How should I 'close out' a garden bed before moving?

Question

I am moving out of a rental in zone 6 of eastern USA where I built two small garden beds using thin cedar wood in an urban yard. The landlord is okay with the beds staying there or going with me, but I'm happy to leave them - enough to move already, and I like the idea of making it easier for someone after me to get into gardening.

What I don't want is to leave the beds in a state of rapid decline due to neglect, making it likely the next person will see garden beds as a nuisance and not something pleasant and accessible. I know any garden bed neglected long enough will get weedy and eventually crumble, but I figure there are better and worse ways to 'close out' the garden bed in case it goes unused for a month, or 12, or 24 before the next gardener digs in.

How should I close out these beds to keep them from being troublesome to the next tenant and to make it easier for the next gardener to get started?

I figure reducing weeds and improving soil health is the key. To do that I figured I'd spread cover crops and a nice layer of woodchips or coarse sawdust. What cover crop to use is a big question. I am thinking of rye seed as a cover crop that will have no problem occupying the space and reseeding itself to a large extent, maybe a little bit of clover to fix N although I think the soil is pretty fertile as is. Rye is also easy to crimp, cut, or pull out for the next gardener to plant in.

So far, with the beds neglected this season other than mowing/weedwacking around them, the beds get the usual dandelion and grass weeds, I suspect eventually they'd succumb to mints around here. The lawn grass coming into the bed does harm the wood quite a bit, so occupying the beds with rye or another cover crop seems best.

Answer 1

Since you say that these beds are small, one option would be just to plant vegetables, as if you were going to be continuing to garden - particularly lettuce, spinach and maybe beets. You could also plant carrots if it's warm enough where you live. Properly marked, these would be your cover crops. I would mulch between them with cocoa bean hulls (because they're common where I live), but you could use something similar - the key is that it's a "one-year" mulch (cocoa bean hulls decompose over a single year). I would not put down sawdust because that tends to form a semi-impermeable mass, nor wood chips because you don't want to restrict any future gardens to perennials (wood chips are tough to use with annuals).

You don't need to fill the beds, just plant the crops mentioned and leave a note for the new renters when you move out. Maybe something like "I've already planted a small vegetable garden in the yard and left space for you to add tomatoes and peppers if you want. Enjoy!" If you want, you could also add some "how to garden" web references to the note, maybe prefaced by "I don't know if you've ever had a vegetable garden before, but if not, I've found these sites to be very useful." Maybe add some weed management sites, too, since you seem to have had problems with them in the past.

Answer 2

It's tricky precisely because you don't know when (or if) it will be used again.

If expecting use in a month, a deep mulch would be easiest to just start using. But of course that will start getting weeds if not used for a longer time.

Answer 3

Pelargonium

• is pretty hardy against dry spells* and doesn't suffer from many diseases or pests
• is easily propagated from cuttings
• is free standing unlike e.g. tomatoes.

However

• it will take 2-3 months for each one to cover its whole bed
• is not frost resistant.

_{* - I once forgot to water one for an year and it nearly died}