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dice · March 24, 2013

Heavy clay needs heavy equipment:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/a...8198-row2s.jpg

http://wisdomoftheradish.com/2011/02...egetable-farm/
(Notice that they did not till until *after* they made the raised
rows. I think the flat top beds would be unnecessary if you are
hand-planting. That is for planting with seeding equipment.)

Hence the suggestion to build the rows up on top out of organic
matter instead and just shovel some dirt on top to hold it in place.
I simply suspect that the ambition to amend a big, gooey, clay
garden with organic matter with a hand tiller is a bit quixotic
and will leave you with the same problem you had before,
just higher fertility mud. You need the thing to be able to
drain end-to-end rather than downward.

One approach to keeping the raised rows raised even after
a heavy rain:
http://www.blueroseweb.com/misc_imag...s-not-done.jpg

March 24, 2013	#67
dice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: PNW Posts: 4,743	Heavy clay needs heavy equipment: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/a...8198-row2s.jpg http://wisdomoftheradish.com/2011/02...egetable-farm/ (Notice that they did not till until after they made the raised rows. I think the flat top beds would be unnecessary if you are hand-planting. That is for planting with seeding equipment.) Hence the suggestion to build the rows up on top out of organic matter instead and just shovel some dirt on top to hold it in place. I simply suspect that the ambition to amend a big, gooey, clay garden with organic matter with a hand tiller is a bit quixotic and will leave you with the same problem you had before, just higher fertility mud. You need the thing to be able to drain end-to-end rather than downward. One approach to keeping the raised rows raised even after a heavy rain: http://www.blueroseweb.com/misc_imag...s-not-done.jpg __________________ -- alias