10 inch piece back on top, fill it with leaves, keep adding leaves for 2 weeks, add 6 inches of soil and you've started all over again. Plant.

 

Thanks, Eileen. I'm sure you realize the nutrient value of leaves to plants. I'm not interested in making money off of this idea, after all mother nature has been doing the same thing since the beginning. I just want the elderly and handicapped to have a way to enjoy gardening. I'm 79 years old now and in good health but I may be in a wheelchair one day and I've already checked out the use of these Large Basket Gardens from a wheelchair and it's very little trouble to plant, weed or harvest. One 86 year old lady has 10 of these round beds and has no trouble. A personal friend of mine who is also 86 and his wife have 12 in their back yard. I have built or helped to build over 60 of these Large Basket Gardens in this county in the past 3 years. It takes 40 to 50 bags of leaves to make one and I have collected more than 3,000 bags of leaves in 3 years.

 

Anaerobic
This is great stuff - forget about the hanging gardens of Babylon when you can create your own. :-D

You have my utmost respect and admiration.

These hanging gardens/basket gardens - do you grow orchids in them as well??

 

Palm Tree, did one of your coconuts hit you on the head? (Just kidding) These aren't hanging baskets, they are three feet high and four feet wide. They sit on the ground and have 40 to 50 bags of leaves in them. The soul purpose for the use of these Large Basket Gardens is to give the elderly and handicapped a way to garden without having to bend over. Thanks for your sweet comment about it being a good idea. It's so en-couraging when someone likes your ideas.

 

I like it too! I need to convert all the foot and inch-stuff to meters and centimeters. Then I have to try and convince my husband to make one, just to see if they could be incorporated somewhere.

A thought: These would do well where the soil is bad or too full of roots, would they not?

 

Sounds great Anaerobic! I'd also love to see a photo of one.

 

This sounds really neat. I would also like to see pics. And welcome to the stew from East Texas

 

Oh my

Silly me

Though I would like to see your baskets - it sounds very useful. And as I think about it some more I also see a solution for my space problem.
I always complain about not having enough gardenign space and space for my pets.

If I can perhaps make the baskets terraced then I will have a win-win situation for pets and garden.

 

Palm Tree, so glad you weren't offended about the coconut but I couldn't resist. Just picture in your mind a waist high container that you can reach to the middle from anywhere around the circumference of the Large Basket Garden. Yes, you could make a smaller basket in the middle of this bed to make it terraced. Your pets likely won't be able to get into these three foot high beds.

Put a 55 gallon drum on the wheels of an upsidedown wheelchair. It rolls so easy. Then I cut a 12" x 12" hole in the middle of the drum. I put hinges and a hasp on the piece I cut out to make a door for loading the leaves, kitchen scraps, etc. Next I drilled about 20 1/2" holes in the bottom and in the removable lid about 6" from the edge so the liquid won't leak out. I rotate it every day, sometimes twice a day. When it's ready to empty I just roll a wheelbarrow under the edge of the barrel, remove the lid and rake the compost in the wheelbarrow, put the lid back on, put the ring back on the lid, tighten it up and start all over again.

 

now i too am so eager to see the pics anaerobic.

 

Gosh Anaerobic
Think nothing of it - life is too short - let us enjoy and learn from each other.

 

P.T., know why those little seedlings just sit there so long and don't seem to want to grow? I think they're using all their energy putting down roots. ???
You can't let seedlings stay in vermiculite too long. There's just so much nutrition in that seed. ??? Save that old vermiculite. Let it dry for awhile and the bacteria will starve to death and then you can use it again. ???Got rain barrells. Got mosquito larvae in them. Cover the barrells and when they hatch they can't get out. ??? DROOPY; these Large Basket Gardens would be great where there are rocks, roots and rabbits. ???

 

I would love to see a picture of this.