When I started planting I took a piece of wood and used it to make a furrow of the appropriate depth in the ground, put the seeds in and covered them. That was that. Of course I read about other techniques once I'd already taken the plunge. Yep, the Amateur Idiot Gardner looked before leaping yet again. I began to read, after the event, about deep, wide beds. This is basically a variety of methods for creating beds that are, surprise surprise, deep! And wide!

Why are they a good thing? Well, by piling up the beds you provide plants with more loose soil to push young roots through. You create a better environment for the plants to grow, basically. Not only is the soil looser but I've also found that during torrential downpours - and we get our share in North Carolina - the beds aren't flooded - the walkways in between are. The beds themselves retain moisture very well I've found. We had a recent succession of downpours here and after everty one, the beds I'd created were wet, but not sodden. There were puddles in the 'valleys' between. This siuted the plants much better than the earlier rows which were planted in the plat soil.

There are many gardening publications and sites - which I'll list in an upcoming entry - which go into greater and wider detail about raised, deep, and wide beds. For this entry I'll limit it to my experiences so far. Primarily. so far (apart from my experiences with hard rainfall) creating the beds. I'd seen a few different types. Some are very raised and have planks of wood to contain and structure them. This might be sometihng I attempt in the future, but as I'm srarting out I was looking for an easier (and cheaper) method. I ended up following the 'rake it up' method - simply ise your rake to draw earth across from either side and gradually pile your earth up that way. The rake can also be used to flatten the top off prior to planting.

The photo at the top of this entry shows one of my beds - it's hard to see the actual depth but it's about five inches higher than the walkway either side.

I could have made it higher, probablyh will in future but for now it was an improvement on my earlier methods. I've planted cucumbers and squashes (spaghetti, butternut and crooked yellow) and the growth rates have been fantasitc. Within days tiny plants began sprouting from the earth, tiny plants that are rapidly growing. Therefore, early evidence is that raised beds are indeed the way to go. As I've promised, next time I will list websites and books I've found useful. Comments on all my entries are welcoms as I have a lot to learn.

Thanks!