Need advice on Raised Garden Beds

Gale3m

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I have harvested the pumpkins for Halloween and wound down the season. I am happy with the hard work put; this was my first time.
I want to try a better gardening technique for the next season. My friend told me that raised garden beds give more efficient cultivation of the crops . I read about it in an article and I think this technique can give better yields and better weed control. http://inthebackyard.ca/garden-beds-beneficial/ I think raised beds helps in manuring the soil very easily.
I would like to know if anyone is practicing this method. I think that it will keep my backyard more structured and clean. Please share your thoughts on this. I wish to complete its construction before the fall.

Thanks!
 

dickiebird

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Welcome, I've only thought about raised beds so I can't help much, but I'll stay tuned for the great help you're about to receive.

THANX RICH
 

aftermidnight

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I have a few raised beds, one thing I can tell you is the soil warms up quicker :) and I find them easier to tend then the rest of the garden. I have one cut into a slope, waist high on the front side, ground level on the back side, back side has netting for beans, this year the rest of this bed was used as a holding bed for some Iris but I usually grow tomatoes in it.
Another is a waist high 4'x4', when first built it was used as a compost box for a few years and then it was topped up with a good growing medium, each year I incorporate some Sea Soil before I plant. I use this one for different things, this year I planted a couple of Yacon plants and even with our cool summer the cucumbers were fantastic.
I love these waist high beds, these old bones of mine enjoy not having to bend down to work on them. I also have 2 more narrow beds, this year one had 3 teepees for pole beans with a row of lettuce in front. The other I had a few heirloom potatoes (Ozette) to start, when they came out I planted beets. The back side I had netting strung for pole beans.
One more, in a hot corner against the back of the house, this year pole beans a row of strawberries on front, next year tomatoes. This summer was not a tomato year for me, not a ripe one until September but not much flavor, tasted like store bought :( so, next year they get the hot spot in case we get another cool summer.

Annette
 

digitS'

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I like to have the gardens in beds however they are large and getting things organized isn't too easy. There's also the tractor guy to deal with.

Old fence boards were used in one previous garden that was about 20' by 100'. The cedar boards had outlived their usefulness as a fence but they lasted about 10 years framing beds 10" high. In time, they had to come out and I just lived with 4' wide mounds of soil between permanent paths.

Those permanent paths are an advantage. Weed control becomes easier and I keep my big feet off the beds except for cultivation tasks at the beginning and end of the growing season.

About 1/2 of my gardens are set up this way. About 1/2 of that, I do all the gardening tasks by hand, although a small rototiller may be brought in now and then for weeds in the paths.

The other 1/2 is visited by the tractor guy and in the part that is in beds he actually has done a fairly good job with, the last few years. His 5' tiller and 10" wide wheels fit just about right over my 4' wide beds with their 2' paths in between. Since he is there not just to tidy up the ground but to make our jobs easier, I appreciate how his tractor has been able to stay on the paths. Of course, I have some shovel work to do after he is gone but it is less than what it could have been.

Right now, the gardens where I have full responsibility for cleanup are a mess of frost-killed plants. I can dig out about 1 bed out of every 3 and move all those plants into that trench and cover them with about 8" of soil.

This has worked quite well for about 20 years. It isn't a lot different from what the tractor guy is doing but concentrates the organic material in beds of soil that are very soft, year around.

Decomposition isn't real quick in this environment. If something like cabbage leaves are green in October and I dig down in March, I am likely to find that they are still green. Twelve months after the organic material has gone into that ground, it's still possible to identify some of it. At 18 months, the soil just looks like fertile ground. At 24 months, it's time to dig that bed out and begin the "composting in place" process again.

Steve
 

Ridgerunner

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There are a lot of different ways you can garden, the "traditional" in the ground in rows, raised bed, container, and many others. People on here have piled up tree trunks and let them rot some before planting in them, planted in a pretty thick layer of wood chips, and even grown stuff in hay bales. There are different techniques for each of these. You can grow vegetables, herbs, berries, fruit, and so many different kinds of flowers as you sort of saw on Larisa's thread. We have people on here that have done all kinds of stuff, sometimes successfully, sometimes well not always.

There are advantages and disadvantages to all of these. Annette built her raised beds up high to help her back. I have one like that and I have to water it all the time, being up like that it dries out very quickly. Mine is built up like that because it's in a wet spot, if I didn't have it built up it would be waterlogged. We even have different reasons for doing the same thing. To me you need to try to find a method that suits you, your needs, and your area and then go for it. But be flexible and try to not overextend starting out. Several people make this huge plan and plant a lot, then burn out when they discover what a time and effort commitment it takes. Kind of work your way into it and find the level that works for you. You can get quite a bit of production from a small area anyway, you don't have to go big.

Regardless of our methods I think you'll find a couple of things pretty common among most of us. Most of us are really big on mulch. It takes some effort to get things mulched but there are real benefits to weed control, moisture retention, and other things. I think most of us also make compost. We have plenty of raw materials and that stuff is black gold to a gardener.

I did a quick look at your link and I'll admit, I got a few chuckles for their reasons for raised beds. Most of what I do is "in the ground", not raised beds, so I welcome others with more experience with raised beds to tell me I'm full of it, but I'll offer some comments. You'll find we area friendly group but we often tease each other. Most of us don't take offense, we just get even. Or laugh it off.

Protection - there may be some pest benefits, like maybe fewer cutworms, but don't take this to mean pest free. Erosion, maybe if that is a problem. I suspect Annette sees a big benefit on her steeply sloped ground.

Weed Control - Maybe in some circumstances but I don't move mine. To me any advantages are marginal at best. Some of that may depend on your weeds. My Bermuda grass finds its way into everything.

Better Soil - or worse soil, depending on what you put in. You can amend or replace any soil anywhere.

Better Yields - that depends on so many other things. You can get great yields with any method if you do it right.

Savings on Food and Medicine - Once you get past initial investment, maybe. Maybe not. If you price out your time, certainly not for me. The flavor of your freshly grown stuff is tremendous. You know how it was grown and what went into it. And I just enjoy growing stuff. There are plenty of reasons for growing your own stuff but cost savings don't factor in for me. How are raised beds any different from other methods as far as this goes, especially if you consider start-up costs?

Reduces Back Strain - If you build them high like Annette, yes. If you don't well maybe not so much. A lot of heavy labor goes into building them. Don't make them too wide or you can't reach across. But if you build them right, this can be valid.

They're Portable - Yeah, right, especially after the back strain claim. To me, I see this as the type of benefit where if you ask the person how often they've actually done it, they'll say "well, never".

Efficient Use of Seeds - I don't see where this method makes any real difference in this. It depends on you no matter what your method.

Aesthetics - This depends on how you do it. An artist like Larisa, Annette, Mary and others can make anything really attractive. People like me, well any of it will look rough.

Don't take any of this to mean I'm anti-raised bed. I'm not, in the right circumstances for the right people they are great. I'd guess it's the most common form of gardening used by the people on this forum, some are just not raised very high. I'm just old and cynical, I don't like exaggerated claims, like implying any garden method is pest-free. I could say things like this or worse about any other method. There are plenty of people on here that can give real advice that will actually be helpful.

Again :frow
 

aftermidnight

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Eventually wood rots and although I have never done this, someone came up with the idea of making corner posts out of concrete. They fashioned a mold with two slits at 45º angles wide enough to slide boards in, a board rots, easily replaced. I thought the idea was brilliant.
Annette
 

Smart Red

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I am veggie gardening in raised beds. Mine are made of cedar decking boards 2x6 stacked 2 high and have tin at the corners to prevent damage from the mower. My goal is eventually to not need the mower as I get permanent paths between the 16 raised beds. Mine are 5 ft. wide -- a bit too far to reach once things get growing -- 4 ft is the suggested max. as long as you have access to weed from both sides. Mine are 10 ft. long. Any length that works for you is a good one. Spouse wanted uniform looks so all beds were made the same and are enclosed in fencing to keep the chickens and vermin out.

A big plus to me is being able to weed right after the rain without getting all muddy. Also, the ground is fluffy since I never walk in the beds. The raised beds are good for intensive planting. With no spaces needed for the gardener's foot, you can grow things more closely together.

Gotta go now. The Grands are up and looking for breakfast.
 

ducks4you

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I love raised beds, mostly bc it keeps ME from walking into and compressing the soil. For myself I don't build permanent sides to mine. I find that if you do that the soil compresses itself in the corners and next to the sides. So, I use wood and pull mine apart every Fall, burning the wood that cannot be used next year and storing the good wood in my barn on one of my outbuildings for next year. I even deposit used horse stall bedding and cleanup from the chicken's coop and lightly till it into the whole garden space, so the areas in between the raised beds it of the same tilth. It makes it easy to scoop extra mulched and decayed animal manure into the beds as needed. Now, most of my raised beds don't even need digging to plant---just the tomatoes, where I like to used a fence auger to dig deep holes and bury them up to the leaves. I usually don't have to water them when they are established this way bc the roots develop all of the way up the stems.
I wish that I could tell you that I had a good tomato and pepper crop this year. I did NOT, but I probably should have gotten them out sooner. They sure grew a lot of leaves! Too bad you can't eat those.
Read up and experiment and then you can decide what works best for you. :D
 

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