On 3/6/2014 11:44 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:
>
> My mama done tole me to plant peas and potatoes on St. Patrick's Day.
> I've never lived in a place where I could get into the garden that
> early. This year there is, so far, no sign that we've *got* a garden.
>
> And it's raised in a frame of railroad ties.
>
>
Some years ago we had a 17X26 raised bed garden of railroad ties.
Working in chemical plants I finally took a sample of the garden soil to
the company lab and had it tested. Very high in the chemicals that make
up creosote, the solution that keeps ties from rotting.

The ties came out that day and were replaced with cinder blocks, six
months later there was no trace of creosote in the garden. Our latest
raised bed gardens are made of recycled wood mixed with a neutral
plastic and molded into hollow planks with a rounded top plus steel
trusses screwed to the planks. We don't even use real dirt anymore but a
"Square Foot Gardening" mix of vermiculite, peat moss, compost and more
compost. We've had this garden for a year now and it produces pretty
good stuff.

We will be pulling the played out winter crops this weekend and mixing
up a new batch of Square Foot soil, aka "Mel's Mix" and stirring it into
the older batch. I'm starting to like this Square Foot Gardening thing.
We're producing more product with less work now, that's good for old
people who don't like stoop gardening. I have an Ames Garden Buddy cart
that is also a rolling seat, saves a lot of sore back salve too.

George