Now, I feel like I should give a disclaimer that I really have no idea what I am doing. I got all of my processes from my brother Adam who is a TRUE gardener, he's got the gift!! Last year, he helped me plant my garden so I just replicated what we did last year. Anyway, let's get started!
- 50 ft. sprinkler/soaker Hose ($9.95)
- Tarp or weedproof paper. Last year I just used garbage bags and nails, but this year I got fancy when I found this stuff at Walmart. It is a heavy paper/plastic substance that seems pretty cool. This is the barrier that blocks the weeds from your garden. ($14.95)
- steaks for your tarp or paper ($1.97)
- seeds/plants ($9.20)
- shovel ($1)
- scissors (not pictured)
- soil (not pictured) Organic if possible ($2.99 a bag, I got two bags)
Lay down your tarp/paper, and steak the edges in the ground
Till up the exposed ground and mix in some of your soil.
NOW, this is the COOLEST thing about a Hopi style garden. You can have a smaller garden because each hill has three different plants on it. The three plants can be planted together because they each pull different nutrients from the ground so you don't need to space them as much. In a standard garden, you would have rows of each plant spaced pretty far apart. In a Hopi garden, you just have hills with each plant represented. The traditional plants they used were one corn on top, beans on the side to grow up the corn, and squash on the other side to go around the hill. You can swap out similar plants, like I swap out cucumber for squash.
The last step is to wind your soaker/sprinkler hose around your garden so it can water your plants each morning and all you have to do is remember to turn it on and off. Goodluck and Happy Gardening!!
