Raised beds and gardens

[farmer2009]

I see several of you have raised beds and gardens. Would you care to share about them? How you built them? How they over winter and do in the summer?

I've given some thought to some strawberries and thought it would be nice to place them into a raised bed. Any suggestions?

 

[dave1949]

We have two raised beds. They are 5'x10' and three 2x6's tall. I keep them filled up to about 4" from the the top with compost, peat moss, and a limited amount of dirt. I like the limited bending over with a higher bed.

Easy to work-up, weed and water, plenty of good soil depth for strong root growth. I get the maximum output in return for what I spend on amendments since the use of space is so concentrated compared to spaced rows in a garden.

Due to being elevated with sun exposure on the sides and the amount of organic material, they do dry out faster than garden dirt and need watering more frequently but again due to spacing, I'm not watering empty rows between plants.

I think you would like raised bed gardening. I've never tried strawberries in mine. I'm not sure they a good use for a crop with a short harvest season and lots of year-round tending. I would look for some ever-bearing varieties at least.

 

[Looking4new]

I have 9 beds all of them are 4x8' and 18" high. Weeding is easier, and I can control the soil quality better.I put chicken wire around mine and over the top to keep birds and cats out.

 

[Thomas]

Our 6 beds PT 2x12..4' wide 10' long,easy to weed mowing around

 

[Mendonsy]

I built four 2'x20'x16" beds for my wife last year. She wants me to build more this year. These will have to be a bit wider and not as long.

She likes them because there is less bending over. Another advantage is that they keep the rabbits out if they are more than 12" tall. They do require more watering though. They are also not easy to dig up with a tiller, but it is possible to do it.

 

[farmer2009]

I was thinking of a 5'x10'x2' bed. My original thought was three rows of concrete blocks. But seeing as you all are using wood I may look at that route. Any benefit to adding insulation? If I go with strawberries then they need winter protection. My thinking was a self contained bed would make maintenance easier and raising it would be even better.

What kind of prep work was required? Drainage? Sod removal?
Does anyone have pictures? Bare beds are fine.
What kind of crops do you use your beds for?

 

[dave1949]

My beds are made with kiln dried 2x6 lumber except for the treated 4x4 corners and center supports which are outside the 2x6's. I have a cable running across the top of the bed from the center 4x4 to the other side. There never seems to be much tension on that cable but I was afraid the tall sides would bulge without it. The beds sit on the ground, no posts are buried.

We grow leaf lettuce, radishes, salad onions, carrots, green beans and staked tomatoes mostly. I had eggplant one year that did well. Early sugar peas for stir fry do well. The soil in a taller raised bed warms earlier than in a regular garden.

 

[RalphVa]

I had to downsize from my 50x75 garden. Friends helped me build 7 raised beds. Already had one.

They're two 2x6's on edge, 4x8, treated lumber from Lowes (they don't use the arsenic any more). I put 1x2 stakes in each corner and pushed them (securely attached to the 2x6s) into the ground with my FEL. Filled with about a yard of soil.

Mulch them in fall and just scratch away a little of it where I need to plant in spring. Easy to weed. Do dry out faster. Have a water distribution with soaker hoses but also hand water. Put an electric fence around the lot, with space between it and between beds to run a push mower. Had to add a "dead" wire on the ground to catch the rabbits.

Am collecting urine to dilute 1:20 this year, as nitrogen seemed to leach out more easily. Will put some circles of corn outside the beds this year. Didn't germinate that well (probably because the soil gets colder in the beds) last year in the beds. Starting corn in peat pellets. May try moving back to the beds next year, but starting in peat pellets.

Ralph

 

[sseelhoff]

We have 8 raised beds. 4 beds are 8' x 12' and 20" high. The other 4 are 4' x 12'. We filled them with a mix of garden soil mix from the nursery, compost and peat. Refresh with compost each season and work it in with a cultivator attachment on the Toro powerhead. (Interchangeable with weed eater head, limb saw, etc...) Corners are 4' sectioms of 4x4 sunk two feet.

Beds are not supposed to be as wide as the 8' footers, but it works for us. Next project is running drip irrigation to the beds.

 

[Mendonsy]

Here's a pic of mine when I built them last spring. The lumber is treated 2x10's. The corner brackets are made from formed channel and 1-1/2" EMT conduit.
These were built on top of an existing garden so I didn't have to do any soil prep. The fill is garden soil from a local nursery. It's OK but needs some help.

 

[streamin]

I have asmall place to do this, if I run the border with those railroad ties is that bad to use them?

 

[jeff9366]

I've given some thought to some strawberries and thought it would be nice to place them into a raised bed. Any suggestions?

We tried strawberries in one of our 6' X 12' beds but grew tired of them. Replaced strawberries with four Rabbiteye Blueberry bushes and are happier with the crop.

The Rabbiteye Blueberries we grow, Climax and Austin, are hybrids of Florida native Blueberry and thrive with pine needle mulch and occasional watering. Our soil is low acid due to limerock, so we added a little Hollytone to acidify in the beginning, now fertilize exclusively with Cottonseed Meal, which is also acidic.

Blueberries are perennial. Do some research to find varieties most suitable to Western Kentucky.

Our raised bed were built from 12' X 18" X 1" Hardee Board (Concrete composite).
These have to be pegged along the sides to keep them from bellying out. Also, you cannot pry on the plank, or you will crush the top edge. Somewhat costly, but our material for beds is the same as siding on our house so got volume discount and everything matches. I presume plank will last for many years.


(Sorry for the Wildcats loss last night. Great season.)

 

[Mendonsy]

I have asmall place to do this, if I run the border with those railroad ties is that bad to use them?

I used them for about 20 years before I put in those raised beds. They worked OK, but do take up more space. It depends on what you can get also. Some places will not allow them to be used.

 

[EddieWalker]

My wife has been talking about raised beds too. I was thinking I would set some posts in the ground and attach a treated 2x12 to the post, but reading the comments here, it sounds like some of you don't use posts in the ground. Now I'm wondering if there is a need for them? Seems to me that with dirt inside them, they wont go anywhere and with just a single 2x12 for the height, that there isn't very much pressure on the wood. I'll probably use galvanized corner brackets to hold it together.

What is the ideal width? I'm thinking she will want two rows of veggies and 3 feet wide seems good for this. Is there an advantage to going 4 feet wide? How about length? Seems to me that the longer it is, the less waste you have and the more garden you have to work with. 16 feet seems kind of short, so maybe double that and make them 32 feet long?

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[jeff9366]

It is easy to cultivate from each side of a six foot wide raised bed.

 

[dave1949]

It is easy to cultivate from each side of a six foot wide raised bed.

Yep, reachable access all around is important since it eliminates soil compaction from walking on the dirt.

The beds should be located such that you can dump stuff into them from the tractor FEL to save shovel work.

 

[Tollster]

Are there any sites with plans ya'll would recommend? I guess I am thinking about mowing around them, and keeping isle distance for my ZTR to fit.. I have a level spot, and thought I would run a pipe to put in a garden hose to the pong for watering, and still mowing over..

 

[mark02tj]

I have 4 beds that are 4x8 and 2 beds that are 4x12. The bigger beds and one of the smaller ones are made of ceder that I got from Menards. I used 2x8 (they didn't have 2x10's) on them. The three original beds are made of non-pressure treated pine 2x10 that I coated with linseed oil. I put 4x4's in the corner of all the beds to attach the 2x's to. I stuck them down about 6" past the bottom of the side rails to hold things in place. I've never had a problem with them moving. In one of my 4x8's, I put a "cross-beam" in the middle, giving me two 4x4 beds. I've never had a problem with any of the other beds bowing.

My plan (if I have time) for this spring is to install drip irrigation. I have all of the parts, just no time.

I originally left 48" between all the beds so I could mow with my Gravely (42" deck") between them. Then I bought my JD and rarely mow with the Gravely any more. I think I'm going to just use wood chips (I have a PTO chipper) in between all the beds so I don't have to mow at all between them.

My layout of the beds has all of my 4x8's laying side by side. Then I have the two 4x12's laying end to end, perpindicular to the smaller beds.

Soil is the key for these. I'm on my third year of these beds and haven't had a ton of luck gardening so far. I bought the "super gardener mix" of soil and compost from the local mulch company. I wasn't impressed with it. Hopefully you can get better soil/compost in your area.

One of my 4x8's is dedicated to strawberries. I'm thinking of taking them out of the bed (so I can use it for something else) and transplanting the strawberries into a movable strawberry planter. I think they're a shallow root plant so they should do well in a planter.

Good luck and post pics!!

 

[Mendonsy]

If you are going to go more than the length of one piece of plank I think you will have to put something in the ground to keep the center from bowing out. My posts are 30" long so that I get 4 posts out of one length of 1-1/2 EMT. They are 16" above ground and 14" in the ground. I'm using 10' 2x10's so the posts are 10' apart.
The width probably depends on user preference as much as anything, but also on what you plan to grow in them. We did the first 4 beds at 24" wide. This year's set will be 36" wide.

 

[DKCDKC]

My first raised beds from 8 years ago were PT 2X6s with corner posts - mostly to keep folks from walking too close to the veggies. But I've since read a number of things from the Extension Service about the chemicals in treated woods and advising they not be used for raised beds. You find the warnings on a lot of sites. My next crop of raised beds are made with salvaged cinder blocks with bought cap blocks on top. I much, much prefer the blocks. A big benefit for an old guy like me is that I can add another row of blocks to raise it further as my bend-ability declines. And you can get salvaged blocks from many places - Craigslist for example - much cheaper than from a store. When you go to two or three blocks high, you can get some bludging from the dirt pressure. I use rebar or posts made from locust saplings driven into to openings in the blocks to keep them straight. A little work lasts for years. A tip, I also fill the bottom blocks with gravel to keep mice from making homes there. I'm lucky to have a great farm stream on the property so I have plenty of rich, black creek-bottom soil to fill the beds with - along with compost. I use very little fertilizer to get great results.