[QUOTE]Obviously we do have a communication problem here[/QUOTE]Yeah, we do, but I find it more comical than frustrating. These things tend to work out over time...

In principle, the most significant difference between what you're doing and what I've done on my own (not in the meetinghouse garden,) isn't the "raised/not raised" part, nor the "drip/not drip" part, it's the "ridge (or dyke) made out of topsoil/made out of heavy clay subsoil" part. The same kind of clay used to make adobe bricks does a better job of containing water than topsoil can.

Some interesting things happen when you flood an entire bed in a dry climate, early in the season, but after the plants you want to grow are already established. Even tender little radish and pea sprouts can survive having their heads under water for an hour or so. About 2/3 of the weed seeds will "drown," and never see the light of day. The other 1/3 will sprout as soon as they can, which makes them ridiculously easy to uproot and toss onto the surface of the bed. Now they're mulch. More mulch can be added at any time, and usually should be.

Making your barriers out of topsoil works fine for you, as I noted. If your climate were hotter and drier, it wouldn't work as well.

I'm not at all sure what Milehighguy's weather will be like, so I'm trying to concentrate on parameters, rather than detailed strategies. Albuquerque, or "The Other Mile High City" as I like to call us, goes from around 4800 feet above sea level at the Rio Grande, to around 7000 in the Sandia foothills. And we're also several hundred miles south of central Colorado, so... From what I can figure out from the net, Montrose, CO also has more than one microclimate, but they're not the same as our microclimates. Hence, my[I] trying,[/I] perhaps not all that successfully, to concentrate on some of the parameters.

I was just wondering if anyone had seen these?

[URL]http://www.wickingbed.com/[/URL]

and here is the actual search engine page with lots of links to Wicking Bed information.

[URL]http://www.bing.com/search?q=wicking+beds&src=IE-SearchBox&Form=IE8SRC[/URL]

We have a community garden in Rockport TX and I have introduced this system to the group and I am hoping we will implement this design in the garden. It would sure help to save water..

Ahhhh.....

Considering reducing my count from 1000 to 250-500

I'm going to grow a few of them in earthtainers to see how big I can get the yield from Containers.

The rest will be in the ground, most likely staked and Florida weaved.

I'll be ordering my seeds on Friday.

Thanks for all the input so far.

Website for Marketing will be going up on Sunday.

Business Cards Ordered tomorrow or Sunday.

Making Final Decision on Seeds tonight and ordering tomorrow.

It's Snowing like Crazy right now, so I'll be waiting awhile to play in the dirt.

I'll post links and updates as I go!

Thinking about offering an early bird registration for those wanting tomatoes from me. If they Pledge to buy a certain amount of tomatoes I'll make sure to provide enough for them and give them the VIP treatment the whole way through. I'll explain the growing process that I will be using and also show them how their purchases will help more tomatoes go to our local food bank from my farm.

If I'm able to handshake and fill out an online or in person pledge to purchase, I think I could pre-sell more than I can grow before the other tomato farmers have even planted their first seed. Then I can easily invest any amount of money necessary to produce the pre-pledged tomatoes. Hmmmm..... I'm sure this has been done already. Time to do some research.

Check into any co-ops in your area, I think the plan you have is something they do.

Seems to be similar to the CSAs I've seen operate locally, only a tomato-only co-op?

[URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community-supported_agriculture[/URL]

One arrangement this article mentions is paying helpers in goods (tomatoes) rather than money.

But the CSA I saw in operation has its "customers" come to a central location and pick up a big bag of produce every week. How many tomatoes could you expect each of your buyers to consume every week? Would it be worth your labor to do the paperwork and process just a few tomatoes per buyer weekly? What would be your delivery system?

Also, if they pay you upfront and you invest their money in your operation...and something goes wrong (perish the thought) you are going to owe them money you've already spent? If I'm reading the Wiki article correctly, the CSAs get the customers to share in the risk...and they "diversify" with several different crops, so if there's a crop failure with one, there are others to fill the bag of produce.

I have absolutely no experience with this, and it may show. Just thinking.

NisiNJ, what you posted is exactly what I was thinking but I could't think of the actual name(CSA)....Thanks for posting.

Thanks for the input. I will talk to my local CSA farms here in town, I know of a few.

Also, I just built my website.

[url]http://www.MontroseTomato.com[/url]

It is just getting started and nowhere near done. I'll be massively updating the website on my day off from work tomorrow!!!

Like your website. A little off topic, but do you use software to build it? Or are you an HTML expert? I actually reserved a dot.com address and took an intro course in HTML (most of which I forget and would have to read the book again) but wanted to know how other people design their sites.

[QUOTE=NisiNJ;259227]Like your website. A little off topic, but do you use software to build it? Or are you an HTML expert? I actually reserved a dot.com address and took an intro course in HTML (most of which I forget and would have to read the book again) but wanted to know how other people design their sites.[/QUOTE]

I also read some material on html and other internet languages.... I'm okay if I need to edit basics and can usually learn something on the fly for special circumstances...

But I don't think it's necessary anymore.

I have used weebly for many successful websites and absolutely love it.

the free version is really good. the paid version is cheap and worth it.

Here is a link that will give me credit :D [url]http://www.weebly.com/link/TlfP4s[/url]

anyways, get the free one first, and then play with it, I think once you do, you'll never go back. It's way to simple this way and you can go full custom with weebly as well.

I was wondering did you buy the rights to use the images or did you just get the authorizations to use them? how did you do it? the site looks awesome great job.

[QUOTE=dustyrivergarden;260128]I was wondering did you buy the rights to use the images or did you just get the authorizations to use them? how did you do it? the site looks awesome great job.[/QUOTE]

I just contributed them to the seed website I obtained them from.

Right now you tomatovillian's are the only ones that know about the website.

Because I'm a local business, and not selling seeds, I doubt that I'm really causing any trouble and I'm a customer of all the places I took pictures from. This way I'm documenting exactly what I purchased and will be growing....

Once I start having my own tomato's I'll take some pictures and update the website accordingly.

My Avatar here on this website is from a tomato that I just harvested from my south facing window.

i think the word you meant was attributed

Very cool I was wondering how you could do that...