Re: Raised Bed

TerryLynn,

I am not quite sure where the 500 to 700 sq ft. requirements were suggested.
Not me anyway? Most of the large pumpkins that have been produced over the
past several years have come from plants which on average were 800 to 1,000
sq ft. Although 500 to 700 sq. ft. will certainly produce a nice pumpkin. My
1006 Greer which produced the 977 was 1,120 sq. ft.

As far as tilth depth goes I think 2 ft is not required and quite impossible
for most. The average soil depth of my main patch was 8" to 12", beneath
this is hard pan clay. I did loosen the soil beneath the main stump of my
1006 plant to 18". I don't think this was really needed either.

In patch #2 which was a scratch patch, I hand spaded and amended with
compost 3 weeks before planting. I then tilled to a mere depth of 6" to 8"
maximum. Beneath the stump of the plant in patch #2 which produced my 815, I
did not attempt to loosen the soil beyond the average depth of the rest of
the patch.

When I dug up the stump and root structure of this plant I found that the
main tap roots went down 6" to 8" hit the hard pan clay, bent sideways and
then just kept on growing.

Personally I feel any deeper than 12" is just not needed, too I highly doubt
if there would be enough oxygen in the soil to sustain the root structure
deeper than about a foot.

As Doc Pumpkinstein aka Rick Dickow preached to me all year, the tendancy of
these plants is to put roots outward, not downward. He suggested that the
root structure from the main stump will travel out as much as 20ft. or more
and will grow 3 to 4 ft. or more ahead of the tips of your vines.

I thought Doc was nuts, until I got out a small garden trowel and started
digging ahead of the tips of my vines. Sure enough at 3 to 4 ft. from the
tips I started pulling up spaghetti strings, roots leading back to the main
stump. He was exactly right and I followed his recommendation not to roto
till closer than 5 ft. or more away from the vine tips of my plants!

Just my thoughts!
Chris Andersen
Moraga, Calif.

======================================================
>Paul:
>    These are just guidelines, but according to Chris Anderson, et al, per
plant,
>you need somewhere between 500 to 700 sq ft per plant, if you are aiming
for a
>"big'un". In addition, the latest information published in this list. gives
root
>depth at approximately 2 ft, so your bed depth should be at least 6" lower
than
>that.
>    If the soil below the location of the raised bed is good to a certain
depth,
>you should take that in to account in your equation. No matter what size
your
>bed, remember that any garden is only so good as its soil. Make sure you
fill
>your raised bed with good soil & work up & condition any soil beneath it,
to the
>depth you need.
>Good luck
>TerryLynn
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