On 5/13/2012 1:25 PM, The Cook wrote:
> On Sun, 13 May 2012 12:29:59 -0500, George Shirley
> > wrote:
>
snippety doo dah


> Getting envious. My tomatoes went in on 4/29 and the peppers,
> eggplant, squash, etc. went in over the next 9 days. Soybeans, green
> and black, and Cannellini went in this morning. It was cool, cloudy
> and rain predicted, but the sun is out now. We also got a good rain
> last week. The community college weather page said 4.3 inches in 2
> days.
>
> In an earlier post you mentioned raised beds. From experience, they
> are wonderful. Mine are 3' x 8'. When we were building them I stood
> on one side and reached out. Told HD to make them twice that
> measurement. My vote would be for the manufactured decking material.
> Mine are starting to come apart after about 12 years. Tell Miz Anne
> that they are much easier to keep weeded, especially with a bad hip. I
> know that from experience.

Most of our raised beds have been made with cinder blocks, sixteen
inches long by eight inches high by eight inches wide. We normally lay
landscape cloth then set the cinder blocks on that. Make them 4'X8' and
you can reach the middle from either side while sitting on a garden
cart/seat. I built two of them for our daughter two years ago and she
loves them. She "Square foot" gardens and gets twice the amount of
vegetables we get with our row cropping. I do like the idea of the
recycled plastic and wood decking though, that way I could build them up
off the ground as I age and move into a wheel chair. <G> We mulch with
newspaper, several layers thick, then put compost on top of that plus we
put the grass clippings and leaves on top of the paper too. We pothole
kitchen trash, no meat or bones but everything vegetative goes in the
compost bucket on the counter top and then into the garden. In less than
a week you can't find where it was, the earthworms love the stuff.

You would never know she had hip surgery sixteen months ago, she walks
two miles round trip to Mass most mornings. She can bend over but not
squat or stoop but works in the yard and gardens as much as she ever
did. Barb can testify, as she has been here, you gotta be tough to live
with me.

George