g'day trader,

look at our raised bed format, it will work in your situation, maybe a pic or 2 of the large trees might help to i'd them for you?

remember the larger the worm farms the more bio mass you need to feed them with, collecting scraps from neighbours is a good diea, we have a pic of our homemade worm farm when we had on, made it from a 1/2 44 gallon plastic drum.

for us our worm farming along with composting happens in the garden beds now right where all their benefits are needed.

anyhow check out our garden pics might be some ideas there for you?

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

Why don't you try planting indigenous species? They are the plants which will be able to cope best with the conditions. With careful selection, you can still have a wonderful garden. Intersperse with some other hardy varieties for a bit of variation.

I dont see any reason to dig out the soil, what you can do is add your compostables - either compost them in large piles or you can layer the ingredients on top of the existing soil and they will all rot down.

"and after the first or second crop I am back to having very poor soil. As if the goodness is leached out over a short period of time. "

over time compost and mulches break down and reduce to almost nothing which is where the compost is disappearing to, you need to add more compost each season and also cover crops are another way of adding organics if the area is not being used year round. Its not a matter of doing it once - you also have to keep up with it as long as you are using the area to grow vegies.

I agree with not digging out the soil. Bob cats create an enormous mess. You will have soil to get rid of. If you build a bed that is raised even slightly above ground level, tending it is much easier.
If you are talking about crop rotation and companion planting, then might we assume you are intending to grow vegetables and/or herbs? It is important to state this on a forum like this, to get right to the point. You may find the cornucopia forum more usefull if you are growing vegies.
Raised beds and a no dig type garden would be far more suitable, bearing in mind that you will need to continuously improve the soil. You might as well make use of the soil that is already there, in which to incorporate all your yummy additives.
Cheers, Jan