DN asks:
How do I till in the aisles and practice Active Fallowwith raised beds?
Coastalfields replies:
Active Fallow works with not only raised beds, but lowered beds, as well. We would advise against raised beds in
Colorado only because it increases evaporation: here, you want to plant on the level or else in a lowered bed.
Whether you use raised or lowered beds, you can undertake active fallow and produce all manner of trees, shrubs, ground covers, fruits, vegetables, grains, herbs, teas, seeds, etc. These are beautiful not only for the garden, but in landscaping.
RAISED BEDS
If you want to plant in raised beds, you still till in the beds and aisles in the winter, and the aisles all winter long, minding the perrennial plants of course. It is a good idea to level the field once per year (when you till it in the winter).
In the spring, where your beds were last year, dig down 6 inches to 24 inches (or as deep as you want your beds to be tall - in moist areas, it is sometimes a good idea to have beds 60 inches above the aisles) and pile the soil onto the beds.
If using a plow, this is easily done by making multiple passes in the aisle and mounding it. If using tillage equipment (a spade, spading machine or rototiller) you have a choice: 1) move the soil into the beds by shoveling, 2) adjust the tines, spades or other parts of the equipment: you can sometimes angle the spades or tines to pile soil in a direction, or else, as we do with our rotortiller, adjust the rotortiller so that ridges are formed and, while planting upon the "level," put your seeds only on the ridges (or valleys, if you prefer)formed by the tines.
Then, of course, increase the biodiversity and biodensity in the beds by not only allowing the weeds to grow, but by planting multiple crops per bed.
LOWERED BEDS
The process is exactly the same, except you will plant in the depths instead of the heights. Beds that are lowered 12-24 inches are usually more than sufficient for
Colorado (we usually plant on the level), but in
Greece and
Mexico (where it is even dryer than here) they will lower their beds 36 to 60 inches below the level. The Greeks then maintain their beds in the winter (not tilling until the spring) so they can put glass on top of the beds, making an impromptu greenhouse. The Mexicans will plant shade crops along the aisles of the bed to increase the effectiveness of the lowered beds. In the Andes, water is not always the reason for digging trenches: there, people have improved on the Mexican methodby, after digging trenches, filling them with water and planting on the raised beds: the water keeps their crops warm at night.