Garden Construction

The pages “below” this one deal with the construction and maintenance of raised-bed and container gardens. In-soil gardening is impractical in the clay soils of my region (College Station, TX) because the soil here is poorly-drained hard-packed clay; any in-ground bed will quickly form sort of a “bathtub” that water will pool in, which will lead to all sorts of fungus and rot and death.

In 2008, I made the mistake of digging beds out. I did improve them with mulch, garden soil, and some organic material, but I didn’t know to drain them. As a result, I only got about three dozen sweet peppers and a couple large containers of sweet 100’s tomatoes. The garden still easily paid for all the water, effort, and tending I put into it.

In 2009, I’m starting from seed for most items. I built an 8×8x20 in. fully enclosed raised bed and put 2 Cu. Yd. of composted horse manure plus 3 cu. yd. of very sandy soil from a garden center. The enclosure is made from chicken wire for 4 feet up the side (for about a 6 ft outside height) and then bird netting over the top to keep the grackles, rats, and squirrels from pirating my produce. I’m using the Square Foot Gardening approach, which means that I’ll divide the 8×8 bed into 64 squares (although a few square feet will be lost to footing needs) and then will grow different produce in each square. The bed has an integrated drip irrigation system that’s planned with different zones for different watering needs.