CULT: Clay/Raised beds
- To: iris-talk@onelist.com
- Subject: CULT: Clay/Raised beds
- From: H*@aol.com
- Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 12:22:00 EDT
From: HIPSource@aol.com
In a message dated 6/27/99 11:43:45 AM Eastern Daylight Time, jyang1@home.com
writes:
<< Because of its lighter weight and wetting agents, I would use potting mix
in window boxes, containers that need to be movable, and, well, pots
in general. But what about in raised beds?>>
I have a raised bed for some of my bearded irises and when I filled it I did
it with an organic medium which is similar to potting medium but lacking
pearlite, which I can't abide the look of in the garden. The stuff I used is
composed of peat and peanut hulls and all sorts of good things stabilized to
ph.5.5, and I also used some sand and some commercial compost and manure deep
in the beds, which are about a foot deep. I use this ph5.5 stuff in all my
pots and ornamental containers and it is excellent. My observation after two
seasons is that this medium, which is heavier than commercial potting soil,
is, even after the addition of heavier ingredients, too light. Things get
great roots and so forth, but the water retention properties are not high
enough, nutrients leach out, and the rhizomes also pull themselves a bit
deeper than I consider optimum. I'd call around and see who in your neck of
the woods sells both good leafmold or compost and real topsoil --not
filldirt--and order a load of each, which you should mix, possibly with some
sand if it seems advisable when they are delivered. And remember this: Raised
beds are fine provided there is somewhere for the water to get out at the
bottom. You must have a sump or an incline or the water will come through the
loose matter on top and reach the impervious layer on the bottom and just
puddle there, and you will still have a drainage problem.
Anner Whitehead
HIPSource@aol.com
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