Hi Everyone,

My family and I live in a townhouse, and as you can imagine, we don't
have a lot of gardening space. What we do have is 4'x5' plots, about 3
of them, on either side of our patio, and at our front door. There's a
mulch on top, and underneath is a clay base of some sort. I'm wanting
to rip out the mulch and replace it with soil - will that work with
the clay base beneath? You'd have to dig about 1.5 feet in order to
hit the clay base. Anyone have any ideas?

All the best,
Earl

"earl" wrote in message
...
Hi Everyone,

My family and I live in a townhouse, and as you can imagine, we don't
have a lot of gardening space. What we do have is 4'x5' plots, about 3
of them, on either side of our patio, and at our front door. There's a
mulch on top, and underneath is a clay base of some sort. I'm wanting
to rip out the mulch and replace it with soil - will that work with
the clay base beneath? You'd have to dig about 1.5 feet in order to
hit the clay base. Anyone have any ideas?

All the best,
Earl

--------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Earl - 18 inches is not a bad depth of soil and will sustain annuals,
perennials
and most vege but your best judge is whether water stands on the surface for
a long time after heavy rain.
If it does then I would suggest excavating, breaking up the clay and
incorporating organic matter in the from
of farmyard manure and garden compost plus large size grit. If it is not
solid blue or yellow clay and you
want to plant shrubs or a small tree I would think you have sufficient depth
of soil to sustain it while it roots
into the subsoil - a clay soil is potentially a rich one. What you must
avoid at all cost is to plant into a hole
that is in effect a basin that will fill up with water that can't drain
away.



http://p214.ezboard.com/bjustgardening56566

Peter
Yorkshire
UK

We don't get any standing water after a solid rain, so I think we're
safe. Thanks much!
Earl

On Tue, 14 Sep 2004 14:48:59 +0100, "PETER DAWSON"
wrote:


"earl" wrote in message
.. .
Hi Everyone,

My family and I live in a townhouse, and as you can imagine, we don't
have a lot of gardening space. What we do have is 4'x5' plots, about 3
of them, on either side of our patio, and at our front door. There's a
mulch on top, and underneath is a clay base of some sort. I'm wanting
to rip out the mulch and replace it with soil - will that work with
the clay base beneath? You'd have to dig about 1.5 feet in order to
hit the clay base. Anyone have any ideas?

All the best,
Earl

--------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Earl - 18 inches is not a bad depth of soil and will sustain annuals,
perennials
and most vege but your best judge is whether water stands on the surface for
a long time after heavy rain.
If it does then I would suggest excavating, breaking up the clay and
incorporating organic matter in the from
of farmyard manure and garden compost plus large size grit. If it is not
solid blue or yellow clay and you
want to plant shrubs or a small tree I would think you have sufficient depth
of soil to sustain it while it roots
into the subsoil - a clay soil is potentially a rich one. What you must
avoid at all cost is to plant into a hole
that is in effect a basin that will fill up with water that can't drain
away.



http://p214.ezboard.com/bjustgardening56566

Peter
Yorkshire
UK

I have a 25' x 25' back yard it is very tight. I built raised beds rather than plant
right into the soil (which is wonderful BTW). I find raised beds are easier to deal
with, and more interesting. http://puregold.aquaria.net/landscape/bkyd/backyard.htm
believe it or not, I still go areas to "develop" or plant in that itty bitty back
yard. there are also great books that deal with gardening in tiny places.
Ingrid

earl wrote:

Hi Everyone,

My family and I live in a townhouse, and as you can imagine, we don't
have a lot of gardening space. What we do have is 4'x5' plots, about 3
of them, on either side of our patio, and at our front door. There's a
mulch on top, and underneath is a clay base of some sort. I'm wanting
to rip out the mulch and replace it with soil - will that work with
the clay base beneath? You'd have to dig about 1.5 feet in order to
hit the clay base. Anyone have any ideas?

All the best,
Earl



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Did you build the raise beds right over top of mulch or grass? How did
you prepare the foundations for them? I know the structure is simple,
I'm just afraid of slapping them down on something I shouldn't =/
Earl

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 14:37:11 GMT, wrote:

I have a 25' x 25' back yard it is very tight. I built raised beds rather than plant
right into the soil (which is wonderful BTW). I find raised beds are easier to deal
with, and more interesting. http://puregold.aquaria.net/landscape/bkyd/backyard.htm
believe it or not, I still go areas to "develop" or plant in that itty bitty back
yard. there are also great books that deal with gardening in tiny places.
Ingrid

earl wrote:

Hi Everyone,

My family and I live in a townhouse, and as you can imagine, we don't
have a lot of gardening space. What we do have is 4'x5' plots, about 3
of them, on either side of our patio, and at our front door. There's a
mulch on top, and underneath is a clay base of some sort. I'm wanting
to rip out the mulch and replace it with soil - will that work with
the clay base beneath? You'd have to dig about 1.5 feet in order to
hit the clay base. Anyone have any ideas?

All the best,
Earl



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

yep, right over the top. I used pressure treated wood too!!! drove a wooden stake
down into the ground then screwed the planks to the stake, they are two or three high
(2x4s) which I lined with cheap plastic down the plants (stapled on the inside) and
about 6 inches onto the ground to keep soil from working thru the cracks. filled it
up with what we dug out from the pond and amended as we went with manure, compost,
etc. it does settle so I brought it right up to the top and then I been mulching
everything since then, builds up a nice humus after a while.
I painted the front of the wood a bluish gray mottled with bluish green.
Ingrid

earl wrote:

Did you build the raise beds right over top of mulch or grass? How did
you prepare the foundations for them? I know the structure is simple,
I'm just afraid of slapping them down on something I shouldn't =/
Earl

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 14:37:11 GMT, wrote:

I have a 25' x 25' back yard it is very tight. I built raised beds rather than plant
right into the soil (which is wonderful BTW). I find raised beds are easier to deal
with, and more interesting. http://puregold.aquaria.net/landscape/bkyd/backyard.htm
believe it or not, I still go areas to "develop" or plant in that itty bitty back
yard. there are also great books that deal with gardening in tiny places.
Ingrid


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.