Re: [SG] Raised beds

Actually, Pottsey, concrete blocks are fine as long as you don't mind the
look.  They will give you an 8" depth, which is good.  I would not be
concerned about any potential alkaline leaching unless you were wanting to
grow some lime hater like Rhododendrons or blueberries.  Set them up so the
holes are on top.  You can drive slender stakes in the holes to help keep
them in place against the weight of the fill in the bed.  fill the holes up
with your mix, too and plant them with something small that doesn't mind a
bit of dryness as they dry out faster than the bed will...something that
will flow down over the edge and hide the block is nice....Alyssum comes to
mind or Sedum 'Vera Jameson' or Phlox subulata or Thyme...

Personally, I'd fork over the existing soil to loosen it up and then add a
mix of compost, topsoil (if you've got it....if not, just use subsoil with
double or triple the organic material) maybe some bagged cow manure.  Spent
potting soil is good, too.  I'd probably add some rotted woodchips - you
could dump in a bag of fine bark mulch - it is rough textured enough to
help keep the mix airy.  Depending on what I gathered together to use, I
might add a sprinkling of 10-10-10 and a handful of super phosphate...and I
might not...no hard and fast rule here.  My understanding is that Kniphofia
(red hot pokers) prefer a retentive clay soil to a light or sandy one, so
you might want to add some of your native soil if it is clay based and not
make the mix too light.  I can't give you a real formula, as I do it by eye
and feel...but...hmmm...perhaps half a wheelbarrow of soil and then roughly
equal parts of whatever organic components you can find.  Try that and if
it doesn't look right, add more of whatever you feel is missing....very
scientific ;-)

I tend to do my mixing in a wheelbarrow and then dump, rather than dumping
different things in the bed and then trying to get them mixed well...but,
that's just my preference.

When you fill in the bed, take a piece of plywood of a size you can handle
and that will fit in the bed and lay it on top and jump up and down on it
to compact the bed.  Then, top it up and do it again.  You want to fill it
right up to the brim and then some because it will sink more than you think
in a year or so.

Plant your plants, water well and mulch and water again and watch them
grow.  They'll love it.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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----------
> From: venies.place <venies.place@CWIX.COM>
> Date: Friday, February 26, 1999 6:33 PM
>
> I know this topic has been discussed recently, but I am having a hard
time
> trying to find it in the archives.  I have a space just outside my back
> fence that I want to make a raised bed for my red hot pokers because the
> space gets more sun than the place my pokers are currently planted.  What
> would be a good thing to use for the borders?  I think I remember someone
> saying that concrete blocks are not good to use because they leach into
the
> soil(?)  The space is about 2x5.  And then, what type of soil do I need
to
> add?  Compost?  Top soil?  Any and all replys are appreciated!
>
> Pottsey
> zone5
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