Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

The original source for that Gene Logsdon piece is
http://organictobe.org/index.php/2009/04/29/down-with-raised-beds/

Gene has written a lot of good material for gardeners and the public. But
I'm thinking he should have slept on this one and revised it in the light
of day. True, there is some misinformation on it promoted by some
publications.

I do raised beds for a good reason: my topsoil is thin and subsoil is all
wrong for mixing up in a bed. As for double digging, I don't. The way Gene
describes it just isn't the way Jeavons and others do it anyway. But I dig
up eight inches and build up on top of that with topsoil from paths etc.
and amendments. I get plenty of depth for good production. People don't
realize Jeavons had awful dirt to begin with and he had lots of student
help over time to double dig and build great growing soil. And I can't make
market growing worthwhile with plants that "come right up through cracks in
pavement " as Gene puts it, so I have to make healthy soil. To me it has
nothing to do with earlier crops, tho Gene seems to think people believe it
does. 

Nor do I have to irrigate more with raised beds, but far less. The soil
built up in my beds holds moisture far better than the ground around them.
And we get 10" precip avg annually. If he thinks bed sides wick moisture
out too much, he should check how much the dry soil around ground level
beds wick out moisture. Of course I mulch religiously at low cost, partly
to keep shallow roots cool in our semi-desert summers. My plants don't die
or suffer stress that signals bugs the buffet is now open. 

Of course not everyone needs raised beds for optimum results. What they do
need is PERMANENT beds and aisles. You avoid compacting the growing soil,
you don't need to dig or amend or mulch or irrigate the whole garden, just
the beds. Twice the production with half the cost and effort. And I don't
need a tiller, because there isn't that much digging to do once beds are
started. Oh, and I'm 65 and not looking for a hammock. 


paul tradingpost@lobo.net

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.
- Henry David Thoreau