Pat Meadows wrote:

On Mon, 23 Jun 2003 09:14:31 -0400, DigitalVinyl
wrote:


if you read SqFt Gardening it is very important to read his website
articles and to use more up-to-date sources of info. His book is
twenty years old and has not been updated. In it he advocates working
the dirt to an 18inch depth. I followed that lead when preparing my
garden. However on the website he says that that thinking is old and
6-8 inches is all you need if you use the right planting mix. His
frost dates were also a month off in the book so don't rely on that
(another point of initial confusion for me when I started).
DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

Right. (I don't know about his frost dates, haven't checked
them.)
In our region tomatoes usually go out around mother's day (mid may).
He recommends at last frost, April 1-April 30. April is too cold-you
would need to be ready with protection often. There were a number of
different recommendations based upon whose book I was reading. It can
be very confusing. The one that made the most sense was BOUNTIFUL
CONTAINER where they often discuss what nighttime and daytime temps
should be. A quick visit to weather.com and I got historical average
lows and got a much better idea.

I also find 4 feet too wide for a bed - can't reach it all
easily. 3 feet is much better for me. Actually, we're
using round raised beds (tire gardening).
I've got a 2.5ft deep bordering against the house. I tend to keep one
hand against the house to reach deep in the back. Guess it depends
upon length/reach of your arms.

DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)