> Saw your post about the raised-bed garden. Do you use the "square foot" >method or other raised bed plans? I'm going to try it for the first time >this summer because it's purported to be so minimal in labor and maximal in >produce! Are you sold on the process? > >SandyO Hey SandyO, Not sure what the "square foot" method is, but my raised-bed works for me. I built it out of landscape timbers (8 feet long, flat on 2 sides, rounded on 2 sides). It is three layers high (approx 1 foot), 16 feet long and about 3 feet wide. That was room enough for 3 tomato plants, 12 peppers, basil, sage, tarragon, rosemary and 2 kinds of thyme. This year will be all peppers, I'm moving the herbs to containers. I went with raised-bed because the Kansas clay would have taken more soil prep than I was willing to take on. It took almost half a ton of topsoil (20-some 40# bags). I mixed a layer of leaves in as pseudo-compost, they had been rottting in the side yard I was too lazy to rake the previous fall. Using commercial topsoil I figured that I could avoid the pH hassle and other soil testing chores. I am most definitely sold on raised-beds. The soil drains well and the peppers grow well with minimal intervention. The only fertilizer I needed was Miracle Gro, used at 1/3 strength 3 or 4 times in the first 2 months after putting the seedlings in. Then just water when they started to look a little wilted. Excellent pepper production. My neck of the woods has a pretty bad slug problem, and the only thing that tamed it was K-GRO slug bait. The raised bed made it so I could apply the stuff around the bed to protect it without having to put it in the garden (even though it is listed as safe for fruits/veggies). Good luck with your garden! Scott... KCK