I’ve been meaning to turn a good portion of the back yard into a garden for food and food-related plants (herbs) since I moved in… 4 years ago.
So, really plan on doing it over the winter for next year so I can plant in the spring.
I’m mostly planning “easy” plants: Zuchinni, squashes, onions, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, peas, maybe cucumbers etc.
The question, though, is what’s the best way to like, do a raised bed?
Google has helpfully offered up what looks like a non-stop barrage of AI generated nonsense, but I’m figuring some sort of cement blocks for the corners and some un-treated boring white pine (or whatever’s cheapest at the local lumber yard) wood for the sides.
The questions are, I guess, is what exactly is the correct thing to buy to fill these since I’m planning on making something like 4 or 5 large raised beds and like, what extremely obvious things am I overlooking that’ll result in this being less success and more of a typical my-project-failed?
I bought some corrugated metal beds and I’ve liked them for the couple of years I’ve had them.
The biggest lesson learned is that 4ft is too far to reach comfortably. I put a trellis arch between two of them and they are too deep to really reach the middle.
Mine are 3 ft deep. I filled them with logs and sticks and then added triple mix. A few years in they are pretty compacted, I will need to get a lot more compost in them. I am experimenting with adding straw for bulk.
4ft is too far to reach comfortably
Uh, thanks for that. I was absolutely looking at 4ft beds, and now that you mention it, that’s kinda obviously far far too deep for my stubby little t-rex arms to deal with.
I found a local place that provides cow shit by the ton (some benefits of living in Texas I guess?) that’s willing to do smaller loads, so I think I’m going to DIY my own dirt with the local top soil and a load of cow poop.
I hope this isn’t unwelcome advice, but this is a vegan gardening community:
I practice veganic gardening (as much as is possible - I’m sure my triple mix had some animal manure in it) so I don’t have direct experience with using manure in my beds. I do want to flag that mixing top soil with manure has a few potential downsides:
- It’s probably not going to drain very well. You will likely need to add something to bulk it up.
- There are a few hazards associated with using animal wastes as fertilizer. I’ll spare you the lecture, pathogens, etc but you do risk having too much nitrogen and “burning” your plants.
If you google raised bed soil recipe or something like that, you will find ideal ratios for different components that will allow good draining and aeration.
Not at all and I missed the vegan bit or I’d have not mentioned it, so that’s my bad.
My problem is I live somewhere that essentially does not have top soil (the clay is, if you’re lucky, maybe an inch down) and I’m going to have to start from utter scratch, and the internet is uh, rife? with animal-based solutions.
I’m going to have to import something, and then do something to whatever I get, since from what I can tell I’m not exactly going to get anything remotely resembling decent soil purchasing a truck full of it.
Think about adding something like vermiculite or coco coir for fluffing up the heavy clay soil.
This is outside of my raised beds: My soil is really compacted clay as well. Plants don’t build deep roots and the soil gets super water logged. I am working with straw and my own compost to kind of add some organics. I’m also using deep layers of wood chips that will eventually break down.
you can get kits which are no fuss. I did that for mine.
Corrugated iron sections work and are cheap if you’re doing a lot.
If you are set on wood, and let’s be honest it’s gorgeous, you could just screw the wood together in butt joints. No need for corner posts, once it’s full of tonnes of dirt it won’t move. you probably want to treat the wood or choose one that’s rot resistant. TBH I just use a mix of pine tar and linseed oil on all my outdoor construction as it looks nice, is cheap, and won’t permanently poison the land.
Plan to have fittings for netting. I use PVC pipes with elbow joints bracketed to the side. You could also drive steel fence posts into the ground and slip pipe sections over that. I string insect netting over the pipes, it has grommets which fit onto screws in the side. Fewer problems with pests, maybe you have to do hand pollination but usually wind and ants are enough for me.
Irrigation is easiest to do when installing the beds if you want to do that.
Oh also to fill them. Depends on how deep you’re going but like below about 15 cm organic material doesn’t matter so much.
Assuming you get adequate rainfall fill the bottom layer with random woody crap like garden trimmings or mulched waste. It’ll help retain water and very slowly decay. A decent sandy garden soil to fill around that and make up the bulk. It’s soft enough roots can penetrate, and water will freely drain, additionally it won’t compact suffocating the roots.
The top layer should be rich in organic matter, ideally with visible fungus. Think black soil from a forest floor. Finally dress the top with compost.
To keep it healthy take a lesson from the forest and keep the top layer a layer of compost.
