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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Why grow with permanent intensive beds?
  • Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:21:38 -0700


from my blog at
http://livingonthelandweb.blogspot.com/2011/02/permanent-intensive-beds.html?spref=tw

paul tradingpost@lobo.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Permanent Intensive Beds

Why grow with permanent intensive beds?
from Paul at livingonthelandweb@gmail.com

There are places where food gardening can be done by tilling up a whole area
and planting in single rows, and often requiring too much watering and
weeding, and cost. But times like these need more efficient and sustainable -
and more inexpensive - use of space and inputs. And for the current growth of
home, market, and community gardening to be sustained, the methods need to be
both doable and rewarding. Too often they aren't. Some useful sources listed
at the end of this article.

Efficiency

Not just trendy, permanent beds and aisles can make more efficient use of
available space and inputs for growing. Beds can be intensively planted and
allow the garden to produce much more vegetables by NOT leaving 18" aisles
for tractor wheels between single rows. No tractors here. In intensive beds
plants are spaced equally in each direction, depending on the room they need
when mature. Do the math for carrots with recommended spacing between plants
and the same spacing between rows - say, for a simple 3'x20' bed. Eight rows
in a three foot wide bed? How many carrots total? Unsustainable industrial
farming methods are also inefficient and impractical for home, market and
community vegetable gardens.

Soil compaction

Beds are usually 3-4 feet wide to reach the middle from either side, and
aren't walked on and compacted. Aisle width may vary as needed. Soil that is
not compacted by feet or wheels allows better root growth and better plant
growth. As such it needs little or no annual tilling or digging. It's easier
to work in amendments. Uncompacted beds percolate irrigation more deeply,
hold moisture better, and drain excess water more easily. Compacted soil is
harder to water deeply and is more prone to waterlogging when it is watered
deeply or gets too much rain. Either condition is hard on plants.

Inputs

Beds require less amendments, mulch, tilling, and irrigation than the entire
garden because aisles need none of these. All inputs are concentrated on the
growing soil in beds. This saves labor and money. Plus, the cost of a tiller
can easily outweigh any savings from growing your own. Initial bed layout and
digging in organic amendments can avoid buying a tiller altogether - and
regular tilling brings weed seeds to the surface to sprout. With free or
cheap local materials for amendments and mulch, startup costs can be limited
more or less to simple hand tools. But why amend and mulch?

Mulched beds

Organic mulch allows water to penetrate while reducing surface evaporation,
conserving moisture, and greatly reducing weeding. In a wet climate beds may
need to be slightly higher than aisles for better drainage. Mulch protects
shallow roots from the sun's heat and moderates soil temperature which helps
growth - and food production. It helps to keep the soil surface from being
compacted and crusted by rain on bare soil. Water percolates down more
easily. So besides saving water by not irrigating aisles area, less water
also is needed for the bed soil. Winter mulch can protect soil from hard
freezes in milder climates, and as Ruth Stout explained long ago you just
pull the mulch aside in spring to let the sun warm the soil and plant. For
transplants mulch can be pulled aside and replaced around plants. Coarser
mulch material needs to be a little thicker layer than finer material. Bare
soil is subject to erosion loss by wind and water, and is rarely best for
growing. In field and forest nature abhors bare soil.

Amendments

With permanent beds, the labor and expense of amendments aren't wasted on
aisles that get walked on. Organic amendments may vary including compost,
green manure crops, animal manures, bone meal, and minerals. In composting,
greens and browns ideally are combined in a ratio of more or less 1:20 for
nitrogen in green matter to decompose browns such as aged manure. But the
same materials may be worked into the soil directly, skipping the compost
pile. Proper amendments also go beyond providing plant nutrients, by
loosening soil structure for good root growth and moisture retention, and by
providing raw materials for earthworms and microorganisms such as mycorrhizae
that improve soil structure and healthy plant growth. Raising the level of
organic matter becomes more practical and affordable when only the growing
beds are amended.

Adaptations

Beds may need raising and framing under certain conditions such as sloping or
uneven ground, thin, rocky, or hopeless topsoil, or too much rain. Where
conditions permit beds can simply be laid out flat and marked with permanent
stakes or other markers. Lumber or other materials may be used to define
edges and keep bed soil or mulch in place if needed. Where space permits
green manure crops such as legumes that add nitrogen and bring up subsoil
minerals can be rotated with growing beds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sources

Some of many sources on intensive beds and organic growing, available at low
cost from http://www.bookfinder.com which includes many booksellers . I'm not
an expert and we don't need to be experts if we combine what works best from
those who are.

High-Yield Gardening: How to Get More from Your Garden Space and More from
Your Gardening Season, Rodale Press

How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than
You Can Imagine, by John Jeavons (& others by Jeavons)

Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. The Indispensable Green
Resource for Every Gardener, Rodale Press

Getting the Most from Your Garden, Rodale Press

The Complete Book Of Composting, Rodale Press




  • [Livingontheland] Why grow with permanent intensive beds?, Tradingpost, 02/09/2011

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