Hiya folks! I'm new here so brief intro: I'm pretty much a brand new gardener. I've only ever had the opportunity to work with small beds and containers. I've dreampt about having a yard, a garden, trees, the works, my entire life. Now, 35 years later, here I am. And I'm clueless. I guess having the dream was one thing but prepping for it was maybe a bit too depressing since I never actually thought it would happen.
So, this suburban house we bought last fall has a lovely, but rather large raised bed out back. I don't have measurements offhand. It's a good 14 paces from end to end. And maybe three paces wide. It's on a slope, so a foot and a half tall at one end, and a couple and half on the other. Forgive my antiquated measuring.
It is completely surrounded with a rather tall, but singular roll of chicken wire, and you can get into the bed where the roll begins and ends, leaving most of the bed inaccessible from outside. We have loads of wildlife; squirrels, birds, and more rabbits than imaginable. I suppose that's why the previous owners fenced it off.
My primary concern is access. I can't tend the bed (due to the wire) without stepping in. I've considered just planting around the edges and leaving a little path down the middle, but I'm not terribly thrilled with the idea of losing space and squashing soil. I've toyed with the prospect of chucking some boards across the top but then I'd be gardening in a hole. We have a bunch of the skinnier cinder blocks, and I've thought maybe I could lay a few of those down the center line, so I'm still gardening in a hole, but less so than with boards and minimizing soil squashing impact. From everything I've read soil squashing is ill advised, right?
I'd love some feedback from someone with some actual experience.
Thanks much for any feedback!