The monster beds themselves contain no soil, just organic matter
and compost. A 3 foot tall mass of waste hay, grass, leaves,
sticks and manure holds a lot of water.
Almost ready for filling at Heartwood is a new ferrocement raised bed
four feet wide and fifteen feet long. Vase shaped. Waist high for Chris on the uphill side and for me on the downhill side. My plan calls for, from the bottom: rocks, small rocks/gravel, good-sized rotten oak branches, small rotten oak branches, mower catches of
grass and leaves for a filter, then growing soil on top.
Sounds perfect for gravity irrigation. Digging it out by hand would
get you in primo shape. There are organic sealing methods. I have
read of a Russian process for creating a waterproof pond bottom; I
think they call the stuff glee. It's layers of organic matter that
rot but short of dissipation due to lack of oxygen. Old timers did
much the same thing by putting hay or straw in the pond bottom, then
feeding pigs there. The little hooves pack the fibers and poop into a
water resistant bottom.
Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.