My
experience which covers the territory around the Salish Sea, esp. on glacial soils and Willamette Valley, Cascade foothills and Coast Range poorer soils, over 4+ decades has
led to me using wooden framed beds only in high-traffic built environments. In my current 1/2 acre suburban agroforestry I'm on heavy clay loam. I have always found beaucoup slugs on any wood framed beds, edging boards, whatever, but in my Eugene
yard I have a breeding population of GARDINER Snakes. [They eat slugs, so that's what I call 'em.] After 10 years here I am still moving things around, and any "hardscape" needs constant trimming. I trim for pay, fine, but if I can't just scythe it, fageddaboutit! But I figure composting is a fiber
art, and the mowings are great feedstock. I'm on an ancient valley bottom that was tilled to death and this clay loam (?!) is super for earth buildings. So all my fruit
trees and my Italian Alders, and all the grassy paths and occasional windfalls of tree service chips and autumn leaves from the streets and kitchen scraps contribute to make
compost loaves on my bed-and-paths grid. (Roosters are illegal in the
city! I wish I could keep a
chicken flock, but I won't keep
chickens w/o a rooster) I've read that the Pacific Garter snake eats slugs: my theory is that all these woody hiding places are good for the snakes. I'm religious about adding soil with every kitchen waste compost event to promote humous formation: to obtain the soil, I dig trenches where a bed will be made, and get wood (branches and prunings mostly) I've also done a first test char burn: trench, then start a fire in the trench, pile branches in and when it's full and just about to start burning into
ash, with no unburning wood showing, slake it with buckets of
water, let it dry a day or two, then pour on 5+ gallons of Vit. "P" so the char becomes a nitrogen "bank". Any trench I dig gets at least any rotting wood or freshly trimmed green branches that are handy to deepen the soil profile. I have gotten truck loads of street leaves delivered by the city, but there are always "contaminants" including cans, trash, glass, plastic stuff- When there's a big ice storm there are free woodchips from the city, but you have to haul them. ANYWAY- you get the picture: open up the subsoil and add plenty
carbon. Then I build up a compost loaf on top until it's around 3 ft. high at least. The first crop I plant happens about 1-2 years after commencing: squash and legumes in pits made in the pile. That makes sure you get a yield, and watering the squash makes sure the "Loaf Bed" matures
enough to finish decomposing and be ready for crops more demanding of mature humous. You can
trellis with bamboo and have the squash team with runner beans or peas, The nitrogen they contribute will help finish developing the soil. SO- all of this was also to explain how it might come about that I had a fairly mature compost pile last spring, stuck a lemon cuke plant in it and harvested so many lemon cukes that for a month-plus I was taking dozens of 'em to all my neighbors, and luckily one family with three kids found out the kids had capacity for eating lemon cucumbers by the dozen. Yes, it is labor, but the steps are integrated and you can do it at your natural pace.
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