Well, if you have serious drainage concerns and/or rock hard soil, you may have to raise them higher than 8 or 10 inches. In that case, hard sides are almost a necessity. However, you mention that the soil expands to twice the volume using just compost. If that is the case, and if that volume remains after a good dosage of rain/irrigation, then you may be able to work the soil you have. It just may take a good deal of work and input. One approach is to ammend a good deal of organic matter into the soil and let that work out your tilth problems. However, this can present you with a number of problems associated with decreased nutrient values due to higher levels of organic matter, it does not work that quickly, and it requires a good deal of OM every year just to keep the tilth viable. Another possibility is to import your soil. Get a good source of topsoil, compost and sand. Till your existing soil to a fairly modest depth (the top 3 or 4 inches) and then dump the imported soil right on top. Hill up to 6-8 inches, and that should provide you with enough viable tilth to grow just about anything (except maybe 10" long, perfectly straight carrots). As for the "raised rows", these are simply an amalgam between wide raised beds (usually 4 feet wide) and flat rows (usually 0.5-1 foot wide). You simply create a row between 1.5 - 2 feet wide, raised 4-6 inches. Broccoli, cabbage, beans, peas, kale, potatoes, strawberries, just to name the common ones, are best grown in rows for sheer efficiency sake. The reason is that in order to give each on the leg-room to grow, it would be grossly inefficient to plant them in a four foot wide bed. So instead of occupying 7 feet (1.5' path, 4' bed, 1.5' path), you are only occupying 5 feet (1.5' path, 2' row, 1.5' path).

irish rose grower---- Not sure how your post got here, but perhaps you would be interested in the feathered friends forum if you havent been there. Heres a link. Here is a link that might be useful: feathered friends

Aside from feeders and water, mixed plantings will attract a wide variety of birds. My lot has numerous canopy trees, understory vegetation and shrubs, some open areas, and some dense evergreens and thickets of things like Crabapples for cover and berries. And several gardens with a mix of many native perennials and grasses, and annuals that make seeds and harbor insects for the birds. As previous posters stated, attracting insects is important because 90% of terrestrial birds raise their young almost exclusively on insects, such as the larvae of moths and butterflies. The best way to nurture a healthy population of insects is to plant woody plants that are native to your region. Although most people don't think it looks tidy, and are usually compulsive about cleaning up dead wood, it's very attractive to all cavity nesters to leave a dead tree or two standing and even dead branches, if they are safely located and won't drop on the house or deck or anything. Birds also love to perch on dead lower branches in trees. My back yard is much more naturalized than the front and I've left about 10 or so dead pine tree snags standing back there, some of which are old enough to have multiple woodpecker holes. This year there are White-breasted Nuthatches and Eastern Bluebirds nesting in the dead snags that I've noticed so far! :)

kendra2 i was surprised to see that you are in MA and in zone 5 and have year round BB's. I am in SW Vermont in zone 4 (or 4B depending on where you look) and have been seeing BB's later and later each year and wondering what is going on as i thought they went south for winter. It is hard to tell from the posts what is happening because not everyone identifies where they are located and what zone they are in but it appears they will overwinter wherever they can. It seems unimaginable that BB's would overwinter in my region because it can go to -20 here at night and be in single digits for days at a time. Typically there is a stretch of 2 or more weeks in winter that don't exceed the teens. These temps are mitigated only slightly till one travels at least 75 air miles to Albany and the lower Hudson valley. Nevertheless, I have seen BB's later and later in the year on nice days until I eventually stopped seeing them in late November. This year I saw groups of BB's around the nest boxes on nice days several times in November and December. On Christmas eve I saw a pair perched near the house going into the snow to pick up something. This weekend is supposed to be in the high 40's and i kind of expect to see them again. So my question is: are they overwintering here or making "day trips" to their nesting grounds and why on earth would they be doing that in such a difficult environment when they could be in Carolina eating fresh fruit and bugs? Lou