Thank You Sylvia and Ceth... Glib, I have done Decomposed Granite from the outset, so I don't know any difference, I learned before I built my beds the possibility that it enhances Clayish soils while also contributing to the soil food web, this is my initial take on it and what motivated me to try it, so far ,it has worked splendidly ;-) Decomposed granite is a rock powder and is an excellent amendment for clay soils. All rock powders are great sources of minerals and micronutrients. All growing soils need them. As the microbes and macrobes like earthworms, digest the insoluble minerals, they break down into the various soluble micronutrients that all forms of plants need. For example, limestone rocks are rich in calcium. Granite rocks are rich in potassium, etc. Seaweeds of course are the king of micronutrient fertilizers and soil amendments. There can be up to 70+ trace elements in seaweed. In locations where seaweed is not readily available; rock powders is one answer to the problem. Research continues to reveal that insoluble tiny particles like rock powder minerals, can be easily digested or absorbed via microbial activity, over time, into the anatomy of growing plants, thriving in the presence of rich organic compost. Obviously a heavy clay soil is very difficult to initially dig, whereas a sandy loam is much easier. Heavy clay soils can be improved considerably by adding a lot of sawdust and mason's sand. DO NOT use beach or river sand! Mason's sand, being crushed granite, has sharp edges and actually loosens the soil. One of the least understood aspects of gardening is that of capillary action of the garden soil. It is a proven fact that compressed earth has a better capillary action than undisturbed soil. That is why gardening books tell you never to walk between rows in a regular garden, as that encourages weed growth. And of course people are told never to step in a French Intensive bed and thus compress the soil. But the capillary action is absolutely necessary to bring water up to the roots of growing plants to promote good and deep root growth. In regular garden rows, it is easy to roll a heavy 2 or 3 inch wide weighted wheel (mounted on an axle and handle) down the row directly over the freshly planted seeds, which will then promote deep root growth along that line. The spaces between the rows are than rototilled to eliminate footprints prior to the initial watering. The basic concept of French Intensive gardening is that raised beds are created which have humus added, and the whole bed is light and fluffy to a depth of two feet to promote fantastic root growth. The beds are typically 4 feet wide and 12 or more feet long, with 3 foot paths between the beds.

Concrete peaces work well and they are free. Look on craigslist or free cycle.it is expensive to get of busted up concrete so you would be doing them a favor. My neighbor has a raised bed made out of old concrete so I will take a pick next time I remeber

Thanks for more good feedback. Completed: 1 layer brick set and leveled on washed garden sand. Next: rebar stakes on either side of brick, horizontal wood fence posts laid between rebar stakes, and 6 inch plastic lawn edging between inner stakes and fence posts. I think this will work well. The fence posts are not that much work for me, and the look definitely attracts me (and my partner!) to the garden, much as the discrete 4 foot square with 1 foot grid markings of "square foot gardening" motivates discrete care and prompt replanting. Although I usually have most of my attention on function and little on aesthetics, the clean, discrete look is showing great impetus for continued development. My very small town has no large supplier of bulk landscape materials, only lawn centers with bags, e.g. Wal-mart, etc. My cement plant is a great, cheap source of sand (50 cents for 5 gal pail loosely calculated); also brick (44 cents a brick) and rebar (~24 cents a foot, with free use of their rebar cutter/bender - I bent a couple rebar into U shape frames, 3.5-4 feet across for netting trellises). On the other hand, small town means I am surrounded by farms and have easily found free year-aged horse manure, and cheap truckloads of compost.

I tried red cascade as a border once...it didn't work. I planted six of them side by side, in hope they would cascade over the timber wall that was 3 ft high. while they didn't get very tall they did get very long. Most of the canes were over six feet long. It was hard to maintain all of the canes as they wanted to fill everywhere in the garden. These would make excellent small climbers though. Tammy