My garden spot is too wet. I don't have a better place for it, so I need to just fix this spot. The ground is clay, but this spot has been used for a garden for about 5 years, so it's turning into good topsoil. I'm thinking of scraping off the top soil and putting in some drain tile. Then, building it up with sand and putting the topsoil back on. Will this work or should I fill with something else?
I have managed to raise a garden there, but some years are wetter than others, so some years it works out, but other years it doesn't. For example, I've had seeds rot out in the ground. So, I just have to plant later, when it dries out. We're past any danger of frost, so I'd like to get the stuff in as early as possible so I can have the fresh vegetables as soon as possible.
For example, last year it was so wet I couldn't even get on it to till it up until the last weekend of May, but the year before I was able to till it in early May. This year, I haven't been able to get on it yet and it doesn't look like I will for a while. Even after I can get it tilled and some things planted, it's not uncommon for a wet June to come along and I have things rotting out in the mud. I've had to water it, but that's usually not until mid July or if we get week or so of no rain before that (which is rare).
The area is about 30' X 30'. I usually grow tomatoes, green peppers, cilantro, cucumbers, pumpkins, gourds, and sometimes watermelons. I'd do more, but just don't have time to keep up with it.
Well,a garden that sized is certainly a candadate for a raised up bed.A raised bed is just that,you need a form of somesort to hold the dirt in above the ground level.You could dig out the top soil where the form will go,build your form out of lands scape timbers or simular stuff,I'd use pressure treated but some people will tell you that will get in the vegitables,[arsenic,copper],and get some real good and rich top soil and fill it up.A raised bed can also be used without the form,its just that you will have to probably do it every year after you till,which in a garden your size,might be the best way. RICHARD GAUTHIER
OK. I don't like the idea of the forms though, since I won't be able to till it with the tractor and 5' tiller. I don't have the time to do it with the 22" tiller, plus the first time over is pretty bouncy with that thing. I usually till it once, then wait a few days and till it again before I plant. With the tractor and 5' tiller, that's a quick job.
>> I don't like the idea of the forms though, since I won't be able to till it with the tractor and 5' tiller.
An alternative is to do your raised beds by forming the raised beds in soil and planting grass walkways in between the beds. Depending upon the wheel spacing on your tractor, you may be able to run your tractor wheels on the grass alleys and just till the raised bed. You'll probably have to rig up a bed former to pull behind your tiller to keep the beds formed as you till. A bed former can be made with two disks or furrowers set to throw the soil towards the center of the bed.
With this type system you walk on the grass alleys, keeping your feet out of the mud and you also minimize the chances for any soil compaction in the growing zone.
I've set up my garden with 4'wide beds and 4' alleys in between which seems to work well. I can easily get my garden carts down the row for harvesting and can also do a lot of the cultivation without ever walking on the bed.
You basically build a frame, I like mine about 3' x 6 or 7' and maybe 8" to 12" tall. Then dig out (turn over) the ground inside the frame. Then fill the frame with more dirt. I scoop the top soil from between frames, since this area is a walkway and grows nothing. You then have a raised bed that has say 16" of loose soil inside. (The soil contained by the frame and the soil underneath.) And, you have eliminated all weeding in the walking paths around the beds.
When I planted in raised beds, I made little cardboard cutouts and used them as spacers for planting seeds. Since you are planting in a confined bedspace, there is no reason to plant in rows. The spacers allowed me to completely fill the available bed area without over crowding.
Some people keep the same frames year after year. Others remove the frames each fall and let the soil settle. I've even gardened without building frames. It's just a little harder to keep the top soil frrom washing.
Your tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers should love it. I don't know about the rest of the stuff, because I've never grown cilantro; and pumpkins, etc. usually get planted in with the corn. I don't like raised beds for corn, since I didn't have real good luck with it.
A buddy of mine has raised beds, mainly because he had to bring in garden soil because his was pretty poor. He happened to have lots of 2x10 cedar which he used for the borders. He has beds about 4 feet wide so he can reach the center from both sides, and mulches the paths between. While I am waiting for my garden to dry enough so I can weed around some of the plants, he just walks along the paths and plucks out the weeds, keeping his shoes nice and clean. If you didn't want to buy dirt, I suppose you could scrape off your top soil and lay down a layer of sand. Then build your forms and fill with your saved dirt. I've wanted to make some raised beds myself, but didn't have a ready source of cheap, safe, and long lasting edging. Too bad the recycled plastic boards are so expensive. One of the garden catalogs I get sells kits of those for small raised beds, and they claim really good yields for things like potatoes. They'd be darn expensive potatoes though, with those kits.
Good idea! If I could find some at a demolition site they'd probably give them away. Might have to pick through for intact ones.
I'm working on a patio at the moment, and the wife is talking about some attached flower beds. For those, I'll probably want something more decorative. I'd really like to talk her into using some of that space for an herb garden. We have this discussion all the time. If you can't eat it, I have trouble getting enthusiastic about planting it. I have some left-over brick to use for those small areas, but the cement block idea would be great for some larger beds.
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