raised beds?

[obsessed]

I am building a raised garden bed for my veggies. the bed is 8 ft by 4 ft. So, how deep does the soil need to be? I have the soil 8 inches deep. I intend on panting some combo of brocoli, cababage, coliflower, and brussel sprouts... but that is another post

Thanks
Natalie

 

[okiemommy]

I have a friend that has raised beds and she said that 12" deep soil is ideal. (she was giving me advice on how to build raised beds) Good luck.

 

[patandchickens]

Edited b/c I'm a moron and posted my firefly thread reply here by mistake

What I *meant* to say on *this* thread was, it depends on what is under the raised beds. If it is anything other than bedrock or concrete or baked-dry 100%-clay exposed subsoil, then 6-10" is fine for most things. They will go right on down and start rooting into the native soil underneath the raised level, which over time will gradually loosen and improve that soil.

The more raised the bed is, the more extra watering it will need (any raised bed will need more watering than a ground-level one).

Have fun,

Pat

 

[obsessed]

ok, thanks...

What I did was build my raised bed on the lawn but I put a piece of cardboard to block the grass roots. I checked under the grass and it was like an inch of grass or sod and then sand just sand. Which is why I built the bed because I thought things would not grow in the sand. With this type of soil how many inches would you recommend for my raised bed? I ended up with 14 inches deep and realization the 8' x 4' is really not enough for all the wonderful veggies I want to grow. Thanks in advance.


oh, if I can do 6-10" then I could probably afford to build another one, so what do you think
Natalie

 

[patandchickens]

ok, thanks...

What I did was build my raised bed on the lawn but I put a piece of cardboard to block the grass roots. I checked under the grass and it was like an inch of grass or sod and then sand just sand. Which is why I built the bed because I thought things would not grow in the sand. With this type of soil how many inches would you recommend for my raised bed? I ended up with 14 inches deep and realization the 8' x 4' is really not enough for all the wonderful veggies I want to grow. Thanks in advance.


oh, if I can do 6-10" then I could probably afford to build another one, so what do you think
Natalie

With sand underneath, I would not worry about trying to build them real high, personally. Really the ideal thing (if you were to have the energy and enough organic materials) would be to dig out the area underneath the bed you're going to make, and chuck a buncha organics down there, and then build the raised bed on top of that. It will give a really nice deep soil. It will also dry out significantly more slowly than a 'regular' raised bed on sand (sand drains SO fast, it requires a whole lotta watering) because the organic matter underground there will provide extra 'sponge' action to hold water near the plant roots.

If you're going to build this fall for planting next spring, the organic matter you chuck in there would not need to be decayed at all. Fresh leaves, fresh manure, whatever ya got, it will be broken down by springtime all on its own

Good luck and have fun,

Pat

 

[obsessed]

One more quick question. Should I remove the grass? I thought if I cover it with soil or organics it would just die and go away.

 

[patandchickens]

Unless it is a very aggressive grass (quackgrass [that is, a quackgrass-invaded regular lawn] comes to mind, but there are a few others) I would just smother it out, as you say. Especially if you won't be planting til spring. Just keep an eye on it so you can pull out any bits that survive and make their way to the surface, before they get too frisky in there.

Have fun,

Pat

 

[katz]

I wouldnt make my beds so wide as it's hard to reach the middle to pick veggies ,maby cut the boards and make 3' wide instead .
and you can add a little fertilizer to heat the stuff you will be composting to get it decaying faster ,you can top the top off with bag's of top soil or bag's of compost to make it look better then plant a cover crop of turnip greens or clover,rye maby or how about snow peas
Here in my zone I can plant spinach,turnips,broccoli,lettuce,onions ,garlic and $$ snow peas now