Raised Beds
This year we have put some new raised beds on the bed in the hope that they will do the job that a terrace might. They are constructed from locally milled and harvested 2x12 Hemlock. We currently have 8 beds and if they work out there may be more added next year.
The soil in the third bed was pretty terrible so we have added a lot of nutrients to the beds. This year we may not get a great harvest out of them but it's a start and hopefully over the next few years the soil will improve and we will get great produce from them.
August 12th Update
The raised beds are doing really well. Everything growing in them looks great and appears to be producing a lot. They hold the moisture a lot better than the soil around it. They really need to either be mulched or under-cropped (I used dwarf clove) because otherwise they dry out on the south facing slope. However, they are easy to weed and and the soil in they is much better than the hard pack around them. After seeing the soil pile up behind the beds after each rain I strongly suggest putting in more next year. So far everything, except the broccoli, has done really well in them and we are already getting produce from them.
This year we planted 2 with tomatoes, 1 with summer squash, 2 watermelon, 1 honey melon, broccoli, and Todd's experiment: sunflowers and switch grass. The melon's were under-cropped with dutch white clover, Todd mulched with leaves, and the tomatoes with hay.
