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[bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

Below is some "copy and paste" from Toni's raised bed print-out.  If the 
moats are dry, why would a disabled person delete the moats in their garden 
design to make it more accesible to a wheelchair or scooter?
.....bobford


- Good drainage:   In the wet Kentucky Springtime, these beds have drainage 
with surrounding moats keep our new root systems from being waterlogged.  


 - Keeps good soil in place: The heavy covering of paper and organic mulches 
keep all the soil in place - even thru the now counted on deluges of rain!  
At the end of the season, any topsoil that has filled into the moats get 
quickly shoveled atop the beds before covering for the season.  

 
- Mostly weed-free planting areas:  Very few weeds come up on these beds.  
Those that do, are weak and can be pulled out with two fingers, if needed.

 

- Economy in irrigation:  During times of drought, raised beds can dry out 
much too fast.  This thick bed covering keeps plantings far moister than 
raised beds unmulched.  Very little watering is needed thruout the season.

 
- Ease of maintenance:   As we grow older and our bodies weary in bending   
Each year the soil becomes more the object of my thanks with this method.  If 
one is a disabled gardener, the moats could be deleted in the garden design, 
allowing a scoot-along seat or wheelchair to be used with  plant heights 
being quite accessible ( not considering such as Pole Beans or Heirloom 
Maters!)



--- On Thu, 7/3/08, Warren <mogrits AT gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Warren <mogrits AT gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Homestead] Moats?
> To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Thursday, July 3, 2008, 12:02 PM
> I think as used on this list, a moat is just a spatial
> barrier. If I recall
> correctly, Gene's "chicken moat" is just
> double fencing your garden allowing
> chickens to patrol the perimeter. The "chicken
> moat" keeps the bugs out.
> 
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