Children of the Sun > Newsday

Gardening: The Gateway Drug to a Unabomber Compound

<< < (2/2)

nacho:
Those "pathways" by the way are also good for the friendly insects. Ground-based guys like spiders are slow to move around a thick garden. They'll find and use the pathways to go from section to section. So encouraging a "friendly infestation" is part of the plan as well. If any pests take hold they'll never be safe if your friendly army has range of movement.

RottingCorpse:
Split off a gardening thread even though I'm still weeks away from getting started.

Definitely want to do a box garden though. How deep to dig? 8-12 inches seems the conventional wisdom, but is that 8-12" from the top soil of the elevated box? Or 8-12" from ground level.

EDIT:
Thinking about purchasing one of these:
https://www.gardeners.com/buy/greenes-premium-cedar-raised-garden-beds/8609825.html

nacho:
Box garden tips: Remember that you're taking these plants somewhat out of a normal, natural environment. So think first about the box: Is it protected from the wind? Is it protected from pooling water or soggy conditions? Will it cause water to pool due to where it's placed? Will it be subjected to any sort of run-off from a street/driveway/etc?

There's really no agreement on how deep the box should be. I see the 8-12 most commonly, yes. The uncle does 15 I think. There's really no limit. The trick here is to research what you want to grow. We do know the depth of the root systems for all the various plants (e.g. lettuce and other stuff like that goes down about six inches, whereas peppers and fruiting vegetables need about 12 inches. All that's online).

If you're doing shallow boxes (less than 12 inches) then do dig out some of the ground soil. if you're doing big boxes (more than 12) then the dig is from the top soil of the elevated box. A deeper box isn't always part of the ground system -- in fact the "bottom" of a deep box should be the sheet mulch stuff I mentioned in the earlier post. You're monitoring and maintaining the soil in the box, not the ground. This is also a great way to get around bad soil if your yard sucks (clay, rocky, sandy, whatever).

nacho:
Okay,  bitches, what's the update?

monkey!:
Monkey has done lots of 'shallow boxes.'

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page