Building RAISED GARDEN BEDS

BY KATIE BINGHAM-SMITH

Many of us dream of having a vegetable or herb garden in our own backyard. But the workload and upkeep can keep us from actually doing it. Building raised beds is a great project which can produce just as much food as a regular garden, but also eliminate a lot of the weeding labor. There’s no need to rototill and you don’t need any special skills.

Raised beds also heat up faster to give you a longer growing season and make it easier to separate and rotate crops. Here’s how you can build your own raised beds in a few easy steps.

Decide where your garden will be.

Find a place in your yard that gets plenty of sunlight — at least six to eight hours a day, and decide if you’d like one large bed or several small ones. Make sure the ground is fairly level and close enough to your house for easy watering and harvesting. Avoid super wet areas as well.

Decide on your materials.

All you need is an open box, something without a top or bottom. You can make your own raised bed frames with fallen logs, bricks, rocks, or cement blocks. You can also order some pre-assembled garden beds online or visit your local hardware store.

If you’d like to purchase materials to make your own boxes, it’s recommended that you don’t use any kind of material that’s been treated such as pressuretreated wood. While pine and hemlock are on the cheaper end, the wood will rot after a few years and need to be replaced. Cedar is a bit more pricey but is the best choice and will last for about 10-15 years.

Keep in mind you don’t want your beds to be any larger than 4 feet wide but they can be as long as you’d like. This is so you can avoid stepping into your garden. You want to keep your soil light and airy.

Your garden beds need to be at least 12-18 inches deep to grow all kinds of vegetables, including deep-rooted varieties. However, if your materials are only six inches high, you can loosen the soil six inches below your garden bed.

You’ll need your beds to contain about 40% compost, 40% topsoil, and 20% aeration (or drainage).

Prepare your garden area.

If you want to remove the grass or sod under your garden beds, loosen the soil and dig out the clumps of grass. Scrape a “frame” where your beds will go, then dig down about 10 more inches making sure you set the soil aside as you will be returning it to its bed. Remove any large rocks and old roots. Dig down a few more inches to loosen the soil and add a few inches of compost, then add the soil that was removed and mix together. Next, top with topsoil.

If you don’t want to dig out the soil, you can smother the soil underneath. First, mow the grass as short as possible. Then you can put down some cardboard and newspaper, making sure all cracks are covered. Next, add a thick layer of compost (about six inches) on top of your cardboard and newspapers, and finish by adding a nice layer of topsoil.

Make sure to fill your beds all the way up as they will settle over time. That’s it! Your beds are now ready for seeds or plants for your enjoyment.