Raised Bed Gardens, Opinions + Tips?

 Just wondering what you all think of raised beds for vegetable gardens
as opposed to ground level gardens.

It's a good time of year to get all that planned out and in place so
looking for input.

My thought is that the raised beds will be easier to maintain and to
work in. My thought on that is more for the wifes sake since she has
back trouble that acts up from time to time.

I was thinking of just using treated 2x8s or so, standard toe nailed
framing with braces in the corners. Also thinking of stapling plastic
sheeting along the inside just to minimize the dirt to wood contact factor.

So, any thoughts on this, tips or tricks, etc?

Also make life easier where soil prep is concerned, no? That way I can
just dump in bags of good soil and compost as apposed to working with
the brick solid clay around here. ;)

 Scott Hildenbrand said:


I moved all of my vegetable gardens into raised beds two years ago, and
wish I had done it sooner.


I'd go (I went) with cedar, as opposed to treated lumber. Unless of course
you feel comfortable with that sheet of plastic protecting you from
leeching chemicals (I wouldn't).


Sink 4x4's as corner posts and bolt the side rails to them. I wouldn't
trust nails to hold moist soil.


I purchased quality garden mix, from a reputable, local company. It's much
cheaper than bags. ($20/yard. Mix consists of 50% river-bottom topsoil,
screened 3/8", 25% composted manure, screened 1/2", and 25% compost, also
screened 1/2".) It gets ammended each year, from my compost bin.

Spring prep was almost too easy. I was used to tilling and other manual
labor to get the garden ready, but prep now consists of blowing a few
leaves and sweetgum balls out of the beds, and raking them. I did that at
the time I would normally have tilled, and then went nuts waiting for the
temps to warm up, heh. The waiting was the hardest part. Though, the beds
heated up fairly well, as compared to the old garden.

HTH
--

Eggs

-Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

 Eggs Zachtly wrote:


my years of experience with growing produce have taught
me, consider the projected weather conditions regarding
availability of and frequency of rain.   if the projections
are for a dry year then I flat bed so I can retain water by
trenching the rows.  the technique slows the drainage and
reduces the need for manual irrigation.  in years when there
is lots of rain I use a Farm implement known as a bedder to
bring up rows 8 to 10 inches in height to create better
drainage.  

building the raised beds being discussed here is not practical
when your garden consist of an acre or more.

http://personalpages.bellsouth.net/t/h/theplanter/2007-gard.html
http://personalpages.bellsouth.net/t/h/theplanter/garden2005.html

these were both what I call flat bed gardens and both were
during drought years.


cedar, I call it the wood God made to last.  there are fence
post on this Farm still standing long after the barbed wire
rusted broke and was removed.   while standing next to one
of those old cedar post I can get a visual of great granddaddy
telling one of his boys how to dig the hole and it just might
have been granddaddy he was telling.  nostalgia, yea it happens
when your family has occupied the same track of land for six
generations.


aren't nails just the temporary fastener used to hold things
together while the screws are being inserted?



and a good [hope that helps] it was Eggs


--

best 2U

 

Pretty well essential if you have heavy soil that needs drainage.  Of course
they dry out quicker and need watering more often but that may not be such a
problem.


Yes to some extent.  It may be worth adding a flat top so that she can sit on
the edge to work - assuming that twisting would not be worse than stooping or
squating.


Choose timber that is durable when in contact with the soil or you will be
re-building in a few years plastic or no.  Such things exist but may not be
cheap.  I cannot suggest anything in particular for another country but I
wouldn't suggest treated timber with heavy metals (ie CCA).


You may also need vertical members (stakes) to support the sides.  They hold
better on the outside as they are not so dependant on fastenings but look
neater and stub your toe less on the inside. Make sure your fastenings are
rustproof (eg grey galvanised), ordinary nails will rust very soon.  Long
sides on an impervious base (eg plastic clay) will need weep holes on the
downhill.


Depending on the size you want to work on and how much you can afford for new
soil this may be a good choice.  I would need to see your clay to have a view
about the prospects of ammending it.

David

 On Nov 3, 8:44 pm, Scott Hildenbrand