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market-farming - Re: Production methods: tillage, beds, rows, etc.

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <london AT metalab.unc.edu>
  • To: market farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Production methods: tillage, beds, rows, etc.
  • Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 20:22:11 -0500 (EST)



On Sun, 30 Jan 2000, Sojourner wrote:

> "Lawrence F. London, Jr." wrote:

> > for plant production. Nutrient conservation and recycling, exchange
> > of nutrients between beds through leaching, erosion control, enhanced
> > habitat for microorganisms and beneficial insects are a few of the
> > benefits to be had from building garden beds with edge zones in mind.
> > I think that gardens can be made more productive and less labor-intensive
> > using this principle.

This is (in part) the answer to your question below.

> OK, I know there are a lot of benefits to raised beds and will most
> likely move to a raised bed system as I get things going here, but what
> difference does the SHAPE of the beds make? Seems to me that laying out

Its the _edges_ (crenelated, natural/random) that make the mandala-shaped
raised bed work. It requires more planning anf labor initially but offers
(potentially) a bigger payback than rectangular, square or round beds, and
certainly rows or row-beds).

> "mandalas" or other odd designs would be time consuming and difficult
> for little or no payback. What's the advantage of the shape itself?

See above. They would take more time to build so creating a few as an
experiment each year might be an interesting way to approach this new
production method.

LL

Lawrence F. London, Jr. Venaura Farm
metalab.unc.edu/intergarden InterGarden
metalab.unc.edu/permaculture PermaSphere
metalab.unc.edu/intergarden/orgfarm AGINFO
lflondon AT mindspring.com london AT metalab.unc.edu







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