Viewing post #352826 by RickCorey

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Jan 30, 2013 1:46 PM CST
Name: Rick Corey
Everett WA 98204 (Zone 8a)
Sunset Zone 5. Koppen Csb. Eco 2f
Frugal Gardener Garden Procrastinator I helped beta test the first seed swap Plant and/or Seed Trader Seed Starter Region: Pacific Northwest
Photo Contest Winner: 2014 Avid Green Pages Reviewer Garden Ideas: Master Level Garden Sages I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database.
Here's a wacky idea, but if you are already excavating and bagging lots of clay, maybe it's a possibility.

If your clay is really sticky, and you don't mind wheelbarrowing a lot of it around, it might dry into something hard enough to use as walls for an RB. A REALLY raised bed!

Maybe use the excavated clay as the foundation and walls for an elevated, raised bed, both to improve the drainage and raise the soil surface up so you need to do less bending over to weed and sow.

Accumulate the clay in a shallow pile in the shape of the RB you want, until it's a platform 18" high and wider than the planting area you want. Then hoe the center out into tapering walls or berms around the periphery of the bed, so that the walls are 8-12" taller than the center. Slope the center "floor" or cut channels for drainage, and pierce the walls where the low point of the "floor" drains out.

Then fill the bed with your good soil mix. The bottom half can be less amended than is ideal because it will improve over time from from organic matter leaching down each year , and worm and root action will gradually give you a deeper root zone.

Just a wacky idea. If bending over is difficult enough to make an elevated bed attractive, wheelbarrowing tons of clay around is probably much too much work! I just hated to think of it going to waste.

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