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Poor soil? Rocky hard pan slow drainage. No organic materials, nothing will grow? Bad back or other disability? A raised bed may be the answer to your problems; I’ll explain how to build them and where they should be placed.
The first step in building a raised bed is site selection. You want a location that has full sun; that means a minimum of 6 hours per day, preferably more if possible.
After you have selected a site you need to choose material from which to frame your bed.
You have a vast selection of materials to choose from.I was fortunate to have a friend who owned a large farm. Each spring before plowing he had to clear the field of large stones; he would pile them up and give me a call. I had an endless supply of field stone to use for our raised beds. They are decorative as well as functional. Cement block as well as wood also makes an excellent raised bed.
Pressure treated lumber is probably the most economical type of lumber to use that will last the longest. Prior to 2005 pressure treated lumber contained arsenic. Since that time it is no longer permitted; if you use pressure treated lumber older than that don’t grow vegetables in that bed. This will eliminate possibility of some of the harmful substances being absorbed by the veggies.
Cedar and Red Wood are also good choices although red wood can be a bit pricy. If using lumber there are corner brackets available from home centers, and catalogs that makes joing the corners very easy.
. Metal Corner Brackets
Cement block is also an inexpensive material from which you can construct a raised bed.
As far as the size of your raised bed, you can build them as large as you want. The most important factor to consider is that you will need to be able to reach into the bed to harvest and weed etc. The most recommended width is 48 inches wide and as long as you desire. This will enable you to reach across the bed from either side.
After completing your bed, you will need to fill it with a planting medium. I prefer to use a mixture of 50% top soil and 50% compost, I mix these together and they make an excellent planting media. I also mulch with compost to retain moisture and deter weeds.
A couple of “extras” that I have added to one of my raised bed.
A hoop house. This bed is framed with landscape timbers. I drilled holes into the timbers and inserted 1 inch PVC pipe into the holes. I placed 3 of these pipes along the length of the bed.Over the pipes I placed a heavy 6 mil piece of plastic, (visqueen). I place stones on the plastic to secure it to the ground. This is an excellent way to extend you growing season. After the weather warms I remove the plastic and pipes.
I leave the bed covered all winter; I can get a jump start on planting my tomatoes in April here in zone 6 as the soil has been warmed inside the hoop house.
Even though there is snow outside, the soil is warm inside.
Watering, my hoop house bed is approximately 4X10 feet. In order to water, I took some ¾ inch PVC pipe, a 360 degree sprinkler head, and a quick connect garden hose fitting and built an in ground watering system. Before planting in the spring I bury the pipe 3-4 inches below the soil surface making sure the sprinkle head is in the center of the bed. When I’m ready to water, snap your garden hose onto the quick connect fitting and you’re ready to go. No worry about moving sprinklers from bed to bed.The pipe can easily be cut or added to if you need to move it to another location. PVC pipe is easily glued together and also easer to lengthen by using PVC couplings. PVC pipe and fittings are very inexpensive.
PVC pipe and fittings makes watering very easy
Raised beds are also an excellent solution to folks with disabilities who like to garden. They can be built to a height which is reachable from a wheelchair or motorized scooter.
Raised beds makes gardens accesible th those with disablities from a wheelchair.
There you have it, raised beds are limited by only your imagination, and you can tailor them to fit your particular needs. Have fun building you raised beds.
About Paul Rodman
Paul Rodman has been gardening for over 40 years. He is an Advanced Master Gardener, and American Rose Society Consulting Rosarian. He is currently president of the Western Wayne County Master Gardener Association in Wayne County, Michigan.
Rodman is the garden columnist for The News Herald newspaper, in Southgate, Michigan. He has also written for the OrganicGardening.com web site.
He has lectured on various gardening topics throughout southeastern Michigan.
His favorite pastime is teaching children about gardening. For the past several years he has conducted classes for second grade students teaching them about subjects ranging from vermi-composting to propagation.
Posted by judithht (from Rockmart, GA) on March 10, 2008 at 6:23 AM:
Yes, yes, yes! The older I get the more sense it makes to bring the earth up to me, since now for me to get down there involves, at some point, a block-&-tackle to get back up. I've got 2 so far, one for my herbs and one for 3 blueberry bushes (sticks, babies); I'm erecting 5 more (4 long ones, 8'x4, and one 4x4 for a rose). My upcoming birthday present will be a good planting soil mix, to be amended my with home-made compost. The herb bed was constructed from the kit I got from Lee Valley Tools; the others are willow hurdles I bought from -- I think it is -- mastergardenerproducts.com. If you google "willow raised beds" you'll find them. The design has not changed in 600 years, something of a plus as far as I'm concerned. I've coated them all with the linseed oil/turpentine recommended to prolong them. Of course, you have to be something of a throwback to do it this way. That, & wanting to be able to put them together myself--the Lee Valley kit, which is quite wonderful & very nice to look at, involves heaving & muscling 16" square pavers about. Vs a willow hurdle weighing maybe 4. 5 lb. Raised beds rock!
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Subject: calla lilly
Posted by dianakim55 (from Summerfield, FL) on March 7, 2008 at 5:50 PM:
A few years ago I bought vases & made them into aquariums for betas. It had a peace lily growing in a basket on top. A friend wants to know if you can grow a calla lily in the water instead of a peace lily. I don't know if you can grow callas in water & knew where to go to find out. Thanks
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Subject: Raised beds are wonderful!
Posted by chrissy100 (from Sydney
(Australia)) on March 6, 2008 at 5:02 PM:
Thanks again Paul ...I love your work and I am a raised beds fan ...(the hooped mini greenhouse was a terrific tip) ...I am on very heavy clay and grow almost everything that way.
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Posted by Dutchlady1 (from Naples, FL) on March 7, 2008 at 7:26 AM:
Very practical suggestions.
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Posted by cathy4 (from St. Louis County, MO) on March 7, 2008 at 11:33 AM:
Remember if you are building raised beds for a wheelchair user or other sitting gardener to make the bed narrower, no more than 3 feet but 2 feet is even better, unless it is accessible from every side.
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Posted by Pamgarden (from Central, VA) on March 7, 2008 at 1:33 PM:
Love the idea of raised beds and hope to start one shortly. Thank you for your well written and illustrated article.
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Posted by fancyvan (from Calgary, AB) on March 7, 2008 at 4:00 PM:
Ive had raised beds for 4 years now - love them! Mine are 4 feet wide with a 2 foot walk in between which is about right for a walker( should it ever be needed) but - sadly - too narrow for a wheelbarrow! Something I did not think about when planning the layout.
Two of the beds are '2 boards high' one is '3 boards high' i.e. 16 and 24 inches. The higher is better and I can easily raise the other because we left the corner posts in place.
Also two of my beds were 12 feet long . They were built and filled in the fall - in the spring it was obvious the sides were bowing out in the middle in spite of the fact there were pillars spaced along the length and we had to remove some dirt and add 'come alongs' to pull in the boards. The bed that was only 8 feet long was not a problem.
On one end we build a 'pergola' with lattice at the end of each bed for things like clematis.
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Posted by Dea (from Frederick, MD) on March 7, 2008 at 7:03 PM:
Raised beds are so great to work in - we love ours. Nice article Paul.
