Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Ken Hargesheimer <minifarms2@yahoo.com>]

Below is a good example of taking a principle and applying it to the local situation.  I live on a plains flat as a table top for miles.  I have been on a farm in Honduras that did not use sides??.  The farm sloped 72º and each bed [one meter wide] was one meter below the upper one.  The bed is sloped back into the hill to control runoff those rare time there is a downpour.  During H. Mitch she got one meter of rain without eroison. It works.

 

Ken

TradingPostPaul <tradingpost@riseup.net> wrote:

> I'd agree, sides aren't usually required. Let me add the only reason I use lumber sides is I can't dig down enough without digging impervious subsoil, so I have to build up and need sides to hold the soil and mulch in place.  Also my ground is sloping and level framed beds avoid
>  erosion. Once done
> they're done and succeeding years are sooo easy. Another factor is our climate which is drier than most. Framed beds do contain the irrigation water better than beds without sides.
>
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
> On 1/19/2008 at 11:23 AM Ken Hargesheimer wrote:
>
> I have had a copy of the info from OK for several years.  I used boards [salvaged] for my first beds in 1982. When they rotted, I
> decided to not use sides of any kind. That is what I recommend but if one>wants to use sides, that is fine. They are not worth the time and>trouble to me.
> > Ken

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