Raised Bed Help Nedded

[nachoqtpie]

Marshall... I'm going to build an extra room at my new house for you... you like North Carolina right??

 

[ducks4you]

Do NOT worry about how your raised bed borders look. My first beds were very sloppy. I double-dug a contiguous bed about a year ago this month, and used 2 x 10's and 2 x 8's (ends), and I bought 6" wide, 6' long, dog-eared fencing for the 12' sides bc they were on sale, 97 cents each. My borders are only 4-6" above the soil line.
Here are the 4 beds I dug in April, 2011.

The bed with the fence posts stakes are pretty sloppy, but they work. I had planned on re-making the remaining 4 beds this Spring, but, since 3 are slated for tomatoes (beefsteak, Roma and cherry) and one, now in potatoes, is for peppers. I can plant them as late as June 1 here. I'll get the pepper bed's wood borders redone, and the bed redug, but the others might not get finished until November bc I've dug holes for my tomato plants with my auger for years, now, and I can do it again this year.

 

[catjac1975]

I have decided to put in a raised bed for tomato plants this year, but I am totally clueless about several things.

1) Money is tight - are they hard or expensive to build when you know less about carpentry than you know about raised beds.

2) I was thinking of starting with a 4' x 8' size. Does that sound right?

3) How deep should it be for tomatoes? How many tomato plants should be planted in a 4' x 8'?

4) Which works best - bush variety or vine variety?


Any help you have the time to provide will be MUCH appreciated.

If you are looking for cheap see if there is a lumber mill near you. You can get wood milled cheaply or free if you use their scraps. Of course they will not last long. But mounding dirt Is just as good.

 

[momofdrew]

the only recommendation I have is to use screws instead of nails it is easier then to hammer and if you want to take them apart for some reason it will be easier