On 06/15/2014 08:40 AM, songbird wrote:
about raised beds...

if you have no need for them they are
a waste of space, materials, expense,
efforts, ... many people do them because
they see others doing them and not
because their site requires it.


Hi Songbird,

We are trying to get rid of the back lawn, as the
grass pollen is hard on my wife. But, so is blowing
dirt.

Our soil is not soil. We are at the bottom
of ancient lake Lahatton. What we walk on
is rock and decomposed sandstone (like decomposed
granite, only really ugly). So, basically,
what isn't rock, is sand. (And NO gophers.
Chuckle, Chuckle.)

Now the local compost place has wonder super dirt
and compost. They have all that stuff you spoke of
figured out. (I use their compost on my little
garden every year.) But it is expensive to fill
the entire back yard, not to mention the blowing
dirt.

So I was thinking of four ellipses using interlocking
landscape blocks. Not wood boxes, which eventually
decompose, draw wood eating bugs, and eventually spear
the contents all over the place. (You could use pressure
treated wood, but then the toxins will get in your food.)

Also converting the four sprinklers systems over to drip
system in the four ellipses.

And rocking in the rest. Maybe put a gazebo in the
middle too.

Be nice not to have to bend and stoop as much either.
As far as wanting more soil to grow things, I do
has to know my limitations and age proof my life.

-T