Maybe check with your local Boy Scout council. To make Eagle Scout, candidates need to have a service project which includes managing a team of other scouts. The service project is one of the harder requirements to satisfy, largely because it’s tough for a teen to identify a need and turn it into a project, but if you have funds available, they can work with your group on a plan and provide the labor, too. It’s more of a one-shot thing than a commitment over time, but it might get your irrigation done, and also the scouts may be able to come up with some way to discourage the cats, too.
Girl Scouts would be another uptown. The Gold Award is their equivalent to the Eagle Scout if you happen to know someone. Usually junior in high school
I am also looking for other things that might be needed to make this raised bed more functional. I used some for a few years, but they started struggling. I assumed it was redwood roots. Are there other things you good people have noticed that get in the way of success? How useful do you find soil testing?
I planted some chiles in a galvanized ring that I put under a mesquite tree. The chiles struggled despite being in PM shade and getting watered twice a day. I was going to stir the soil up and put some moisture control soil in it, and discovered that the mesquite had completely filled the ring with roots. We repotted the chiles and they’re doing WAY better. I guess I wasn’t thinking that a mature mesquite would send roots straight up into the planter, but it fooled me, all right.
I don’t think soil testing would be helpful in your situation, since the “soil” generally used in raised beds, isn’t technically true soil; it’s a bedding mixture that is a composed of a mix of organics like peat or coconut coir, shredded barks, compost etc, sometimes with some sand, topsoil, lava rock or pumice for stability. In testing a true soil, you are testing the mineral and chemical composition of the broken down rocks which make it up, so that you know its PH, drainage, texture, etc. But that’s not what you have in the mix in raised beds. Filling a raised bed with actual “soil” is usually a disaster, since such a small, confined growing space needs a very specific texture and nutrition content to be functional.
They look like lovely, deep beds. Judging by the low level of the “soil”, I’d bet it’s pretty depleted, broken down, and low on organic matter and microbial activity. I’d use that budget to get the best compost you can and fill the beds to the brim. (You could also see if your municipal waste stream/company makes compost. I’ve had good luck with my municipal compost and it’s free, but not all municipalities do this and the quality varies.) Compost will increase the organic matter in the soil and get the microbial activity going again which will make the nutrients in the soil bio-available to your plant roots. You could also do a mix of compost and bedding mixture since that will break down more slowly (compost breaks down quickly and needs to be renewed about annually, or so). But if you want to grow veggies, which generally have very high nutrition needs, they might love the pure compost (mine do). Make sure the compost you add is moist—too dry compost can be water repelling—and you can mix it in a bit with the mix already in the beds, or just pile it on top. If the new addition’s texture/moisture level feels very different than what is already in the beds, I’d do some mixing in.
I don’t do much irrigation, so can’t speak to those needs… Although I will say that keeping the surface of your soil covered with a layer of biodegradable mulch (bark, straw, shredded leaves, etc), slows evaporation and reduces the water needs considerably in a warm climate.
Good luck!
I think the local advice offered is good - fill up the boxes with fresh high quality compost. find some people to tend the boxes, including watering them, and checking to make sure tree roots are not invading and sucking all available moisture. Mulch is a good idea to limit water loss as well as splashing of soil onto the plants from watering. Dont expect to grow high light fruit and veg in beds that are actually shaded, but greens and herbs will grow there. The community garden I used to grow in has a half day of shade and the folks there are pretty successful growing cherry tomatoes, etc. Cucumbers will take a fair bit of shade too but they do need water. I dot have any advice on irrigation systems, but I think if you cant get folks to tend to a bed, watering, weeding, tying up, etc. its unlikely to thrive.
