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Re: Raised beds

Richard, I was pleased to see you inquire about raised beds. With all of
the continuing talk about raised beds, I was beginning to think that I
was seeing the SQFT world through different glasses. I don't recall
seeing raised beds in Mel's garden, in the videos or the photographs in
the book.

I do SQFT gardening without raised beds and it works great. SQFT
gardening is a great concept, but the point that I have tried to make
before is that it must be adapted to your individual geographical
location and soil conditions. There is no "one style fits all" SQFT
garden. I happen to be lucky and have soil which grows good crops even if
I do nothing to it. My good friend only 3 miles from me had to used
raised beds and took soil from my garden because his soil would not even
grow weeds.

The soil which I removed and gave to my friend was replaced with compost
and dug into my remaining soil. This improved my soil but left it about 2
inches below grade. After I flood it with water, there is no water
standing after 5 minutes. Will this work for everyone? ..........NO WAY
!!! .........

oldjohn@juno.com
John Orwick
El Monte, CA

On Fri, 10 Jan 1997 14:47:00 -0500 "Betz, Richard" <BETZR@BDD.COM>
writes:
>Hello everyone,
>
>I'm in the process of reading Mel's book and I really can't wait until
>spring comes around so that I can get started. Since I didn't prepare
>my
>soil this fall I'm going to have to do it this spring. Now here's my
>question, in his book Mel really doesn't say much about raised beds,
>like if it is better to use them or not. My question is do I really
>need
>to make a raised bed to sqft or can I do without it, the pictures in
>the
>book all seem to be of squares without a raised bed around them. Is it
>just for looks or does it really serve a purpose (other than making
>the
>bed a little higher off the ground thus easier to reach). If I do make
>a
>raised bed does it just sit on the top of the soil or do I dig it into
>the ground a little. Also when filling the bed with soil do I add the
>vermiculite, peat moss and humus on top of the existing soil and turn
>it
>all over to mix it up. I know this question is a little long but I
>want
>to make sure that I'm going to start off on the right foot.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Richard (zone 6 Brooklyn, NY)
>
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