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["Sage Austin | Eureka! Design" <eureka AT hctc.net>]

Frank Fries wrote:
> I look forward to experimenting with different things over the next few 
> years as I get a chance to.... One of the things I mean to try is raised 
> beds.
>
> Frank 
Frank, you can see my raised beds on the following blogs:

http://flowerweaver.blogspot.com/2008/03/winter-greens.html
http://friocanyonhealthyharvest.blogspot.com/2009/01/raised-beds-and-onions.html

We use scrap lumber, but it looks nice enough. We ran irrigation pipe 
underground first with stub ups and then built the beds. Each one has 
two or three drip irrigation lines running between the rows. Since the 
ground is too rocky to till, this is the only thing we can do.

Thanks for introducing us to terra petra, it's very interesting. We are 
also experimenting with Fukuoka's no till method in our prairie (which 
is also full of rocks). The native grasses (silver and little bluestems) 
have very deep roots (around the rocks) so we see no reason to destroy 
that. Last year we planted 100 tomatoes directly, had great plants but 
low fruit yield we think was more related to the intense heat in spring.

This year we added small piles of compost in place on the prairie and 
are growing vetch on top, into which we plan to plant this year's tomatoes.

--Sage
Way Out in Texas