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Check out the pistil and stamens on that hibiscus!

Campanula Bellflower

Firewitch Dianthus is a perennial flower with grass-like silvery blue-green foliage and numerous pink star-like flowers. It prefers full sun and well drained, neutral to slightly alkaline soil.

Apple Blossom

Once you have a raised bed, adding a hoop house is relatively simple. The addition of a hoop house can extend your harvest into four seasons.

I have been following Patti Moreno lately. She has developed a method of urban harvesting entitled ‘urban sustainable living.’ She incorporates ideas of container gardening, vertical gardening, and Square Foot Gardening to maximize harvest in a given space.

This how-video is an excellent reference for those who want to make their own raised bed and hoop house. It’s simple enough to incorporate the concepts into a suburban or rural landscape.

Urban Sustainable Living

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Took time off of promoting my novel to build some raised beds for two apple trees. I published a how-to guide here

It’s a relatively simple process if you have the right tools. Here are some of the benefits of a raised bed:

• Better on the back

• More control over soil conditions: Since you’re building up, you add the soil you want. If you distrust the soil below, you can always put pavers under your raised bed to completely block root penetration or leeching.

• Improved drainage

• Faster spring thaw

• Readily accepts a hoop house for early spring and late fall plantings

Article Link

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In May of 2008, I published an article entitled ‘Planting Container Fruit Trees’. While I was successful planting the fruit trees, I failed to maintain them. As a result, two died of disease, while another bared no fruit. As of yesterday, I transplanted the remaining fruit tree to a raised bed. You can read the article for further details.

I am searching for someone who has successfully maintained container fruit trees. In the meantime, you may reference this excellent guide by the National Gardening Association to ensure success.

Tomorrow, I plan on introducing my new raised bed approach for two apple trees.

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Working on a guide to raised bed gardening. Keep an eye out!