Raised beds and capillary action
Boyce Tankersley (Tue, 06 Jul 2004 14:13:45 PDT)
This technique, planting bulbs that need to go dry-ish in summer near the roots of trees/shrubs/perennials works very well in the Chicago area. The soils never really go completely dry. The positive aspect is that during the periodic summer monsoons, the excess moisture is wicked out of the soil fairly rapidly by the actively growing plants.
Boyce Tankersley
btankers@chicagobotanic.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Rodger Whitlock [mailto:totototo@pacificcoast.net]
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 7:16 AM
To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [pbs] Raised beds and capillary action
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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