|
|
||
Page 9
|
0.4572 m
|
| |
Imperial Calculations12' x 3' = 36 square feet x 1.5' = 54 cubic feet
54 divided by 27 = 2 cubic yards
Metric Calculations
3.6576 m x 0.9144 m = 3.3444 m2 x 0.4572 m = 1.5291 m3
Special Mixes
Raised beds also give you the opportunity to provide a soil type that doesn't exist in your garden's natural state so that you can try your hand at growing plants not normally happy in your area.
If your soil is naturally alkaline, you can fill your beds with an acid mix for those ericaceous plants who will otherwise turn yellow and die for you - Rhododendrons, Azaleas, heathers and the like.
Conversely, if you garden on very acid soil, you can make a bed for lime lovers. If your garden is a bog, a raised bed of fast draining mix will raise plant crowns and roots out of the muck so you can grow them.
Or, if you garden in a hot, humid climate on clay soil, like I do, and you lust after Mediterranean plants, a sand bed will help you pull them through the wet winters that normally do them in.
Sand Beds
I recently discovered sand beds and I'm hooked. I've only got one, but I'm busily scheming away about where I'm going to put the next one. These are really easy (aside from the hauling of sand and gravel!). Mine is for plants needing extra drainage, but you can make wet sand beds for moisture loving plants, like primroses.
My sand bed is about a foot deep (30.48 cm). Over the lightly forked lousy subsoil, I spread about two inches (5 cm) of rotted compost. Over that went about nine inches (22.86 cm) of coarse builder's sand. This was topped with two or three inches (5 - 7.6 cm) of pea gravel. The plants seemed happy as clams last summer, although I lost some Santolina over winter. They were older plants to start with, so it might just be that they'd passed their prime - they grew beautifully during the season - or they could have resented a late season haircut they got. The lavenders, however, came through with almost no dead wood - unheard of in my regular beds.
My 1997 major project was building raised beds and paving a part of my garden. Next time, I'll share my trials, errors and triumphs on this "little" project with you. See ya' later!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Go To Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Marge Talt's Shade Gardening topic, please visit the Discussions page.
