New Raised Beds

Thanks to a lot of saavy people who gave me advice, I have decided to break up all of my current gardening spaces into a series of 4X8 raised beds. This will probably help me with some of my slope and soil issues which I detailed in another post.

I am using 2x10x8 boards and I have been able to remove and break up the soil to a depth of about 18-20 inches. Here is a picture of one of the beds.

Now that the bed is created, what do I do next?
Do I just put the dirt back in?
Should I add organic matter and if I should, should it go in the bottom before I put in the soil or after?
Should the bed be tilled or cultivated after I fill it in?

Thanks in advance for all of the wonderful answers, I'll know I'll get

BronxBoy:

What I've done for Weez's raised beds (7 of them ) is dig them down like you did. Then put down a layer of landscape fabric, then fill the beds with sifted soil and compost.
The fabric keeps any weeds from growing from the bottm of the bed.
"the ol'Tom Cat "

Thanks Weez::

Does the fabric interfere with any of your crop growth?

I'm going to be mainly be planting vegetables

A picture of the soil in my raised beds. It is 5 years old & there is no natural soil component in this soil. It is built from scratch & contains conifer bark, peat, crushed granite, Turface (A baked clay granule that is much like porcelain. It is used extensively on golf courses & athletic fields where good water retention as well as fast drainage is required), and sand. It is (the soil) tremendously fertile and very alive. I use the raised beds primarily to grow on trees & shrubs for bonsai, but anything I plant in them grows with astounding vigor.

If you build your beds & fill with this soil, the soil beneath will soon be a suitable environment for roots growing through the surface soil. No mixing would be required & a layer of newspaper would keep weeds in check w/o being a barrier to rootage if weeds from the native soil are a concern.

I didn't decide on the soil parts willy nilly. Each component (has or had) a part to play when the soil was created. I also gave consideration to the long term when building the soil. I'm extremely happy with the physical properties of the soil and the strong growth it continues to produce.

Let me know if you wish to consider using it in your beds.

Al

As it looks in the beds:

Al

Al:

That is some great looking soil. Is it expensive to build?

Cost is a big issue with me as I will at least have 20-30 beds .

Al:

I just read your soil recipe on another thread. Where can I find crushed granite?

Brennan

Any feed store where you can get feed for chickens/turkeys is likely to have it in at least 2 sizes. Ask for starter grit or grower grit. I use mostly grower in my container soils & that's what I used in the raised beds.

Al

Thanks Al:

What about the Turface? Where can that be found?

Brennan

I grow some plants in Turface only - no organic soil components. It is an excellent product for soils, but you may have to do some looking. I just bought a pallet (40 - 50 lb bags) from a wholesale nursery supplier who delivers, to be delivered in March. I use about 6 bags per year in bonsai soils & the rest will be used by the bonsai club or I'll carry over a supply for next year. Large nursery operations, nursery suppliers, anyone who builds athletic fields, golf course green keepers, would all be able to put you on to a source. You might be able to contact Profile directly and ask for the name of a distributor. Even if the distributor won't sell to you, they'll surely put you onto a source in your area.

Al

http://www.turface.com/productinfo.html

I missed the fact you asked about cost, which may be prohibitive. To fill 2 4x8 beds 7 inches deep, you'll need approximately:

8-10 2 cu ft bags pine bark ($30)
2 cu ft sphagnum peat ($4)
4 bags Turface ($35)
2 bags grower grit ($10)
2 bags coarse sand ($6)

The most expensive ingredients, the bark and Turface, may be available in bulk, which would substantially reduce cost.

Al

I would advise against any landscape fabric in a vegetable garden. The roots of your veggie plants go deeper than you might expect, far deeper than the longest carrot you can grow.

You want to encourage those roots to go as deep as possible, not limit them.

Wayne,

Thanks Wayne:

I did have a major problem with the underdevelopment of many of my root crops, especially carrots and beets. One of the reasons I'm digging these beds is to make sure my crops have adequate room to grow.

How should I mix all of my ingredients once I refill the bed?

Is tilling or mixing with a small cultivator allowable?

I use a spade fork for most of my soil mixing projects. Remember, as in the lasagna method of establishing beds, the small soil animals will do most of the mixing for you.

Al

BronxBoy:

We have good luck with the garden fabric, but then again we're gardening in Alaska.
Our veggies are annuals and with 12 inches of topsoil in the beds thats plenty for our short season.
Good luck. "the ol' tomcat" Weez's husband.....

We're putting in raised beds this year too. I decided to get cinder blocks to build my raised beds instead of wood. You can get the beds deeper and they'll never decompose (which is a big problem here, I'll be replacing them every couple of years). Also, you can fill the hollow places with soil too and grow herbs and flowers there to make the vegi garden even more beautiful!

I plan on trucking in a couple loads of aged manure and other such natural wonders to fill my beds.

You said that. ;o)

Sorry!

Hi BB,

Have been watching this thread because the title caught my eye. We use raised beds for our vegetable gardens and Love them. We used RR ties and placed the longer width up so the beds would be deeper. We have 4 beds that are 4' x 8' and 2 beds that are 4' x 16'. When we put the RR ties down we lined only the inside of the ties with plastic, We didn't go underneath, only around the sides. We filled all the beds in with wonderful compost from our city's compost piles.

Have had awesome veggie gardens with this set up. Every spring, we use a spade to turn the gardens (we don't have a small tiller), and add new compost as needed. Haven't had Any problems with carrots or any other veggie in the beds. We grow anything we can up,,,cukes go up a 2x4 ince piece of wire fencing that is dug into the garden 8" deep in a semi-circle, pole beans go up, also Cantaloupe and Acorn Squash all on wire fencing,,,,it works great. We also dig our tomato cages (we make them with sturdier wire fencing) down into the soil 8" so they are more secure and hold the tomatoes up better.

We can get a lot into the beds by using the square foot gardening method. Also, the beds warm up faster in spring, and are so easy to work in.

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents,,,LOL and let you know how much we love our beds. Have had them for about 6 or 7 years,,,,,the way time flies it maybe even 8 or 9 years,,,LOL

Good Luck, hope you love them,
Kelly

Thanks Kelly:

You gave me some good ideas especially the wire fencing. I posted another thread about trellis ideas and your wire fencing sounds like a great idea! How high are they? We had some Juliet tomato plants that grew insanely last year and overgrew their cages. I shuddered when I looked at the price of some larger ones. Your solution sounds very economical.

We'll probably have 30 or so beds when we are done. We just add build 4 or 5 every couple of weeks.

BB

Renwings:

How big are your beds and what is the cost for the block to build them?

BB,

Whew, that's a lot of beds,,,will have plenty of room for lots of veggies.

Bill used the metal fencing that has 2" x 4" grid and is 6' wide. What he does is cuts the length and then uses it on it's side. So the rectangles of the fencing are vertical instead of horizontal. For the cukes and beans he cut it about 3' long and then we put the side up and down so the fencing is a semi-circle of about about 2' across and close to 6' tall. Like I said, we dig them in about 8".

For the tomatoes, I believe they were about 4' tall,,,,,,also he cuts some of the vertical grid wires and bends them back so we have some 4"x4" *holes* so we can get our hands in for the tomatoes. The tomato cages, he makes into circles so the plant has more support.

I'll see if I can get a pic for you tomorrow. I just looked on the computer and don't have any pics of the vegetable beds. Must have gotten rid of them for some dumb reason.

Kelly

Kelly:

I'm assuming you have to give it some support like a stake on each side?

BB

Nope, the fencing is strong enough that we don't need any stakes. It's a strudier grade of metal. Not the flimsy chicken wire like stuff. I'll get a pic tomorrow for sure,,,too dark out here now.

There are two beds this year. 7'x7' Each block is going to be about $1.50. Two blocks deep, It'll be a couple hundred dollars. But I'd rather do it right the first time, that struggle with rotting boards every year. I'm still trying to figure out how to rig them solid. I'll have to get rebar, but I don't know if I want to involve any cement yet.

I'm excited!

BB,

Here is a pick of the piece of fencing we had the cukes on last year. I was wrong,,,looks like it's about 4 feet for the length Bill cut it,,,but we put it in on it's side. So the actual piece of fencing is 6' wide but the way we put it in it's 6' tall.

Just noticed that Bill did have a support at the top to keep that from separating,,,,forgot about that,,,I don't know how I did,,,I hit my head on it plenty last year,,,LOL

Kelly

This message was edited Dec 30, 2005 4:14 PM

Then we have this piece in another bed. It spans the whole 16' of that bed. This one because of the span, he did use the steel fence posts for support. Forgot about this piece of fencing,,,I usually grow Morning Glories or some other type of flowering vine on it,,,looks fabulous when in bloom. You can see it as soon as you pull into the driveway.

Kelly

Kelly:

Does this type of fencing have a name? How is it usually sold?

You must be tall....LOL. I'll have to remember to send my wife in. She's a shorty.

Thanks for taking the time to post these pics.

BB,

I'll have to ask Bill,,,I have no clue,,,in fact someone gave it to him. It's sold in the 6' width by probably 25' length? I'll ask him,,,I'm just the gardener,,,I tell him what my ideas are and he's the figure out how to do it guy,,,,LOL. And yes, I am tall,,,,,5' 10" LOL,,,,, No problem posting the pics,,,I'm glad I remembered to take them.

Kelly

I think it is called Hog Wire - but someone else may know better. This is a very strong wire, it can also be used to form a compost bin.

Hi... We used to call it "non-climb" - used it for fencing in an area for two great danes. Yes, much stronger than chicken wire!! And out here it comes in different sizes, that is, different sized squares of the link. Does that make sense? Anyway good luck! Sounds like a good project.

Sanna

Azalea,
That could be,,,not sure,,,but, yes, it is nice and strong. Have even grown Watermelons on the one long part,,,had to use hammocks though. Took old nylons or rags and tied both ends ti the wire and laid the melon in the hammock,,,LOL If that's what you want to call it.

sanna,
Yep, I think the fencing stuff comes in different gauges,,,we have some other stuff with bigger grid and it's not as sturdy. But I think it all has to do with the gauge of the wire. These wires are really strong. Almost broke my fingers while bending the cut pieces back,,,,until I figured I better get a pliers,,,,DUH moment,,,LOL

Kelly

Just asked Bill and he said he's pretty sure it's called Pig Fencing, hope that helps.

This message was edited Dec 31, 2005 11:18 AM

Hi everyone,

Been following this thread as I just built some raised beds this year, and I'm interested in soil. Renwings, I did cinderblock beds also. I'm not at all handy, and I thought the cinderblocks would be easier for me to build than wood. I also liked the idea of the deeper depth, as these beds were going over solid rock ledge.

I ended up buying a shipment of blocks from a concrete company for approximately $200. A big expense, but certainly cheaper and easier than bringing home a few at a time from HD.

:)
Dee

Digger Dee:

How big are your beds? Did the $200 cover the materials for all of them?

BB

Thought I'd update everyone on my progress and my problems.

Here is my series of beds on the left of my planting area

I mixed the beds so that I had various sizes on this side of the property

I made sure to give my paths a lot of padding, Based upon the feedback I got on another thread here about newspapers in the garden, I loaded up the paths with corrugated cardboard, newpapers and magazines and covered the whole thing with black lanscapping fabric and then a good layer of wood chips.

Here are the beds to the right. This is my problem area

This particular area had some slope issues. And the slpoes went in 2 directions. I placed the beds perpindicular to the main slope but I still had some issues with sloping from back to front. I tried to even out the beds as best as I could, but as you can see the boards actually sit above the grouls in some cases.