New raised bed

 


Im new here, so firstly...Hello to all.

Being new to vegetable growing I thought it best to ask some advice
before I
start digging.
I have an 8ft x 6ft area to work with.  I was thinking of a 8ft x 4ft
bed so I
can easily reach from each side.

1. How deep should I make the bed and should I dig into the current
soil or
build this bed on top and use a liner as I have seen suggested
elsewhere?

2. Are there any types of treated timber I should avoid or is this the
reason of
using a liner?

3. When should I prepare the bed for planting out next year.

4. What topsoil / manure / compost combination should I use to fill
it?

5. Know of any good books to stop me asking what may be obvious
questions?

Kind Regards
Brian


--
tvrchimaera

 

8x4 is better.

Good time to prepare may be in the fall when it's comfortable.  Avoid
working when the soil is wet as mud or dry as cement.
Use current soil if it's any good.  If mostly subsoil, you might and to
put topsoil on top.  You can pile the manure on the subsoil and add
topsoil and compost on top.  Look up requirements of your crops as some
plants don't produce well after too much manure.  Unless compost is
free, I would use 10%.  Mix well.

Most garden books are pretty much the same.  Any one from the library
will do.

 

Ahem.. all garden books are the same..?

I agree they hit the main points (after all, there are only a handful)
but IMO there are worlds of differences.

So.. Bob Thompson, Eliot Coleman - first rate gardener/authors.  Ruth
Stout.. I missed any references she may have made to the fact that her
"no-weed" (no-work?) garden required TONS of mulch materials.. Moving
that amount of stuff qualifies as work in my book :)

Is there a reading list on this NG?  Search for it, might have some
directions to point you in.

 

Jerry Baker also makes a good book called "Easy, Easy Vegetable Garden"
and it is quite helpful.  Its my first year too, and I live in the
California Bay Area.  Soil is VERY IMPORTANT, as i learned the hard
way.  I have a 12ft x 24ft. garden with a variety of veggies, and when
i started, i figured that since i had really bad soil (all rocky and
lots of clay) i better get a rotatiller and mix in fertilizer.  I mixed
in 10 bags of manure, hoping that would be enough.  However, i planted
my heirloom tomatoes in april, and their only about 3ft. high and not
full at all!  My tomatoes (big red, heirloom, roma, and cherry) are
still really small and not very thick and full.  None of my garden is
growing very well (healthy, but VERY SLOW at growing).  So, i would
say, if you think your soil is bad, do a raised bed, or really go
through your soil with a rotatiller and sifter and get all the clay and
rocks out of the soil and put  A LOT of fertilizer, compost, and
vitamins in it (like vitamin b)

 

BenGman wrote:

You don't want to get rid of *all* the clay--you want some inorganic
material in your soil for minerals. You also have to be careful with
your compost/manure....both need to be well composted, or they will
actually reduce the amount of nitrogen availabe to your plants. If you
get compost from a city leaf collection program, it's rarely "cooked"
all the way. OK to use as mulch (and will be better broken down into the
soil by next year), but not to mix into where the plants' roots are growing.