Recent project. – Reddit Post

Behind my fence at this time last year this area was filled with weeds, (lots of thistles) and couldn’t get them under control. 1000 square feet.

This spring, I built the fenced-in garden area, and planted two cherry trees. Garden area this year was pretty good, soil was really bad though. Added a ton of organic material that has done a pretty good job breaking down this past year. Cherry trees struggled a bit with the bad soil and competition from weeds, but grew a bit.

Just a few days ago I put the landscape border up and covered the rest of the area with composted manure, a layer or two of cardboard, and a very thick layer of wood chips. Added about 12 inches of leaves in the fenced in garden area to see if that will shrink down into a nice mulch by spring.

Let’s hope next year the weeds will be a thing of the past! Hoping the cherry trees take-off without competition from weeds and the added nutrition from the compost.

I can tell you one thing, moving 10 cubic yards of mulch up and down a hill with a wheelbarrow is a brutal workout!

If anybody is looking to convert a large area into a productive garden space certainly possible to do by yourself within a year. Only cost me about $700 all-in-all. Biggest cost was the cherry trees.