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Re: Bed Construction

I used bricks in my container garden and it was hell keeping weeds pulled,
in fact I just couldn't, so it always looked awful. In my new garden, I've
raised the soil with amendments and double-digging, but I've left the sides
just as soil, no more boxes for me! Much easier to till in spring and I can
always change the configuration of the beds if they don't work out. I left
the paths compacted soil (there's a lot of clay in my natural soil) and
today spread 8! bales of spoiled hay over them, ala Ruth Stout's advice in
Rodale's Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. It's lovely, looks neat, smells
nice, the weeds can't grow through, and best of all, cost me a grand total
of $12 Canadian. I think I'm going to get more and put it all over the
garden, smother all the grass, too, the heck with weed-eating!
Denise McCann Beck
USDA Zone 7
Sunset Western 4
Coastal Bristish Columbia

----------
> From: Warner <warner@ultranet.com>
> To: veggie-list@eskimo.com
> Subject: Re: Bed Construction
> Date: Wednesday, May 07, 1997 4:21 PM
> 
> 
> 
> ----------
> > From: Denise Beck <denise@saltspring.com>
> > To: veggie-list@eskimo.com
> > Subject: Re: Bed Construction
> > Date: Wednesday, May 07, 1997 2:03 PM
> > 
> > Well, I did this, too, for the last thirteen years, and I found that
four
> > feet was just too wide to work comfortably in the middle. If I was
going
> to
> > do raised beds again, I'd make them 3.5 or just 3 feet wide, and much
> > longer - 6 to 8 feet. I picked the 4x4 size because of the square foot
> > gardening book, but I wouldn't do it again. 
> 	
> I totally agree with not making them 4 feet wide--also, I made mine about
6
> inches deep, and am currently converting them to deeper beds by putting
> another frame on top of the (currently disintegrating) one.  I'm finding
> that it seems to work although the bottom isn't completely enclosed.  I
> thought the soil might wash out, but if it is, it's very little.  My beds
> are on top of a very small layer of topsoil with a lot of sandy fill
under
> that so they dry out awfully fast.
> 	My question is what have you done about the paths?  Mine are about 18
> inches wide, and I spend entirely too much time trying to keep them from
> growing.  I've tried chips, black plastic covered with chips, but they're
> still not easy to maintain.  (And I'm not a neatness fiend either.)
> 	Judy Warner
> warner@ultranet.com
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