[Food] Production – Gardening, General

undertaker · permanently banned Joined: Oct 08, 2006 Posts: 194

It's nice to frame a raised bed, but I only managed to frame one small one. The rest are mounded and they do just fine.

I am building raised beds on top of virgin clay, with scraggly grass growing on it. I gathered hundreds of bags of leaves from the neighbors, and I get horse manure from a horse farm.

When I have a load of horse manure, I open bags of leaves and dump them into high, fluffy piles, then I shovel horse manure off the truck and on top of the fluffy piles of leaves to "seal them up," basically so they don't blow away. So it's about 80% leaves and 20% horse manure.

It's a lot less work up front, and I just have to wait a couple years to have perfect soil. The first year, when the horse manure is still fresh and the leaves aren't rotted yet, I grow cucurbits like cukes, squash and melons. After the first year, it's rotted into really nice, almost ideal, soil.

I was told by a soil scientist not to lime, just let it go through it's cycle of thermophilic decomposition and it will naturally come to a normal ph.

So yeah, it's just mounded. It's important to have a truck and a free source of horse manure, and idiotic neighbors who rake and bag their leaves and leave them by the road, but that's it.

Heineken

Yes, you can just heap material on the ground and get a raised bed, but the edges will constantly erode and sag, so you'd need a considerably larger bed for the same-sized crop---and then have to try to keep your feet off the soil. Since I'll be using mine for strawberries, which are delicate and require a lot of hand work (and bending over), it's nice to have the "frames," which help one control the whole operation and give a nice point of attachment for insect barriers, insulating blankets, my rear end, etc.

Also, mine create a nice "landscaping" look, and they're easy for me to build since my supply of suitable pine trees is large.

(Members, please see preceding page for a link to a picture of my new raised beds.)
_________________
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother

Loki · Expert Joined: Apr 08, 2006 Posts: 1298 Location: Cascadia

Heineken

Why use a chainsaw when you've got all those cannons, Loki? Very Happy

Blammo!

I'll be using the beds for everbearing strawberries, about one plant per square foot. (A total of about 80 strawberry plants.)

I'll cover the entire surface of the prepared soil with black, water-permeable sheeting (Vispore) to exclude most weeds. Then I'll cut an X in every square foot with a utility knife and plant a strawberry plant in each X. Then it's a matter of pinching off all flowers until July 1 and all runners indefinitely (until it's time to renovate the plots, after two or three years). Fertilize after the plants get established and then again in late summer (I think---have to check), deal with bugs, keep moist, and (hopefully) enjoy plenty of strawberries that put the supermarket variety to shame.

Along with the weed barrier that goes over the soil, I also have a barrier that lets in sunlight but excludes insects, that I can lay over the beds during the worst part of the Japanese beetle season. I'll leave them off until 10:00 a.m. or so (when the Japanese beetle gets limbered up enough to start marauding) so that bees can pollinate the strawberries, then put them back on until the following early morning (to exclude larger predators). That's the plan, Loki. I'm a determined man---determined to get my berries!
_________________
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother

Loki · Expert Joined: Apr 08, 2006 Posts: 1298 Location: Cascadia

frankthetank

I also have strawberries in containers. Last year i picked very little, but had plenty of runners. I think i got like one ripe one a day for maybe two weeks. Oh well, i don't like any other strawberry (store bought ones suck and the frozen are bad too). I'll probably up production when i get some more boxes made.

Those beds are going to last a 1000 years with your setup! You could build a cabin out of those trees Smile

_________________
Clothing should be optional.

Heineken

Loki and Frank: You have to pinch off the runners as they form. Otherwise most of the energy of the strawberry plant goes into making runners and not berries. That's why you haven't gotten many berries. Fertilization, twice a year, is also important.

What you want are really big plants with no runners and plenty of room around each plant (at least one square foot per plant). Full sun, of course, although they can take some afternoon shade. And steady water so that they never dry out, but don't drown them. Drip irrigation is ideal so that leaves don't get wet (potentially spreading disease); or just water at the base of each plant and not over the leaves.

Also, with new plants, pinch off all the flowers that form up until July 1. That will help the plants get larger and more able to produce decent fruit later in the year and in following years.

A final tip---work some sand into the soil. That helps the soil drain well, avoiding the root diseases that may otherwise strike.
_________________
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother

WildRose · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jun 21, 2006 Posts: 1087

Heineken

I don't know, WildRose. That guideline appears to be a general one that may indeed have to be modified for different climates, esp. an extreme one like yours. I'm sure you can get more information from your Canadian equivalent of our "extension" services.

I should note that the guidelines I presented apply (as far as I know) only to everbearing (daylength-neutral) strawberries, the type I prefer. There is another type that bears all at once and then is done for the year.
_________________
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother

dogf

Question....

I am currently renting, waiting for the farms prices to fall another 25%. So I've got myself into this house with a 3 car garage/driveway in the suburbs.
While the lot is considered by the owner to be a premium lot, the back yard is not usable at all as the slope is too steep to almost walk on. Great view but that's it.

Can I build a raised bed on top of the black tar driveway? I only use 1 lane of the 3.
Will the black tar become too hot to grow anything? I am about 1 hours drive north of Toronto.

TIA

WildRose · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jun 21, 2006 Posts: 1087

Thanks for your reply, Heineken. I will consult some local gardeners, perhaps pick up Lois Hole's gardening book.

BTW, your raised beds look really good. A friend of mine built some last spring and they worked out really well, kept the slugs out of her plants, too. I'm planning on building some this coming spring.

UrbanFool

I was just getting ready to start planning changes for the garden this coming year, and wouldn't you know --the wind kicked up and if there's one thing I hate, it's trying to do anything outdoors in the wind.

Anyway, I was thinking about toying around with tires. These are turned inside out and theoretically don't look like tires, so I figured I'd give this a go http://survivalplus.com/foods/page0003.htm --for part of the garden anyway.

Kelly

pea-jay

FilmShack · Tar Sands Joined: Dec 22, 2006 Posts: 79

DogF: Yes you can! Put at least six inches of gravel in the bottom of your bed(Bed should be at least twenty inches tall). If the soil is rich in organic matter the plants will keep their roots nearer to the surface. You have to water that system often however, so put it near a gutter and downspout and you'll be good to go!

Patti

strider3700 · Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:08 am Post subject: Re: Seeds