Re: Cucumbers in hills?
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Re: Cucumbers in hills?
- From: K*@aol.com
- Date: Sat, 4 Dec 1999 10:51:19 EST
In a message dated 12/4/99 2:55:40 AM EST, janetble@otenet.gr writes:
<< Here in Crete - long hot DRY summers - we have experiemented and found
that(now this would be easier to draw than to explain) one way is to dig a
shallow watering trench and use that soil to make a slightly raised hill to
one side. we run the trench right across the bed. >>
Here in Stockton, CA, we also have LONG HOT DRY summers. I originally built
a number of raised beds for my vegetable garden, using 2" X 12" redwood for
the sides of the beds. It looked nice, but I quickly discovered that they
required almost daily watering. So, contrary to popular wisdom, I developed
the remainder of my vegetable garden using double-dug "sunken" beds that
could be flood irrigated. These work very much better in this climate. I
have very heavy clay soil (we call it 'adobe' here), and I've never had a
problem with anything rotting or suffering from crown rot. It's one of the
things that's taught me that conventional gardening wisdom can't always be
trusted to "transplant" well to a Mediterranean climate.
Kurt Mize
Stockton, California
USDA Zone 9
