Cob: Re: raised Garden Beds fron Cob or strawbale. Please Help!

[Parker_homestay@cheerful.com]

: We live in Gainesville Florida. We are designing garden beds and have no
: access to stone or rock. The earth here is 99.9% sand. So we want to make
our
: bed border walls from cob/strawbale/earth/whatever. What can we use? What
mix
: ratio of sand and straw and morter? Or Portland cement? The walls will be
: about a foot or less high for the raised beds. Can someone help us figure
: this out? We also want to die the mixture or topcoat a color but with
what?
: Thanks in advance.
: Shawn&Jen Spencer
:
I have a suggestion but not along these lines.  We have raised beds without
any containing mechanism.  We just dig out the path and put the dirt on top
of the bed.
real cheap way to go and easy to change things if they aren't just the way
you want.

Our earth is good loam created with mulching for years and years. We use
wood chips in the paths to keep the shoes clean and the knees dry.

With mostly sand which might fall back in the paths. I would simply put in
wood chips to the same level as the bed. You have a raised bed that won't
look raised. The advantage of the wood chips is they break down and are
added to the bed and replaced in the paths with new chips.

Just an idea.

Bill


Bill, Mary Jo, & Jacob Parker

Please reply to ( Parker_homestay at cheerful.com )

Portland, Oregon