[CH] Raised bed

Parkhurst, Scott Contractor (PARKHURS@LEAV-EMH1.ARMY.MIL)
Tue, 6 Apr 1999 08:56:00 -0500

>    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