The garden bed that wraps around my front porch is a work in progress. A couple of years ago I used pine straw bales to act as a windbreak between the ground and the bottom of the fascia boards. That helped keep the floors in the house a bit warmer through the winter.
But it's been a few years, and the pine straw bales and mulch need replenishing. The problem was that I was also trying to plant herbs and strawberries under the blueberries. The herbs caught on great. The strawberries not so great. So my brain was trying to figure out how I could do my normal very deep mulching and still leave areas for strawberries to go in. Because I really do mulch deep, as in 12" of mulch because it really helps keep weeds under control. I finally came up with a practical, and practically free, solution. Right now every time I have an empty soda or vinegar bottle, I cut the center section out. Both top and bottom come off and go in recycling. The center section is saved. I even did it with a gallon water jug or two.
Today I took them out and started the mulching. I spaced those sections far enough apart for strawberries to be fine and then mulched in between. It means my mulch layer is only about 9" but I can live with that. Once mulching is done, I'll fill the containers with cheap topsoil. Well, know me, garden soil and compost. As for mulching around the herbs, well, I saved the vinegar containers for that since they are a bit wider. And that worked well. And for mulching around the blueberries? That will be sections from 4 or 5 gallon water bottles or large plant pots, whichever is at hand when I need it.
And as I was doing that today, I realized that one section of the front bed really is too shady for strawberries. And the mint that I planted in the curve will make a nice visual split there. So I think that section will be ginger plants.
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