Deep bed gardening.

In a previous blog I introduced you to the concept of gardening in raised beds. Today, I will discuss a similar gardening technique, deep bed gardening. A deep bed is a way to rehabilitate an extremely inhospitable soil such as one consisting mostly clay, adobe or sand. It also is the way to get the most bang for your buck if you have limited space for a garden; in this respect, deep beds produce at least four times more vegetables than a regular row garden. The idea of deep beds is to provide a soil that encourages plant roots to grow down through the soil rather than sideways as they search for nutrients. Since deep beds do not have paths, the plants are grown in relatively crowded conditions so that their leaves touch; thus, making use of every inch of garden space. Since the gardener never walks on a deep bed, and thus must work from either side of the bed, gardens of this type are usually 4 to 5 feet wide. Deep beds can be as long as desired but usually are limited to around 20 feet in length because of the inconvenience entailed in having to walk around beds that are significantly longer. In this respect, square beds 4 to 5 feet wide are most common. To make a deep bed, the gardener begins by spreading a generous layer of aged manure over the surface of the proposed garden spot. Additional soil amendments such as compost, earthworm castings, rotted leaves and organic fertilizers may be added to the mix at this point. Ultimately, the plants in a the deep bed garden will be grown in a mixture of the surface soil and organic material and fertilizers you add at this point, so error on adding to much rather than to little. Note, that because of the addition of these soil amendments, the surface level of deep bed gardens will be somewhat higher than that of the surrounding garden. This, of course, is a plus if you are dealing with a poorly draining soil. After spreading the aged manure and soil amendments, the next step in the project is to dig a trench about two feet wide, one spade deep and 4 to 5 feet wide (the width of your proposed deep bed garden). Place this mixture of soil with its added amendments in a wheelbarrow and transport it to the opposite end of the new deep bed garden. This soil mixture will be used to fill the last trench in the project. If you are constructing a small 4 to 5 foot square deep bed, simply pile the soil mixture beside the hole you are digging so that you can replace it after completing the next step. After digging the trench (I warned you that this was going to be laborious) use a fork or a pickax to break up the subsoil in the bottom of the trench. I recommend that you add an additional layer of aged manure to the surface of the subsoil before beginning this step so that it can be worked into the subsoil while you are breaking it up. Your plants are going to love this Garden of Eden you are preparing for them, I guarantee it! Before beginning the final step, add another 4 to 5 inches of well-rotted manure to the bottom of the trench. If you are constructing a small square deep bed you will have removed the manure covered surface soil from a 4 to 5 foot square section of the garden and broke up the subsoil with a pickax or fork. To finish the project simply shovel the material you removed to make the hole (in this case the "square" trench), back into what will now be a deep bed. You now have a small deep bed garden that will produce wonderful flowers and vegetables for years to come. You may construct a longer deep bed by repeating the steps described above over and over again until you reach the opposite end of the proposed garden. Let's say your deep bed garden will be 5 foot wide and 20 feet long. To complete the project you will construct ten 2 foot by 5 foot trenches side by side until you reach the opposite end of the garden. After digging the first 2 x 5 foot trench, dig a second identical sized trench right beside it. In this case, the amendment rich soil you remove from the second trench will be placed in the first trench. At this point a third trench is dug beside the second and the soil removed from it is used to fill the second. After repeating this process nine times you will have constructed an 18 foot long 5 foot wide deep bed. To complete the project fill the last two foot wide trench with the amended soil you initially removed and placed in the wheelbarrow from the first trench. Although admittedly laborious, the construction of a deep bed is easier to create than it is to describe. In any case, a 20 foot long deep bed garden will supply enough vegetables for the entire neighborhood. The reader will note that a deep bed is quite similar to a raised bed, in fact, I do not believe there is a dimes worth of difference between the two gardening techniques. Wonderful organic plants and vegetables can be grown in both types of garden. Deep beds usually are cheaper to construct but more laborious to create than raised beds but that may not be the case in your particular set of circumstances. So, do not fret to much while making the decision of which type of organic garden to construct. You really can't make a wrong decision as long as you are gardening the organic way.