How to best create a soil for palms in a raised bed inground
poaky1
6 years ago
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poaky1
6 years agoglib
6 years agoRelated Discussions
raised bed mixed with native soil (sand)
Comments (26)Thanks for the pictures. You will certainly need to use every conceivable water saving method, that much is clear. The area of your future house looks very dry indeed. The closest experience I have is gardening in central florida where although there is no shortage of water as a yearly average, there is a quite dry season during the cooler part of the year, the sky is very clear so the sun is bright and hot and the sandy "soil" dries out very dry. There is a also a lot of drying wind that is very hard on food plants and young fruit trees. I suspect there will be several critical factors for you, presuming that the main issue, water, is available. Windbreaks will be super important, and the easiest thing would be to build the house with walls that enclose a sheltered garden. Second, you likely have far too much sun for most annual food crops, so if that sheltered area can have shade from about 1 or 2 in the afternoon might help a lot. With such clear sky and high sun there the morning will probably be enough. In extreme environments the majority of the heat stress on a plant that is not well-adapted will be from the west. Equally important will be crop choices, and that is where it's especially unlikely anyone on this forum will be able to give good info. As mentioned earlier, there must be people in the region who will know everything. We all know of some dry hot climate tree crops: notably date palm and almond, maybe pomegranate, because they are popular foods in the west, but I am pretty sure that there are a number of leguminious trees as well that will grow in those conditions. There must also be some annual type and maybe perennial type greens and other vegetables. I would think it logical that any of the common food crops that originated in the damper and/or cooler climates (which is most, by far) will be a waste of your time and resources....See Moreis it ok to put soil directly on grass when filling raised beds?
Comments (13)sophigirl Yep, you can put down the cardboard, newspaper, soil, and other goodies in your beds and the plants will grow. In your shoes, since it's brand-new beds, I think I'd want them down as soon as possible. Though you can plant everything whenever you get the beds laid out, I think you'd feel more secure if you can get them laid out now and then plant a week or two later. It gives things time to settle, particularly if you're unable to shave off the sod some way. One guy on the internet showed how he removed the sod, turned it upside down so the roots were up, then put down the cardboard, newspaper, and soil for his raised beds. It was a matter of mixing "browns and greens" for fast decomposition of the sod and encouragement of earthworms, who apparently love the glue in corrugated cardboard....See MoreRaised Beds Need soil link
Comments (7)I don't usually disagree with Dan about any of the advice he provides, but I am going to offer a different opinion this time :-) One of the primary benefits of raised bed gardening is that it enables the gardener to garden under soil conditions that makes inground gardening challenging - like with heavy clay soils, poor drainage, inappropriate pH, etc. So the 'need' to incorporate the existing, underlying soil into the raised bed soil does not necessarily track. By definition, raised beds offer improved drainage over inground soils -- just by virtue of the soil level being raised but also because raised beds do not offer impervious containment and because the soil tends to be of fluffier, lighter texture; i.e. 'fast draining'. So the mixing of the two soils is not a requirement. However, if your raised beds are not deep, the underlying soil easily workable and you are interested in planting deep rooted plants or veggies, incorporating the two may be desirable. As to what to fill them with, it depends on what you can find easily, locally and inexpensively. If you need a quantity, bulk soils will always be cheaper than bagged soils. And most bulk soil providers will offer something called a 'garden planting mix' or a '3-way mix' that is pretty much an ideal blend for a raised bed. Typically it is a mix of loam (sometimes 'topsoil'), some sort of compost or composted manures and a drainage enhancer - could be bark, sawdust, sand, even perlite. In lieu of that, try a 50-50 mix of 'topsoil' (or whatever generic soil they offer) and compost. And make sure the stuff is well-blended. Because raised beds typically offer quite fast drainage compared to inground soils, moisture retention is sometimes critical. In hot weather, raised beds do tend to dry out faster. Mulching is typically the best way to reduce evaporation and conserve moisture but frequent watering may still be required anyway....See MoreBest soil for raised bed?
Comments (29)In the shadow of all the scientific information offered thus far,my contribution may be viewed as simplistic but I believe it to be relivent. The question was raised "what is topsoil"? In context of landscaping and gardening,topsoil is exactly what it sounds like, soil that has layed on the surface for many years. The author or speaker generaly uses the term to differentiate between topsoil and fill dirt. Many people don't realize the difference when they recieve subsoil and pay for topsoil. You couldn't raise an umbrella in subsoil if you were sitting on on a bag of fertilizer. Dump truck owners are paid by excuvation contractors to haul dirt away from projects to dispose of it. About 90% of dirt that needs to be moved is subsoil. Where projects like golf courses involve horticulterists from start to finsh,topsoil is usually moved aside for use when final grade is done. If a gardener has extra space, buying enough soil to cover the extra space 1' deep then grow cover crops and till in amendments is better than gambling on new soil from a vendor. Two years can yield soil suitable for use in leveling turf,starting raised beds and other use where topsoil is required. I am impressed with the results of burying a large dead maple, free wood chips from the electric power line clean up and 50 bags of fall leaves picked up at the curb 5 years ago. So impressed that I am alowing free disposal of limbs in the wake of our ice storm in early December. As soon as I have enough leaves and find chipped wood , I will bury it and wait for the bounty. It will require lots of time and sweat with a shovel and wheelbarrow,,,,,,,,NOT,,,,,,I have a tractor....See Morepoaky1
6 years agofloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
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6 years agoglib
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