[steff bugielski]

I did locate the No- Work book but have not recieved it yet. My question is about soggy soil. Will this method help with the problem or no. I can make raised beds but over time the mulch will fill in and be the same height. The garden is not always soggy but with heavy rainm it tends to muck right up. My beans are all droopy as if drowning and my peppers have not even started to grow. I am concerned that if I mulch the garden totally it will keep in all that rain.
Steff

 

[vtfarma]

Is the garden in a spot that you can ditch around the beds? We had to raise a flower bed in our front yard a few years back because it was in a spot that always ended up with standing water and everything died. Mulching soup really is not going to accomplish much. If you raise the beds up and maybe make a shallow ditch around the edge when you are doing this then you can mulch to your hearts content. I have found that my mulch decomposes and I really don't end up with a huge raise in the height of the bed... or maybe I misunderstood what you meant.

 

[Guest]

You both are correct in what you are thinking. Adding all of the organic material in the world will do nothing but increase the water retention ability and eventually have you right back where you started. You can ditch around it and create a raised bed which is fine if you're only dealing with a small 10x10 area. But if you've got a 100x100 rice paddy, that calls for serious alterations. And that must be done by mineral means, not organic. If it's within your financial means and you plan on gardening there for another 20 years, haul in truckloads of topsoil. Doesn't have to be expensive top grade soil as long as it's one containing enough sand to where it will both drain well during monsoons and not bake hard during droughts. Once you have hauled enough in to where it is above the lowest surrounding grade, then you can start playing with adding tons of organic matter.

Martin

 

[diane]

I can attest to what Martin says about mulch just helping to retain more water. We eventually simply had to change our site to a better drained situation. That is a solution, or spending a fortune hauling in soil to raise your beds would be another. We now have our garden in a better drained site, with ditch around it and a modified raised bed situation with square foot gardening. I have never been happier with my production or ease of care.

 

[suelandress]

We brought in top soil and it really wasn't that bad. Ask at your local excavation companies. Lots cheaper than when you pay a middleman.