Ahhh, after double diggin a tremendously rocky bed off the

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s24g Sandy Hook, CT(Zone 6a) Apr 25, 2005

deck I remembered it's pressure treated wood and the thoughts of potentially growing veggies in arsenic run-off aren't appealing ;~) DH now has a lovely bed to plant perrenials in....live and learn.

The soil here is pretty a rocky/clay mixture that is in the path the builders graded for water run-off. I'll be building the bed to the side of the run-off path but I don't want to tempt fate w/excess water seeping into the bed.

any ideas for an easy, inexpensive raised bed in another area of the yard? I've thought of using bales of hay as the surround just for this year, thinking it'll break down over the year and enrich the soil anyway. I could plant some trailing flowers into the sides of the hay to make it more attractive? This fall I'd like to build some out of Trex or similar but don't have the time/money to do that now.

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Zeppy Shenandoah Valley, VA(Zone 6b) Apr 25, 2005

You mean straw? I'd hate to have to weed around hay....

If you soak the straw bales really well, let them sit a week to cook, then top 'em with some compost, they should do well with salad greens, nasturtium... I've even heard people doing this successfully with beans. BUT this is second-hand reporting: haven't tried it myself yet.

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spectrum (Zone 2b) Apr 25, 2005

One thing to be aware of with straw (or hay) as a growth medium is that as it begins to break down, it will actually use up most of the available nitrogen - and probably some other nutrients as well. That could cause nitrogen deficiency in the plants. So you'd need to apply lots of fertilizer to counteract that. Eventually the straw will break down enough to put the nitrogen back, but that will take a while.

Chances are you'd have to water a lot as well, as straw won't hold as much water as soil would.

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s24g Sandy Hook, CT(Zone 6a) Apr 25, 2005

umm, yep, I guess I meant straw, I always get those two mixed up but the few times I've bought it, I've asked for "the kind that doesn't sprout weeds" LOL

Anyway, I was thinking about digging little pockets in the top and sides to put trailing flowering plants and such, each with it's own bit of potting soil, and just using it to hold the soil in one spot. I want to plant the veggies in dirt, not straw. Does that make sense? I was thinking 4 stakes and some twine would keep the bales all in a rectangle and then fill the center of the rectangle with soil....

Maybe not.....the more I think about the width of the bales, it'd be hard to do even a 3'w bed of soil and get access to the middle. Sigh....I think it's too windy here to simply leave the dirt mounded on the ground. I guess the hard way around, double digging, ammending, and praying that it doesn't get too wet; will be the only way we'll get a veggie garden in this year.

Thanks for listening to me find my own answers ;~)

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