Permanent Raised bed Construction on gravel subsurface

I demonstrated how we are built our permanent raised beds. Unfortunately our property in in a location that has many gravel mines and our property is composed of very rock gravel with boulders interspersed.

Our beds are constructed on top of that hard gravel surface. We use compost made on site to form beds that are 36 inches wide and about 2 feet deep initially. Over time the beds will reduce to a depth of about 1-1.5 feet deep. The walk ways are composed of a combination of wood chips, leaves and old hay which creates wonderful moisture retaining system rich in earthworms, small insects, microbes, including fungi and small vertebrates.

We are using either soaker hoses or overhead sprinklers for irrigation of the crops. We also use weed mats (see the link below) to help reduce weed development. After the beds have been established for 1 season we use a broadfork and then a rotary harrow to prep the beds for seeding. As the walkways decompose we will use a Berta rotary plow to help reform the raised beds using the organic material that was in the walkway. We continue to add more wood chips to the walk ways each season as the fungi break it down. When using the rotary plow we only take the surface of the decomposing walkways leaving enough mycelium to reestablish the fungal network.

We have been inspired by the work of Eliot Coleman (Four-Season Harvest), Jean-Martin Fortier (The Market Gardener), and Curtis Stone (The Urban Farmer). We are currently incorporating many of their methods into our zone 1 gardens.

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I am putting an affiliate link below in case you are interested in purchasing weed mats or books from the authors listed above. There are no additional charges to you; however I will receive a small commission if you purchase a unit. The commission will help me to continue to share more of the work we do.

Great long life reusable heavy duty weed fabric:
Dewitt Weed Barrier Fabric 20 year 3’: [ Ссылка ]
Dewitt Weed Barrier Fabric 20 year 4’: [ Ссылка ]

Eliot Coleman
The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep-Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses: [ Ссылка ]

The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener, 2nd Edition (A Gardener's Supply Book): [ Ссылка ]

Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long, 2nd Edition: [ Ссылка ]

Jean-Martin Fortier
The Market Gardener: A Successful Grower's Handbook for Small-scale Organic Farming: [ Ссылка ]

Curtis Stone
The Urban Farmer: Growing Food for Profit on Leased and Borrowed Land: [ Ссылка ]

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