Raised Beds

Marijuana Horticulture

by Jorge Cervantes

Raised beds are wonderful for growing in the backyard. Cultivation and weed control are easier, and soil quality is simpler to maintain.

Build a raised bed on top of clay soils. Planting in a bed raised six to eight inches eliminates the necessity of trying t dig in clay while providing the early warmth and good drainage clay lacks. Pants can be put into the ground two weeks to a month early and may even produce an early spring crop.

One friend plants on tp of the compost pile. He plants six, 12 inch tall clones into three t four inches of good soil that is on top of a two- to three-foot high compost heap. By the time the roots penetrate into the compost, it has cooled enough that the roots are safe from burning. He places a portable greenhouse over the plants. The compost keeps plants warm wile the structure protects foliage. This works exceptionally well to coax a spring harvest.

Another grower prepares a vegetable garden by dumping three cubic yards of finished compost and manure with a dose of dolomite lime into a raised bed, then he roto-tills and plants. When the vegetables are growing well, he transplants hardened-off clones to blend in alongside vegetables.