Permanent Raised Bed Gardening. - Review - book review

Whole Earth, Fall, 2000 by Pw

PERMANENT RAISED BED GARDENING Volume I: Novel Raised Bed Designs for Home and Market Gardens Volume II: Advanced Cultural Techniques for Home and Market Gardens

Steve Upson. Vol. 1, 72 pp., Vol. 11, 49 pp. Free (Vol. 1 also downloadable from Web site). Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, PO Box 2180, Ardmore, OK 73402. 580/223-5810, www.noble.org.

Steve Upson and his colleagues at the Noble Foundation have invented a money-saving technique for making raised growing beds surrounded by rubber "boards" recycled from discarded tires. The rubber boards make much more environmental sense than treated lumber boards, and can result in considerably less total cost for beds. The books give design and construction details.-- Hortldeas

Also great access to other topics such as soil solarization, fertigation (fertilizing through the irrigation system), plastic mulch application, tensiometers, and bed layout.

"To produce a rubber board using this design, select a group of tires having similar tread width.

Next, remove the sidewalls using a jigsaw.

Make one cut through the tread on each tire using a power hacksaw. This produces sections of tread 5 to 7 feet in length and 6 to 8 inches in width, depending on tire size.

Based on the length of board needed, arrange the appropriate number of tread sections on your work bench end-to-end, making sure tread is facing down. Working from one end, slide the second section under the first section 6 inches and secure with four sheet metal screws. To ensure a strong union, place a screw in all four corners of the overlapped sections of tread, being careful to not get too close (within 1 inch) of the edge. --VOLUME I

"Plastic mulches have been available since the 1960s.... In addition to commercial growers, countless numbers of backyard gardeners have come to appreciate the many advantages plastic mulch provides, [including].... * Earlier crops * Weed control * Reduced evapo-transpiration * Reduced fertilizer leaching * Cleaner product. --VOLUME I