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." >_______________________________________________ >pbs mailing list >pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >