For many years, we have delighted the palettes of people all over the world with our famous Hollyhock recipes. Did you know that many of those recipes are inspired by our abundant garden? Now you can learn all about what makes our garden so special, with our new garden tips! Get these tips and more to your inbox each month by signing up to our Hollyhock Talks emails.
In the Hollyhock garden we do a pseudo double-digging technique which works very well for most vegetables, with the exclusion of root crops.
In the Hollyhock garden we do a pseudo double-digging technique which works very well for most vegetables, with the exclusion of root crops.
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Step One:
Starting at the end of your bed, dig a trench across the width of your bed a shovel head-length deep and a shovel width wide. Take this soil and put it to the side in another wheel barrow.
Step Two:
Place two shovel fulls of vegetable and garden scrap compost into the trench along with two shovel fulls of composted animal manure. It’s good if the composted animal manure is not too old (looking like soil, with absolutely no smell).
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Step Three:
Dig another trench next to the trench you just placed compost into and put the soil you remove on top of the trench with compost in it.
Repeat these first three steps down the bed, digging trenches and filling them with compost until you reach the end of the bed. Take the soil from the first trench you dug and put it onto of the compost in the last trench.
Step Four:
Shape the bed by raking it out so it is level on the top.
Step 5:
Sprinkle the raked bed with lime and a mixture of alfalfa meal and rock phosphate. We use 4 parts alfalfa meal with one part rock phosphate. Rake this mixture into the top of the bed and gently tamp the sides of the bed to the desired shape.
Your plants will love their new garden bed! Feel free to share your successes, challenges, and questions in the comments below.
