Wow Ken. Lots of work to have to redo it another time, but I understand fully why. Looks like some great stuff there. Are we going to get names of what you have new?
Cher

That's exactly what a temp bed should be. Nice work Ken.

Dax

Neat Idea... I wish I could do something like that here with my clay soil.

Looks great. I really need to think about drip irrigation with all my pots. It gets so old watering once or even 2x a day in the heat of summer. I think I have even more sand for soil here along the banks of the Mississippi River...

Very nicely detailed Ken. Thanks.

tj

Good looking nursery, gives me some ideas. Many times I've had some plants I wanted to hold in a special area to give some TLC

You weren't kidding when you said you had sandy soil, wow!
Do you have plans for future beds or will these plants fill in and replace others?

All these big pieces of land that some of you have make me very jealous on one hand but I can hardly keep up with what I have on the other. How much land do you have Ken?

Robyn

Awesome, Ken. Thanks for giving us a tour. I have about 20 seedlings I'm holding over in pots, so this was quite timely and appreciated!

Barb

rick .. you can do it above ground ... the idea is that they are all in one place.. so that you can go care for them.. after dinner .. without tromping all over the acreage ... its that simple ..

i forgot to say.. that i had to start by replacing all the irrigation tape ... it has a very limited life.. and this product must be straight and flat .... it cost around 4 cents a foot when bought in bulk ... the drippers eventually get plugged.. especially on my well.. with the rust and sand in the water ...

my lot is 500 by 500 feet.. aka 5 acres ...

treebarb.. what happened to all your grafting/rooting dreams.. a year or two back???

ken

Different Barb. The Barb you're thinking of lives in California & I occasionally chat with her still via email.

This all reminds me I have to go water my hoophouse.

Dax

Ken,

Dax is right. I'm the one in Colorado building a windbreak. I'm much too clumsy to be allowed near grafting knives!

sandy soil makes inground container systems so very much easier. i've seen drain tile run down beneath the line of pots in some locations. *hint* for someone with less well draining soil

Rick,

You are right, this will not work in clay soil.

On a different forum, someone recently posted pictures of their version of Ken's suggestion- raised bed for holding potted plants. See the link below. He's built a low wall around the perimeter, placed the plants inside, and then filled the beds with mulch. You'll have to read down a little bit to find this as it was not the original topic of the thread and it's sort of buried down at the bottom. Also, you wouldn't want to fill pots with your native clay soil, but you know that already I'm sure.

Personally, I take a different approach. I set them up on pallets. With square pots, the edges are touching so none of the internal pot surfaces are exposed. Then set up shade cloth or cardboard boxes around the perimeter to block the light at pot-level down. I still have to water regularly, which I do by hand. Actually, I have set up a 30 gallon barrel near the area as a holding tank. Although I do fill it by hose, I'll let it sit for a day or so so the water has a chance to thermally equilibrate. That way the plants don't get hit with the ice cold water my hose provides.

Alex

Here is a link that might be useful: Raised holding beds - scroll down

Ken, that is a wonderful idea. What great way to get your grafted conifers going and not have to worry about the watering.