Stephen checking in from Florida

[rockriver]

i remember a guest that you brought.
that's impressive... that he prepped for family in the event of death.
most folks don't!
and even more impressive.. his faith..

and hannah? isn't that right?
speaking of faith. i had no doubt.
i hope all is well with her and family.

[Stephen]

I brought two guests at different times - John, and also my cousin. My cousin is a physician, and he lead a discussion on medical topics.

Hannah is doing well - and you're right - she is clearly one of God's Handmaidens. Laura and I chat with her on Skype every once in a while. This is a good reminder to me to do some catching up with her.

[rockriver]

i haven't seen hannah on the forums here...
i encourage you to relay an invite.

rr

[Stephen]

i haven't seen hannah on the forums here...
i encourage you to relay an invite.

rr

I'll pass that along to her. I think her thinking is much like mine though. I'm already posting more than I had planned to do. At that other forum, I ended up spending way too much time on line (my post count was in the thousands), and real life was left with too little time. These are great places to pick up good helpful information - and to share the knowledge and mistakes that have come our way - but I find that I need to apply some self discipline to the time I spend on line. I think that was pretty much her thinking as well when we've talked about it.

[WiseOwl]

Welcome from North of Southern Idaho...lol

Looks forward to sharing ideas and learning on the raised beds. Before I got into this rent a house a year crap, I was raisin' the gardens on up! Was given a book by Mel Bartholomew about 8 years ago and I havent looked back since.

I knew some folks once that had almost an entire acre of raised beds, it was a site of beauty!

Again, welcome!

[Stephen]

Thanks, WiseOwl. I appreciate the welcome, sir.

I have Mel Bartholomew's book - in fact, I have both editions of it. In my own experience, it has been a great inspiration and a wealth of information. On the other hand, I have found parts of it just didn't work for me as well as it apparently works for others. Raising vegetables is an extremely localized thing, so I don't point that as a criticism of his work, but of the differences in circumstances.

This link shows a series of photos of the construction of my raised beds. That page has a link to the second page of photos.

The main place where my experience differs from Mr. Bartholomew was in the composition of the growing mixture that he recommended. When I followed his formula, mine was way too "hot" and I had to "cool it off" a bit by using more vermiculite and peat moss. The main thing is to try small batches and get them tested before doing a lot of it. Also know that "dirt" is expensive! I'm afraid to go back and add up all I've spent on what has gone into that garden.

Here's a link to my description of the growing mixture.