Omelet wrote:
The trick to saving water is to fill your raised bed with the best top
soil you can find... I know that in your area the soil is piss poor
for agri use as it doesn't retain water. And potting soil is not the
answer, it decomposes in no time. Often the least costly is to buy a
pallet of bagged top soil from Lowe's. Be wary of top soil sold in
bulk by the truckload, most times it's bank run with a little
partially composted organic material added and wet down just before
delivery... when it dries it's hard as concrete... and often it's
contaminated soil that was taken as part of a remediation project.
You're better off buying the bagged top soil from Lowe's, it's marked
with an origination code and is guaranteed clean. With good top soil
you can easily get by watering raised beds and containers with soaker
hoses and/or drip systems. For containers those water spikes used
with 2 liter beverage bottles work very well.
http://www.amazon.com/Aqua-Cone-Spi...SJOQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1302439586&sr=8-3