[Community_garden] Sandbag that garden! - And retreads...

Jack Hale jackh at knoxparks.org
Tue Mar 18 11:24:57 EDT 2008 

 Don's rant about squares and rectangles reminded me of the lovely
curving beds made of wattle at the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley.
Children at the school harvested green branches, drove some of the
heftier ones into the ground to create the shape they wanted and then
created basket weave walls with long, thin, pliable sticks.  My
understanding was that they would last a few seasons, anyway.  They are
cheap, flexible, easily repaired, renewable, charming, organic, etc.
JH


Jack N. Hale
Executive Director
Knox Parks Foundation
75 Laurel Street
Hartford, CT 06106
860/951-7694

-----Original Message-----
From: community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org
[mailto:community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org] On Behalf Of
Don Boekelheide
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:05 AM
To: community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
Cc: felder at felderrushing.net; harristakoma at erols.com; Mike McGrath
Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Sandbag that garden! - And retreads...

Hey, all,

Much as I hate to admit it, Mike's right - I mean, it is obvious, the
first thing I did at Urban Ministry was put in some...that's right ...
raised beds. Round jobbies made of masonry not wooden boxes, but still.
You already know my official reasons, to give tired homeless folks a
place to sit and rest, and and having to garden in an area of compacted
crappy soil without drainage, but reading Mike's post I realised there
was another factor - I needed instant "something to look at" aka
"success". Now, it isn't sustainable gardening success, that only comes
with years of daily practice doing gardening. Just like meditation (the
two are closely related, at least in my mind). But boxes, planters,
whatever ,do give you something to show the community, the folks, and
the funders. We got those beds in place in a couple weeks, stuck in some
pansies, put up homemade prayer banners on conduit poles 10 ft tall to
catch the wind, and when 'official' opening day came  the 'garden
program' was a smash hit.

But I still don't like boxes. Treasure of the Sierra Madre attitude:
"Boxes? We don't need no stinkin' boxes..." But I'll use 'em when they
can help.

But be careful, folks. Three things to consider: 

* Watch the budget, since wood and fill soil can both get very expensive
very fast. A local well-heeled, well-meaning non-profit just burned up
$3000 to build six modest boxo beds at a single school and fill them
with purchased soil. That's three !#@$% GRAND! That's enough to fund my
program for months!

* Don't make the box the end when it is really only the beginning. All
the ACGA stuff about working with people and building community, and all
the hort stuff that garden-types like me rant on about - you've got to
pay attention to all that. Watering. Weeding. Planting with the seasons.
Who will do the work? Also, keeping fill/potting soils fertile and
healthy can be a challenge. Ask yourself how the box will look under a
worst case scenario. If you aren't pretty sure you can avoid that, I'd
avoid the box (not the garden - just the box).

And think about squares. Boxes are little houses, squared off extensions
of our built environment. Meanwhile, nature curves and dances. Boxes are
purchased. Nature can't be purchased. It's a question of deeper
aesthetics, and how much our garden design is based on fear of nature
and a desire to control it and put it in a box, as opposed to embracing
and celebrating the natural world. I'm not saying either approach is
right or wrong, but suggesting that it makes sense to stay ever mindful
of wider perspectives in our rush to accomplish things, and make the
world a better place through our particular garden projects.

(btw, building boxes to the golden section rectangle/Fibonacci sequence
dimensions strikes me as monumental silliness, though that's in vogue
right now. At a recent garden conference, I heard a garden writer I
otherwise much admire go wandering into this swamp - and all the slides
in her PowerPoint were sized 1:1.618. Inspiring. Cosmic. I just hope she
runs into Pogo in that swamp, before it's too late).

Now - the real reason for this post is that I forgot a very important
container option. After my kids got on the schoolbus early this morning,
an old red pickup with a shotgun cross the back window and a NASCAR
bumper sticker came cruising through the neighborhood, looking for me.
They were going to take away my Dixie ID and either make me leave
Carolina or wear a Yankee button on my baseball cap. Why? I neglected to
mention old tires. They are a traditional planter material down here.
Sure, they have some problems, but what else are we going to do with
them? If they are good enough for Felder Rushing's planters, they're
good enough for me. Check it out:
http://www.felderrushing.net/frontyard.htm

Don
http://urbanministrygarden.wordpress.com

----- Original Message ----
From: Mike McGrath <MikeMcG at PTD.net>
To: Don Boekelheide <dboekelheide at yahoo.com>;
community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 10:07:51 AM
Subject: Sandbag that garden!

I disagree with my good friend Don about the usefulness of raised beds.
I find them to be a great solution to crappy conditions. (And Don--a lot
of those flat-earth ancestors didn't make it past 35. And the Native
Americans largely ate what nature grew for them.)

BUT I want to thank Don for a great idea mentioned later--raised beds
framed by sandbags! You just need to bring the empty bags to the site,
then you can fill them with the crappy stuff you're trying not to grow
in. Bravo, Donnie Boy!~

(As Abbie Hoffman once said, I will Steal This Tip!)

                                                    ---Mike McG
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Boekelheide" <dboekelheide at yahoo.com>
To: <community_garden at list.communitygarden.org>
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 9:36 PM
Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Trex or other building material


> I'm afraid I too agree that, in my experience, building boxes isn't 
> usually necessary for gardening (even out in Colorado, admittedly a 
> challenging place in your higher, drier areas).  I grant you that 
> containers made of anything - wood, masonry, plastic, brick, clay,
trex, 
> ferro-cement, cardboard, old kids' plastic swimming pools, etc, etc -
are 
> good in some special circumstances for holding soil, improving
drainage, 
> etc. They also clearly define areas, which some folks prefer 
> aesthetically. But they add an additional level of expense (sometimes,
a 
> lot of expense) and futzing, and come with a whole new set of problems

> like potential toxicity of some materials, rotting out, and
maintenance. 
> And when they are abandoned or go weedy - at a school, for instance,
over 
> the summer - they can look pretty awful and become a strong visual 
> argument for why it makes no sense to fund or support garden projects.
>
> So, are you _sure_ you don't just want to garden? Have you considered 
> looking for a suitable spot for a community garden, for instance? Save

> some open space, build soil, etc. Work together. Build community, not 
> little boxes (...on the hillside, as Malvina used to sing...).
>
> If you are very sure, though, that you want to make boxes, I agree
that 
> masonry is a very useful option to consider, rather than wood or trex.

> I've used blocks very successfully at Urban Ministry (where I mostly 
> needed something for tired folks to sit on, but also in one particular

> spot had horrible drainage), and in other sites. The option from Lowes

> Depot I like best are 4x8x16  solid concrete blocks. If the project 
> doesn't work out, these blocks are reasonably easy to remove, reform
or 
> recycle.
>
> Another option, if you are growing food, are "pillow packs" made very 
> simply by filling big black plastic sacks with soil mix. There are
fancier 
> 'grow bags' that commercial nurseries use - both these options might
be 
> interesting under xeric conditions. They won't win any beauty pagents
and 
> plastic has all kinds of problems, but I've seen them used very 
> successfully to produce quite a bit of food.
>
> Last but not least, what are the local containers that you have there 
> traditionally? What did the first settlers build with, or the First 
> Nations peoples who were there before? How did they garden? Rather
than 
> start with boxes - and we all have garden books and mags full of pics
of 
> boxes to inspire us - why not, er, think outside the box?
>
> Don
> http://urbanministrygarden.wordpress.com
> (I have some pics of the Urban Ministry masonry beds on the blog, if
you'd 
> like to see. They are done with 'landscape' blocks with round edges, a

> donation from a local  soils and mulch company, Blue Max).
>
>
>
> From: community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org
> [mailto:community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org] On Behalf
Of
> GivenTrees at aol.com
> Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 8:50 AM
> To: community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
> Subject: [Community_garden] Trex or other building material
>
> Hey all, I'm looking for material to build raised beds, cold  frames
> etc. to
> grow organic veggies in.  Trying NOT to cut any trees  or use
> traditional
> lumber material.  I've always heard redwood was the best  wood to use,
> but looking
> for alternatives.  I think there had been a  discussion here before
> about
> Trex, is there any leaching? Down sides?   Alternatives? Suggestions?
> Thanks Tina
>
>
>
>
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