Raised beds and capillary action
Jim McKenney (Tue, 06 Jul 2004 14:45:04 PDT)

At 12:15 PM 7/6/2004 -800, Roger Whitlock wrote:

put your raised beds within root-reach of deciduous trees.

Thanks for the suggestion, Roger. I've known about this for years, and have
even tried it. As you suspected, it does not really make much of a
difference under my soil and climate conditions. "Summer day" may be the
most beautiful words in the English language to some people, but to those
of us who have to endure the summers of eastern North America, that phrase
is just as likely to occasion a tangy burst of "expletives deleted".

I rather liked the image of trees you offer: " As the trees leafed out in
late spring and the roots became active, they would suck the soil around
them bone dry." Dry is relative, and around here, the bone in question
would probably be a marrow bone submerged in a pot of beef stew.

On the other hand, John Lonsdale's suggestion to improve the drainage in
the medium itself - based as it is on experience gained under conditions
which must be much like my own - will be the one I try next.

Jim McKenney
jimmckenney@starpower.net
Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where I'm off to drain the
swamp.

On 5 Jul 04 at 17:54, Jim McKenney wrote:

For several years I've been experimenting with raised beds for
growing summer dormant plants here in Maryland...

In late May and early June sections of this bed were covered with
panes of glass... The surface of the bed looks dry and even
crusty... when I dug down an inch or two, it became apparent that
there is plenty of moisture still in the soil. In fact, I checked a
small sample of tulips and frits in this bed and found that some had
already rotted in the hot, damp soil. Bummer!

Obviously I need to change something. I'm assuming that capillary
action is causing water to wick up into the bed. I'm thinking about
putting in some sort of vapor barrier at the base of the bed,
between the medium in the bed and the ground soil.

Does anyone have suggestions about this?

E B Anderson, the famous English rock gardener and bulb specialist,
grew his summer dormant bulbs among (or near) the roots of deciduous
trees. As the trees leafed out in late spring and the roots became
active, they would suck the soil around them bone dry.

Moral: put your raised beds within root-reach of deciduous trees.

Of course, you're in a much hotter, steamier summer climate than
anything England has to offer, so this method may not work quite so
well -- but it's worth consideration.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
"To co-work is human,
to cow-ork, bovine."
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