New Community Garden: Raised bed vs in ground

The Good Seed Community Garden is the proud owner of some HARD %#*$+ dirt. We have 10 cubic yards of compost, peat moss & builders sand on site. But the dirt we have is so hard & dry that it turned back a 25 HP PTO powered rototiller and gave a backhoe a workout!

Whew! We need to get a an irrigation pump, soften up the soil and get a bulldozer with ripper blades to loosen up the rock free top eight inches. I think after that we will rototill with the tractor, level the area and go with raised beds. Lord have mercy!

Heb 11:1
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
NIV

Sonny :)

Cover crops, baby. Cover crops.

Cover crops are great, assuming you have one that can "break the ice" and get a vigorous. toehold.

>> We have 10 cubic yards of compost, peat moss & builders sand on site.
>> the equivelent of 30 10'X15' beds

Hmm, 30x10x15 = 4,500 sq ft = 500 sq yards.
10 cu yards of compost mix = 500 sq yards x 1/50th yard = 3/4" deep

Maybe spread the compost mix as a 3/4" deep layer over your planned beds, wait for rain, then wait another day or two, then scratch it in 2" deep, and plant the first cover crop in that.

My guess is that, by itself, 10 yards of compost mix might, by itself, at most amend 100 sq yards - say, 5 of your 10'x15' beds. So you might concentrate it to get better soil in fewer beds, the first year.

Too bad you can't get 40 cubic yards of manure! Cover the whole 500 square yards 3" deep. Scratch that in 6-12", and it would soften the clay! One year of cover crops in that, and you'd have some nice soil!

Corey

Crimson clover does a great job of penetrating hard clay. Once it flowers, crush it & sprinkle coffee grounds & compost over it. The worms will do the rest.

Daikon radishes work well, too. I leave mine to die when the frost arrives, & they rot in place, leaving nice deep holes.

>> Daikon radishes work well, too.

I'm glad you said that, PPirate. I just bought 1,000 Daikon Minowase seeds from hazzards, for $3.58. They claim 16" long by 3" wide, but I doubt they can do that in heavy clay.

I had two clovers volunteer on some rock-hard clay that I had scraped clear but not amended yet. A few weeds had tried to establish themselves, but I scraped or chipped them off.

These clovers (one white, one purple-crimson), were pathetic for some months, just doggedly proclaiming "we aren't dead yet!", waiting for warmer weather and drilling their roots into the hard clay. Then they got their footing (literally, I guess) and took off. Now each is around 18" tall and around 2' across, vigorous and spreading rapidly. I hope they re-seed!

Corey

We can get all the peat moss we want at $25 a cubic yard & the compost is $15 a yard.

I have tried to tell people that this process will take time and that I am unwilling to sacrafice soil quality for the expediency of enthusiasm.

I would love to get everything tilled in to the ground, set up the first stage of irrigation using our ditch rights and get a cover crop planted so we can till it in as green manure.

I honestly believe God is using this process to teach everyone involved including myself some very important lessons.

Sonny

Just a thought to make the lessons more easily learned:

While gradually improving the bulk of the area iver a full year, you might also set aside 3-5 small plots to illustrate the process. Leave one of them unimproved, and give one of them a 6" layer of compost plus 4" of peat plus 2" of sand. Give 1-3 other plots intermediate amounts of amendment.

Then, during this first year, give a few of the most eager experienced gardeners part of each improved plot, while the cover crops are growing over the rest of the area..

The lesson would be the progression of "great - fair - poor - terrible" growth: that the soil NEEDS the amendments. Patience is not just a virtue, it's a necessity.

I would say that it also needs the cover crop, because $600 would be 'way outside my budget!

.
Corey

Nice!

I love it when something volunteers that's GOOD for the soil. And these guys are VIGOROUS!

I've been yanking out a bumper crop of a certain weed this year (now that the soil is good enough for it to grow). Suddenly the remaining weeds of that type have put out beautiful little blue flowers - reproaching all the flowers seedlings I've hardened off and planted out, that seem to be WEEKS away from any blooms.

Corey