How often does the balance of form and function come up in our daily lives? Some will choose soft lines over performance in vehicles, electronics, and houses. Some will choose a car that runs, electronics that don’t break, and a “roof over their head”.
I think both are achievable if done correctly. The conflict between these two details is order of operations, not choosing between them. We make the framework first Apocalypse Gardens’ initial design started out as two 4×8 beds running perpendicular to an existing pergola. It was symmetrical. It was boring, but it allowed for expansion later once the pandemic was in full swing.
We made them both hugel mounds, burying every stick we could find in the twin beds along with a few logs. This was exactly the structure our yard needed in order to be beautiful later.
In the second year, mushrooms sprang up everywhere in the beds. The fungus was eating the limbs and any remaining chips. Tomatoes that I had normally grown on an apartment patio could produce in the ground. I remember growing Better Boy and White Tomesol. Our hatch chilies performed amazingly. Malabar spinach climbed to the top of cattle panel trellises.
We had our proof of concept. We also started to notice the shortages we normally saw during hurricane season started to become more common than when there was a typhoon headed for us. It was time to expand. We added two more beds, running along the back fence.
Everything happened exactly as the videos we watched said it would. By the third year, the soil was teaming with life atop several feet of Texas black gumbo clay. Moisture wasn’t just running off the yard over the top of that slick clay. Three more beds were added in front of the other row, because of potatoes, beans, and lettuce.
Then came the wood chips. Instead of proceeding with a full Back to Eden implementation, I latched onto the solution of throwing the beautiful oak chips we received in the pathways between our beds. This soaked up the mud our beds were causing. Everything in Texas has a price tag, because capitalism, but I was more than happy to pay the $20 a load for Chip Drop. Our HOA decided the second load stayed on the driveway too long and wrote us up for “trash” on the drive. My wife says I’m no longer allowed to order them for this iteration.
My point is the beauty will come. Give the garden some structure. Consider your next move. Maybe, even plan a little. Form and function can coalesce for you as well.
