New gardening tool

SunnyJim · Post by **SunnyJim** » 10 Mar 2008, 21:11

biffvernon wrote:Yes. I first used raised beds on rich and heavy clay land and when I moved to very light sandy soil I thought I would give up the deep beds as they would dry out too fast. But I've changed my mind on that. The increased depth of soil and better structure combined with plenty of organic matter means that I think there is more moisture available even though one might imagine that the drainage is better. So all my veg are on deep beds now.

Deep raised beds?

SunnyJim · Post by **SunnyJim** » 10 Mar 2008, 21:13

greg wrote:Greg, have you ever owned one of the Japanese tractors?

Nope, but have looked at them, nearly went for a recon Kubota but it was a bit too titchy for the job, most of them are.

My present (and last) tractor has enough oomph to handle most jobs (such as tonight, have just been and towed a tree out of the road that came down in the storm, lot's of firewood, oak too), and is ridiculously easy to look after. I don't buy into the flimsy thing at all.

Thanks for that Greg. Good to have an experienced opinion. I don't know anyone who has one of the old jap tractors. I know a few who have the chinese tractors, but only for very light 'horse field' use.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 10 Mar 2008, 22:54

SunnyJim wrote:Deep raised beds?

That's right. Deep, as in a big depth of soil. Raised, as in the surface of the soil is raised up, thus producing the deep bit below.

If you start with flat land, decide where the beds will be and where the paths between wiil be. Dig a spade's worth of soil from the future path and but it onto where the bed will be. The land is no longer flat but has deep raised beds separated by trench-like paths. Add any available compost as a mulch on top of the beds and let the worms mix it in.

It's that simple. I don't bother with boards and such like to keep things in place. Just scrape the top of the path occasionally and dump it on top of the bed to keep order.

eatyourveg · Post by **eatyourveg** » 10 Mar 2008, 23:16

biffvernon wrote:
SunnyJim wrote:Deep raised beds?
That's right. Deep, as in a big depth of soil. Raised, as in the surface of the soil is raised up, thus producing the deep bit below.

If you start with flat land, decide where the beds will be and where the paths between wiil be. Dig a spade's worth of soil from the future path and but it onto where the bed will be. The land is no longer flat but has deep raised beds separated by trench-like paths. Add any available compost as a mulch on top of the beds and let the worms mix it in.

It's that simple. I don't bother with boards and such like to keep things in place. Just scrape the top of the path occasionally and dump it on top of the bed to keep order.

This is excellent advice.

SunnyJim · Post by **SunnyJim** » 11 Mar 2008, 08:12

greg wrote:
biffvernon wrote:
SunnyJim wrote:Deep raised beds?
That's right. Deep, as in a big depth of soil. Raised, as in the surface of the soil is raised up, thus producing the deep bit below.

If you start with flat land, decide where the beds will be and where the paths between wiil be. Dig a spade's worth of soil from the future path and but it onto where the bed will be. The land is no longer flat but has deep raised beds separated by trench-like paths. Add any available compost as a mulch on top of the beds and let the worms mix it in.

It's that simple. I don't bother with boards and such like to keep things in place. Just scrape the top of the path occasionally and dump it on top of the bed to keep order.
This is excellent advice.

Yes, that's what I've got, but I'm still concerened that plants become forced to put down very long roots to find water. Great for carrots and parsnips etc, but I'm worried that my outdoor tomatoes etc won't find enough water. I'm water poor and space rich at the moment.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 11 Mar 2008, 11:48

The longer the roots the bigger the volume of soil the plants can get nutrients from. Promoting root growth is the key to good veg.

Norm · Post by **Norm** » 11 Mar 2008, 14:31

I think this depends on your water table. If SJ has a low water table, he would have trouble with seed germination in a raised bed without constant irrigation. Here in southern Spain I have to plant in a lowered section of ground and flood irrigate. Opposite of raised beds!

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 11 Mar 2008, 14:32

I'm glad I don't live in Spain, that would do my back in

!

SunnyJim · Post by **SunnyJim** » 11 Mar 2008, 14:35

My worry exactly.

I read about some one no dig farming who used a precision seeder (drill seeder) to plant with and put a heavyish wheel on the front to make a compacted depression to drop the seed into. The capilliary action in the soil meant that the depression where the seed was drew water up to the seed in the same way that a footprint in wet soil fills with water. I thought this most clever, and a useful way of conserving water.

I don't have a particularly low water table, but am considering all options and I want to depend on only collected water to grow with and not rely on mains water at all. Conservation of water is more of a concern to me than growing as much as I can in a small space.

Norm · Post by **Norm** » 11 Mar 2008, 14:57

RenewableCandy wrote:I'm glad I don't live in Spain, that would do my back in !

Not really!

SunnyJim · Post by **SunnyJim** » 11 Mar 2008, 15:11

Hehehe. That does look a little dry! Was that last summer or more recent?

Norm · Post by **Norm** » 11 Mar 2008, 16:12

Photo is of me spreading gravel around our nearly completed log cabin Dec 27th 2006! Kubota L4200, 45HP. You wouldn't believe the work this baby has done.

SunnyJim · Post by **SunnyJim** » 12 Mar 2008, 11:08

In all fairness it has had some help from litres and litres of concentrated sunlight!

Very useful bit of kit thought eh?

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 12 Mar 2008, 12:00

Dinor wrote:I think this depends on your water table. If SJ has a low water table, he would have trouble with seed germination in a raised bed without constant irrigation. Here in southern Spain I have to plant in a lowered section of ground and flood irrigate. Opposite of raised beds!

Water table doesn't have much to do with the dampness of the top centimetre where germination happens. Water retention here is influenced more by clay and humous content of the top layers. But, of course Spain is somewhere else entirely. My comments apply to Britain where we rarely get a fortnight without some rain.

SunnyJim · Post by **SunnyJim** » 12 Mar 2008, 12:13

I suppose we're looking at it from two different directions. You're looking at trapping water that falls from above and making it avaliable to the top centimetre for germination purposes, and I'm thinking more about allowing the plants to survive long dry spells without constant watering. I think this will require access to the water table and deeper soil. - Obviously I will be using top dressings of compost and well rotted organic matter regardless of whether the bed is raised or not. I see no reason why the surface of a raised bed should be moister than the surface of a flat bed.

I think what I will actually do is some field trials. I will try a bed of salad leaves in raised bed, and similar 'flat bed', both deep beds, and see which comes out best. Nothing like a good old experiment to answer a question eh?