raised-bed New raised bed - various questions.

Spicy Mushroom

Spicy Mushroom

My father just recently finished building me a fairly large raised bed for my peppers. It's 7 feet by 3.7 feet with 18 inch depth. Which according to a calculator on the site I will be getting my soil from, it's requiring 2,700 pounds of soil to fill it.
 
I'm in Sacramento and my hardiness zone is 9b.
 
"120 days per year where the temperature exceeds 86°F. The average annual high temperature in 95608 is 75°F and the average annual low temperature is 49°F. The average high temperature in July (Summer) is 93°F, while the average high temperature in January (Winter) is 55°F."
 
Temps do exceed 100F in the peak of summer. Hell, the record for my area is 115F.
 
Last summer I didn't have much success in getting decent yields on most of my plants. I was also providing them more sun than prior seasons. I'm thinking it was just too hot. Frying the pollen maybe? :) 
 
So my first question(s) is should I place this raised bed in a shadier location [it's a raised bed on giant tires...Tim Allen is my dad], or is there other ways I could cool the plants / protect them from the full intensity of the sun? Could I leave it in a full-sun location but construct a shade canopy? Or do you think it will still be too hot given my climate? Ultimately is it only the roots that need to be cooled down? Or the entirety of the plant? I'm very interested in anything I could do to make my situation as ideal as possible given my climate. I imagine giving them 'full-sun' albeit filtered through shade cloth would be ideal? Yet would that be enough in 100+ degree temps?
 
Next question(s) is concerning the use of worms IN the raised bed. Is my raised bed large enough to manage to get them to stay? I know I need to provide them organic mater to munch on, darkness, and persistent moisture. Then the temps are also a concern. My plan was to use 'red wigglers'. Getting them to stay aside, would they even survive? I was thinking if I laid down a thick layer of mulch/straw it would help keep things dark and moist bellow. Would constant moisture be a problem for the productivity of the peppers?
 
Wow I typed a lot. Sorry bout that. Greatly appreciate any insight here!!
 
I dunno... isn't there water rationing there in Cali, now? You should probably plan to put it in a shady area for water conservation purposes. And we should be catching all of our rain in buckets and shipping it to you guys.
 
I've forgone all other plants that I normally grow each summer except for my peppers. That's it. So it's drastically reduced. Also not watering my lawn at all. I'd like to think I am still doing my part. *shrug*
 
Either option should work. You can buy different grades of shade cloth that filter more or less sun. 18" deep should be plenty deep enough for the worms to stay cool but I would definitely put down a layer of some sort of mulch not only to keep the soil a bit cooler but also to conserve water and also to prevent weeds. Does your raised bed have a solid bottom? If not you don't need to worry about excess moisture being a problem for your plants. Wet soil is usually only a problem when using containers because of perched water. Unless of course you put your bed in a low lying area. As long as what you're using to fill your bed has some organic material in it the worms should be happy. If your bed doesn't have a bottom and you really want the worms to stay put down a layer of weed barrier. It will let excess water drain through into the ground but should keep the worms in. I'm using a screened 60% topsoil 40% compost/pine bark fines mix that is sold locally. I'll be adding some things like bat guano, crab shell, rock dust, etc to kick things up a notch. I'll be putting down a layer of weed barrier with straw or pine mulch on top to prevent weeds and to keep water in and cool the soil down a bit. We get high 90's all summer with the occasional 100 but not too often.
 
My raised beds are much deeper. But shouldn't matter. One of things I've always liked about raised beds is you can put plants much closer . When plants get larger they shade the soil. 
It's like the Square Foot Garden style. 
 
I always use shade cloth . Around June it's to protect my plants from hail we always get. But I've found I like it up all the time. And in some areas I may have more than one layer. It stops the sun burn some plants would get. And the soil does need less water. 
 
If you can save rain water that's good. I don't know this to be true but I heard in Colorado they charge you for that. That seems pure Wicked !! Don't know they enforce that
 
Good Luck
 
P. Dreadie said:
If you can save rain water that's good. I don't know this to be true but I heard in Colorado they charge you for that. That seems pure Wicked !! Don't know they enforce that
 
Good Luck
Click to expand...
 
It's true that in some municipalities, it is against the "law" to collect rainwater. They claim that the water belongs to people who will receive the runoff.... i.e. "the state". Yes, they claim ownership of the rain. They'd hate for you to be self-sustaining and not be forced to buy water from them. I say screw 'em. Build a cistern
 
That's freaking crazy charging for rain water. I'd never heard that.
 
My beds are only 13" high. One is 5 x 5 and the other is 24 x 5. I don't have a bottom on mine though so the longer roots are free to dig down into the native soil. I just take a shovel and turn over about a shovel blade's length and then put the good soil on top of that. So the beds are actually as deep as the plants feel like sending roots. First I lay down weed barrier for a few weeks to kill off the grass so I don't have to deal with all of that when I turn it over. I'll be using the square foot gardening idea and planting very close. Should help provide shade as well as help the plants support each other during some of the bad summer storms that blow through. I really don't feel like buying over 400 stakes to stake up each plant. The plants that won't fit into beds will go directly into the ground that has been amended with mushroom compost and such. Will build more beds next year when I have more funds
 
"If you can save rain water that's good. I don't know this to be true but I heard in Colorado they charge you for that. That seems pure Wicked !! Don't know they enforce that."
 
Yup - here near Denver we cannot save rainwater - it belongs to someone else, for the time being anyway.  I've heard there's legislation to allow rain barrels, but nothing has been decided - yet.  We're all on pins and needles.
 
Spicy Mushroom - if it were my garden, I'd mulch the whole garden with shredded leaves or straw, whatever is available.  Also I would NOT put down any weed barrier under the mulch if you want to keep the worms.  Most of the shredded leaves will decompose by the end of the summer and the worms will love you for that.  You many get a few weeds with the mulch, but they'll be few.  Keep adding the mulch every year and your soil will love you for it.
 
Phil said:
 
It's true that in some municipalities, it is against the "law" to collect rainwater. They claim that the water belongs to people who will receive the runoff.... i.e. "the state". Yes, they claim ownership of the rain. They'd hate for you to be self-sustaining and not be forced to buy water from them. I say screw 'em. Build a cistern
Click to expand...
Hmm, So for the sake of argument, I am entitled to someone elses runoff? Where do I have to go to collect their runoff for which I am lawfully entitled?
 
And since I am putting the so called runoff water back on the ground anyway, some of which will evaporate and come down as rain elsewhere, all I have or anyone who collects rain water for the same purposer has done is rerouted the water and delayed its inevitability. What does it matter? Just another case of overreach that needs to be defeated in court at the further cost to the taxpayers.
catherinew said:
"If you can save rain water that's good. I don't know this to be true but I heard in Colorado they charge you for that. That seems pure Wicked !! Don't know they enforce that."
 
Yup - here near Denver we cannot save rainwater - it belongs to someone else, for the time being anyway.  I've heard there's legislation to allow rain barrels, but nothing has been decided - yet.  We're all on pins and needles.
 
Spicy Mushroom - if it were my garden, I'd mulch the whole garden with shredded leaves or straw, whatever is available.  Also I would NOT put down any weed barrier under the mulch if you want to keep the worms.  Most of the shredded leaves will decompose by the end of the summer and the worms will love you for that.  You many get a few weeds with the mulch, but they'll be few.  Keep adding the mulch every year and your soil will love you for it.
Click to expand...
I would only add caution to how much mulch you add. You have to remember that mulch will retain moisture and that you are growing peppers. Once you add the mulch and plant there is no undoing it. If the amendment tends to hold too much moisture you will be faced with symptoms related to over watering throughout this growing season. This advise comes from my own mistake, so it has merit.
 
P. Dreadie said:
My raised beds are much deeper. But shouldn't matter. One of things I've always liked about raised beds is you can put plants much closer . When plants get larger they shade the soil. 
It's like the Square Foot Garden style. 
 
I always use shade cloth . Around June it's to protect my plants from hail we always get. But I've found I like it up all the time. And in some areas I may have more than one layer. It stops the sun burn some plants would get. And the soil does need less water. 
 
If you can save rain water that's good. I don't know this to be true but I heard in Colorado they charge you for that. That seems pure Wicked !! Don't know they enforce that
 
Good Luck
Click to expand...
I lived in Colorado for a few years. I believe it is either Boulder city or Boulder County that fines you for collecting rain water. I guess it's considered government property there? Haha boulder is a weird place
 
re: humidity, Denver is quite dry, and the eastern plains are even drier.  We need to mulch or the soil will become very dry.
 
re: mulching with shredded leaves, it's easy to rake them away from the plants if the weather is too wet - but when does that happen in the summer? 
 
I wish we had the mid-west weather and great soil, except for tornadoes.  That's one good thing about Denver, though we have had too many micro-bursts in the past few years.
 
Good points,
I failed to look at the OPs location (of which I plead ignorance to the environmental conditions there) and consider it when I posted.
 
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