What's your verdict?

[cloud dreamer]

I use 2x8s to raise my beds. Our soil is incredibly rocky (they call the island the Rock for a reason), so to get some decent space to grow things like turnip, potato and carrots, I have not choice but to raise the beds. The surface area is not much more. There are no holes or water escaping through the lumber. No voles or moles either.

I guess that's the whole point. Every location really lends itself to a certain type of gardening. Loosening the soil six to eight inches down here is a major chore...so we go up. Water retention is really a secondary concern...especially since it rarely gets hot enough for prolonged evaporation to be a concern (average 21 in the summer).

..

Zone 5a in Canada's Cool Rocky Far East.

[J.C.]

I have never been able to raise a container.

[OmManiPadmeOmelet]

Very funny...... ;-D

I was talking about big pots! But you knew that.....

I've had good luck using 5 gallon pots for tomatoes with a water tray underneath. I did very little gardening this year due to the expense of the water. I need to re-do my greenhouse setup and move everything inside....

The summers here are just getting to be too hot and dry!

South Central Texas.

[J.C.]

What town are you close to? We're over around Eagle Lake, East Bernard area.

[OmManiPadmeOmelet]

Between Buda and New Braunfels. :-)

[me]

Explain ok?

[me]

I wonder abt containers gardens as well..... vs raised bed

They really are more alike than different tho right?

[J.C.]

Well gollyyyyyyy, you've got the river to cool off in, all that cold beer to drink, you get to listen to Roger Creager every now and then. Me, all I've got is rice fields, water moccasins, alligators, killer bees, dust, dust and more dust and that danged POLKA MUSIC!!!

[J.C.]

Explain what, the job fair or why I'd be gone.

[me]

why you'd be gone

[J.C.]

Because it is hotter than two hells, flatter than a steamrolled pancake, dustier than any desert, treeless as any shopping center parking lot and expensive as any big city in the nation now. Other than that, it's really a great place. And, I'm a born and raised Texan but the difference is that I've been around the world a couple of times and been able to see what the other places have to offer.

[zxcvbob]

Stop it! You're making me homesick.

Best regards, Bob

[J.C.]

Yeah, I bet.

[OmManiPadmeOmelet]

Pots conserve water even better, especially with a tray underneath them. :-)

[OmManiPadmeOmelet]

More than one actually.

Wine coolers. Can't stand beer.

Heh. Between the German community in New Braunfels and the Hispanics in the neighborhood, I get to hear that stuff too.

And the dance studio across the street keeps it's darned door open when the weather is nice and TAP DANCES! That drives me up the friggin' wall.

[me]

I see now

You live in Houston, correct?

And you feel the Rio Grande valley is even better place climate wise to live than Houston, correct?

[J.C.]

Nope. I'm 77 miles southwest of Houston.

Nope. About the only place I think that is better than Houston climatewise is anywhere north of Houston.

[madgardener]

then you need to get the book by Elliot Coleman titled Four Season Harvest. One of the best books you will ever find on the subject of growing and harvesting and eating your own produce. Elliot Coleman lives in Maine, by the way with his also very famous gardening partner, Barbara Damrosche..........hope this helps. madgardener