May 21, 2015

Good morning, I recently did a search on the internet about desert gardening. The results were very interesting. In most cases it was very highly suggested to use raised beds. It was also suggested to use “store bought” top soil to fill these raised beds. Both of these suggestions are suspect to me.

There are a couple reasons why I do not like to use raised beds. First is because our soils (at least the ones in my garden) tend to be drought y and do not need encouragement to drain. Our soils warm rather quickly too. Soil temperatures above 95 degrees and veggies start going into a dormancy. Growth is slowed or stopped all together. Here again the soil does not need encouragement. Then there is the maintaining of the raised beds. Wood would need to be something that termites would not devour (cedar or pressure treated). The expense along with using pressure treated lumber in an organic garden? Even with ridging the beds would be an added piece of labor for what gain?

This route to gardening could be very expensive. The soil improvement would also be very short lived.

There were a couple other sites that were more aligned with my thoughts. One suggested to use hay bales around the garden (I would only use spoiled hay, fresh hay could be expensive) for a wind break. But the lady was also sponsored by a potting soil company and had you again improve the soil with purchased amendments. 

There was one site that did suggest incorporating compost (home made) and the use of a drip system along with mulched plants. Although it appeared in the pictures to be row culture instead of bed culture.

All of the sites had merit and one could achieve garden success. Most of them could and would be very expensive requiring continuous cash input to maintain garden soil health.

My garden with over 6000 square feet of growing beds would not be doable if I were to first purchase potting soil after each rotation and then to maintain the raised beds (this would be time consuming).

I have said on many occasion that soil fertility is the primary objective with organic gardening. “Feed the soil and the soil feeds the plants”, this is the guiding rule that I try to live by in my garden.

I no longer have my wonderful source of continuous compost-able material delivered to my door step. This did spoil me. 

Another one of the reasons they gave for raised beds was it would be “easier” to create your garden. Unless you are living on bed rock (somewhat common in west Texas), gardening in parent material can be done.

I started my garden using row culture and then later converted to bed culture, I thought 50 percent of the garden being rows was a serious waste of space. Luckily for me, the year I decided to go with beds, was a wet year. The larger rocks I rolled out of the ground with a shovel. These rocks were later used to hold down fabric and to “armor plate” my drive way. Then more of the rock went into my future house's foundation. This was an undertaking. To try and dig our ground with dry soil conditions are difficult at best. It is a whole different playing field when the soil is wet. Creating a garden is an endeavor (usually of love). If it were easy everyone would be doing it.

As for building soil fertility it should be the classic Reduce, Reuse, Recycle moment. Unless one eats everything out of a container (not a precursor to being a gardener), there is always veggie scraps left over after making meals. These can be sheet composted in your garden paths. The usual complaint about composting is “the piles smell”. I think it is what fertility smells like! Sheet composting can alleviate this. Lucky for us in Agriculture Country, asking a few folks about manure and soon you will have a life time supply. This can be composted (like above or in piles), or even tilled in in the fall and ready for spring planting. Just the act of gardening, as long as you rotate crops, builds soil. This is very slow for building soil fertility! Green manures and cover crops that are all tilled in, works great too.

No there is really no easy way to start a garden, it is exciting stuff to start with parent material and over the course of years, watch the soil improve and the plants rewarding you with ever more bountiful harvests.

No this is not easy but it is a labor of love!!!

The garden continues to mature. Summer squash are coming on like gang busters, have started harvesting some beans and cukes, bulb onion tops are beginning to fall over,garlic is starting to form scapes, tomato plants are loaded (still at least a few weeks out), okra are blooming along with eggplants, but the chili's got inundated with aphids which has set them back. Sweet vines are elongating so sweet greens soon. lastly the butternuts are starting produce squash for July harvest. Just love it when a plan comes together.