On 8/16/2011 1:02 PM, Steve B wrote:
The location of my garden is on rock. On caliche. I could pick another
spot, but this one is convenient, and another would be much farther from the
house.

Digging down more than a foot or so hits caliche. This presents a problem
in that it is impenetrable by roots, and water runs off it.

I want to do a greenhouse, and do some raised beds, both for convenience,
and easier on the back. But what about the floor? If I were to frame up a
concrete pony wall, say one foot high and then fill the floor with good
composted soil, is one foot or slightly more enough for the roots of most
gardens? I could then use that pony wall as the base for a greenhouse. I
know I would have to watch the water so as not to soak the soil.

TIA

Steve



In most of the Las Vegas area (where I lived) caliche was a fact of life
and people managed to plant things successfully by the expedient of
breaking up the caliche, correcting the myriad problems with the soil (OK,
so what was there couldn't even be called soil), and then going at it with
usual gardening practices (with addition of shade structures and
irrigation). In the old days I'm told that dynamite planting of trees was
considered normal. Later heavy equipment and cheap labor from down south
were the solution.