I've come across a few mentions of "pit gardening" -- used to keep water use to a minimum in arid conditions -- but am having trouble finding much in the way of details or advice. Has anybody tried this?

-- Christine (cytrowbridge@zianet.com), November 10, 2001

Answers

I don't have any information on them but it sounds like a lot better than raised gardens you have to water all the time. I am lucky. I have sandy loam soil that stays nice and loose and also have a creek and a pump. I notice a lot of people talk about their raised gardens but don't mention the watering problem.

-- Mel Kelly (melkelly@webtv.net), November 11, 2001.

I tried a Google search for you and was surprised that basically nothing worthwhile came up. The title of a book you might check into 'The Survival Greenhouse' was it. I remember reading a article in a magazine (probably Countryside. I'll try to check my back issues.) a few years back about someone in Arizona(?) who was having trouble gardening because winds kept burning the plants. What I remember is he dug a pit 2-3 feet deep, used a mulch (a MUST for water conservation!!), and maybe he used a shade cloth over the pit, too. I hope this is helpful. My advice is just do it. Try something and if it doesn't work for you, keep trying. Would your Ag-ext office have any info? Near by university? Good luck!!

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), November 11, 2001.

Funny, I garden in raised beds ONLY and have never had a problem with the watering of them...No more than any other garden I have had...

-- Laura (LauramLeek@yahoo.com), November 11, 2001.

Bren -- the lack of info on Google surprised me, too! I think you're right about just trying it, though. Maybe just a single pit this year, to start...fill it in layers, the way I'd make a "lasagne" bed, cover it with chicken wire to keep the larger critters from investigating and plant it in the spring.

And if it doesn't work, what a great base to build a raised bed on!

-- Christine (cytrowbridge@zianet.com), November 11, 2001.

Christine-

Not sure if this is what you are talking about or not, but I have dug my beds 4-6" deep sometimes and planted in them to keep water from running off. Here in Fla the soil is very sandy and raised beds take too much water. I think some Southwestern Indian tribes used this method to conserve water.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), November 11, 2001.

I am familiar with pit growing, it was developed for areas with low rain fall and/or high winds, the earliest examples I've heard of where the desert indains planting in low canyons/ravines where the water flow of the rainy season drained to.

To adapt other areas to this method you need wind protection from buildings or solid fences,(around all sides) then prepair beds (growing pits) by by building up the walking paths and diging out recessed beds which you should not walk in, (Digging gets your plants closer to under ground water supplies) so place a step down rock from which you can reach the plants, working the soil can mostly be done from the higher walk ways. With a low water supply areas you can do drip irrigation or water-pitcher growing which uses a rounded clay pot to slowly give water to the plants roots, these are buried up to the rim and the seeds (or little plants) planted right next to the clay pot the roots grow all over the surface of the pot and you only keep the pots filled with water, (keeping a lid on the pot)

You should improve the soil as for any other type of garden, but only in the pits. This method takes more start up labor than raised beds, it can be done on flat ground with lots of 4 sided fences built for wind breaks, the garden can look like a maze or an office of cubicals with long hallways, but flat ground will take more water, It is best to use only the shortest varieties of plants so that nothing sticks up higher than your wind break,

Christine, I have a phone call on the callwave, so I'll have to come back and finish later......... bye for now.

-- Thumper (slrldr@yahoo.com), November 12, 2001.

Ok, where was I, The growing pits will fill up with water in areas that get very much rain and in places with poor drainage the plants will drown, so there is only a small part of the U.S.A. that will suport pit growing year round, in most places drainage is a bigger problem than the need to save water, thus there is less info on pit growing, all of the south west will suport pit growing thru-out the summer months but the more humid areas may have mildew and mold problems in the pits that drier climates don't. The drier areas can grow in winter also, with a sheet of plastic or even small green houses over the pits. Some kind of shade fabric on a frame is needed in most places druing the summer, this is easy to do with old bed sheets and a piece of wire mesh fencing fashioned like a covered wagon, or even woven frames of grass or tree branches if you have the time, these only last in the driest climates, but add a charm that wire and bed sheets will never have.

If you have poor soil to start with, you won't loose much by digging out the pits, if your soil is good on top save it and replace the poor soil in the bottom of the pit with the good stuff, you can compost and raise earthworms in the pits also, this makes for excellent crop rotation. The pits should have the sides sloping, with rock or some other matterial to prevent them from sliding in and filling the hole over time. For the spaceing of plants I think the best way to deside would be to use a Square Foot garden spaceing for starters, the big difference is that the water suppy is the determining factor on how close your plants can be so as the soil is improved the water holding capacity will improve also, you should deside on how you will water, the bubble shaped clay pots which are fired but un-glazed are hard to find, but you should be able to work out a substitute, the pots are buried up to the neck in the soil and one or two plants grown on each pot if you use plastic bottles the holes need to be in the sides of the bottle, not the bottom if the holes are in the bottom the water drains away under the plants, not at the root zone. and the holes need to be pretty big because the roots like to grow into the holes and clog them. One way to fix the bottles is to fill them with water and freeze them dig out a hole to bury the bottle and pack the soil around it then carefully pull the bottle out dill the holes in the sides and put the bottle back in the soil, felt bags would work too, for those that have scrap wool to use up. Where there's a will there's a way! Well I need to get on down the road so to speak have a good day.

-- Thumper (slrldr@yahoo.com), November 12, 2001.

Thumper -- That was exactly the kind of info I needed -- thanks so much! I live in the Southwest, in an area that normally gets about 10 inches of rain a year (except that this year's total is only around 8, so conserving water's going to be even more important than usual). So it sounds as though the system ought to work. Thanks again!

-- Christine (cytrowbridge@zianet.com), November 12, 2001.

When trying new things like this, whether new just for me or new ideas, I always do a trial run. Pick something that grows well for you every year, and then pit it. Alot less work and hearache than ruining a whole weekend full of ditch digging and planting and tending to find out it makes your plants rot! Sounds like a good idea, unless like here where we good amounts of rain, some times, and other times we get all our rain in one week! I love raised beds. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), November 13, 2001.