Raised beds and soil

Provincial living: homesteading, farming, gardening, self-efficiency and animal husbandry.
User avatar
StroppyChops
The Missionary Man
Posts: 10598
Joined: Tue May 06, 2014 11:24 am
Reputation: 1032
Australia

Re: Raised beds and soil

Post by StroppyChops »

giblet wrote:Vaguely...
On the off chance you're not being sarcastic you might want to research that, they're a pretty big tree.
Bodge: This ain't Kansas, and the neighbours ate Toto!
User avatar
Lonestar
Expatriate
Posts: 219
Joined: Fri May 16, 2014 6:00 pm
Reputation: 131
Cambodia

Re: Raised beds and soil

Post by Lonestar »

If you are going to make raised beds...............should'nt you make them high enough so you are not stooping over?
User avatar
beaker
Expatriate
Posts: 1143
Joined: Fri May 30, 2014 8:45 am
Reputation: 202
Location: Ta Khmao
Cambodia

Re: Raised beds and soil

Post by beaker »

From what I have seen a lot of the soil is like clay, hard and dense. I would work rice hull it the soil to loosen it up along with the compost, worms etc
"i'm the one who has to die, when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way i want to"
jimi hendrix
badneighour
Expatriate
Posts: 235
Joined: Thu Aug 14, 2014 6:47 pm
Reputation: 0
Falkland Islands

Re: Raised beds and soil

Post by badneighour »

giblet wrote:My garden appears to be inhospitable terrain, but I'm determined to conquer it. I'm thinking of making some raised beds. Anyone done this? Any tips?

Once I make them, I have no idea what to put in them. The dirt here is clay and sand. Can I buy something better?
The eastest way is to buy for $8 a shot a prefabricated concrete circular drainage ring. You see them everywhere for sale if you look 1 meter in diameter. Plants do well in them in in heavy flooding
Francis
Expatriate
Posts: 1116
Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2014 12:29 am
Reputation: 0
Vietnam

Re: Raised beds and soil

Post by Francis »

Tomatoes and bush tomatoes (bushmaster) grow well here but they need rich soil and a protected, sunny place. Better wait till after the rainy season. In November and December you could buy that little mandarins. You can grow the plant from the seeds (no problem, these are no hybrids). Mandarin trees take about 6 to 7 years to bear fruit but they are beautiful. You also could try chives (Khmer translation here: http://www.english-khmer.com/index.php? ... word=chive
otherwise difficult to find. It is highly aromatic and the plant looks good in any garden).
Picture here: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x_sUes5fjqE/T ... prasum.jpg

Whatever you plant, always grow some garlic between the plants, that keeps efficiently the pest away. BTW. an efficient, cheap and natural pesticide is nicotine - just brew a tea out of 2 boxes of cigarettes and spray it on the leaves (DO NOT DRINK IT, MAKE SURE THAT CHILDREN AND ANIMALS HAVE NO ACCESS - that's a serious neurotoxin !!!!)
Last edited by Francis on Thu Aug 14, 2014 11:26 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Und der Haifisch der hat Tränen
Und die laufen vom Gesicht
Doch der Haifisch lebt im Wasser
So die Tränen sieht man nicht

In der Tiefe ist es einsam
Und so manche Träne fliesst
Und so kommt es dass das Wasser
In den Meeren salzig ist
Joker Poker
Expatriate
Posts: 1365
Joined: Thu May 15, 2014 9:37 pm
Reputation: 133

Re: Raised beds and soil

Post by Joker Poker »

Mix gypsum into clay soil to help break it up. I used to do this with Adelaide's clay soil. I knew of one guy who used crushed gyprock (drywall) instead. Must have been a Scotsman.

Just noticed a website disputing it though. I guess you could find a website disputing anything you chose.

Mix in as much compost and composted bird poo as you can and try to get the worms in. If you kept the moisture up all year round in Adelaide the worms would find you. Spose it's the same here. I had mine bordered by timber railway sleepers.

One other thing I realised was if you were planting a tree you had to break the ground up quite deeply underneath before you planted it to ensure it got a good chance of root growth, otherwise you ended up with some really stunted trees.
Post Reply Previous topicNext topic
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 38 guests