Raised Bed...part 2

[Ed of Somis]

Thanks to you guys for your help on designing my raised bed for maters. I was planning on amending my ground-level soil...and then using a 2x12 for the sides. My sister reminded me the higher (depth) the better. Should I go another 6" higher???

[ScottinAtlanta]

I think 12 is fine. You won't believe how much fill it takes to fill up to 12 inches. 18 inches - oh my! There was another thread recently on this - it makes the point that you should not fill the beds with top soil, but with compost, mulch, manure.....

[Ed of Somis]

S...thanks for the input. My unique situation is: my soil is clay. I guess much digging/amending is going to be necessary to allow mater roots to penetrate and grow into it.

[jmsieglaff]

I would agree 18" is overkill. If bringing the planting surface up another 6" would be helpful, you may consider that. I have fairly clay soil and my raised 8" beds do just fine.

Twelve inches is good. Some of my beds are twelve inches and some are eight inches. I can't tell any difference. My natural soil is hard as a rock with maybe two or three inches of top soil. It is unbelieveable how tomato roots can penetrate some really tough, hard soil.

Ted

[Ed of Somis]

T...this is great news! thanks

[AlittleSalt]

Ed, another way of looking at this is how rich the soil is with natural matter and nutrients. Plant roots grow however deep it takes for them to reach the nutrients they need. I'll use my garden as an example:

My first year of gardening was in 2010. I bought some tomato transplants and put them in the garden without any soil preparations. The plants looked miserable, and when I pulled them up - they had deep roots (12 inches or so) and not many roots.

I read about amending the soil organically, so I dug in loads of dry oak leaves and compost. I do this every winter, and each year, the tomato plants are bigger, produce more fruit, etc. than the year before. The 2014 garden had Super Sweet Cherry 100 plants 8 feet tall and over 4 feet wide. When it was time to pull the plants up - the roots were only 4-5 inches deep and there were a lot of roots. The same was true with all the other vegetables we planted.

Another bonus of the shallower roots is it takes much less water to get to them. I fully agree with using LOTS of organic matter in the garden, raised beds, and anywhere I plan on putting a seed in the ground.

[greenthumbomaha]

Same results as tedln. I have a frame-it-all "terraced" over clay soil. Not a tremendous difference in production between the two sides. In my summer location, the underlying soil is sandy. I have taller beds with a built in bench on both sides. They're wonderful, especially since I turned 55!

- Lisa

[TomatoDon]

Yes, it does take a LOT of compost to fill a 12 inch high bed. Like 50 or more sacks for a 4 x 12 raised bed of organic matter if you buy it by the sack. You will be better off trying to find it in bulk. I have a guy that will deliver it by the dump truck load for $50 per load, which is a bargain.

There is even a quicker, cheaper way. You can buy bales of hay and open them and put the hay in the bottom of the bed first, then the compost on top. The bale will come apart in little sections (called "charges" I think), and you can throw those in. Add compost on top, and the compost will filter down through the hay. This will give a very light and airy compost bed, and it will gradually sink during the year and you will have to add more material the next year. But by then you will have a really good compost raised bed. Another idea, is that people in my community bag up the leaves that fall in the yard, and the city will haul them off. If people in your area do that, ask them if you can have the bagged leaves, and use them for filler.

I doubt you get much more production from going above 12 inches in height, but I have a few beds that are 24" in height. I did this mostly to have the beds higher so I don't have to stoop as low to weed them. The plant is also up higher for pruning, picking, etc. The 24" beds are my favorite. It's just going to take you twice as much compost to fill them. But with free leaves or inexpensive hay, that shouldn't be a big problem if you only have a few beds.

Hopes this helps. I can't imagine any technique that works better than a well- constructed and well-filled raised bed.

[Ed of Somis]

Perhaps my terminology is wrong...but I am getting a bit confused. My understanding is: "mulch" is applied to the top layer of soil primarily to enhance looks or conserve moisture. Aren't I more concerned initially in "soil amendments" that will enhance my raised bed medium?

[drew51]

Mulch can be used as filler. I do it too. I though even use tree limbs and scrape non-treated lumber. Filling the beds with just compost, garden soil etc takes forever. Putting in filler the first years works great. I add more every year. With the wood, it lasts a few years before it sinks. Only exception if I growing a permanent plant like say a blueberry. I mound them a foot above the bed to account for settling.

[Lindalana]

You can look into hugelcultur bed creation, those can be done fairly tall with ease, you need an access to fallen trees. I wish I learned about them before I made my berms.

[kevenson]

I too have raised garden beds (10") on clay soil. Before I started adding "black gold" soil in the raised bed, I put a layer of cardboard down to keep the grass and weeds from coming up. I planted some tender sweet carrots and the soil settled in the bed now giving me about 8" above the cardboard. Well dem tender sweets grew down till they hit the cardboard and when I harvested in the fall the long carrots had "kink" at the bottom. Got to add more soil for this year but I love the raised beds. Do not go any wider than four feet as it gets difficult reaching out. I speak from experience with a 6 foot wide. Planting is much easier sitting in a garden chair on each side.

[illinifans]

Okay I'm new to tomatoville and this is my first post. We took down our 24 foot above ground swimming pool and part of our deck last summer and I am planning to convert that area to 4 large raised garden beds. I know it might sound crazy, but I'd like to build them 4'x20' and make them 24-30 inches high (getting to old to bend over so much). Has anyone ever tried to build a box say 12 inches high and then put dirt on top of that? My plan is to strategically place cinder blocks or framed wooden boxes on the bottom of the beds and place 4x8 sheets of plywood on top of them. Then fill at least 12 inches of cardboard, leaves, mulch and dirt on top of the plywood. I know the plywood will eventually break down and I'd have to add more dirt in subsequent years but I hope to get maybe 5 years out of this methodology. Any thoughts or ideas? Is there a better way to build up the beds?

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by illinifans

Okay I'm new to tomatoville and this is my first post. We took down our 24 foot above ground swimming pool and part of our deck last summer and I am planning to convert that area to 4 large raised garden beds. I know it might sound crazy, but I'd like to build them 4'x20' and make them 24-30 inches high (getting to old to bend over so much). Has anyone ever tried to build a box say 12 inches high and then put dirt on top of that? My plan is to strategically place cinder blocks or framed wooden boxes on the bottom of the beds and place 4x8 sheets of plywood on top of them. Then fill at least 12 inches of cardboard, leaves, mulch and dirt on top of the plywood. I know the plywood will eventually break down and I'd have to add more dirt in subsequent years but I hope to get maybe 5 years out of this methodology. Any thoughts or ideas? Is there a better way to build up the beds?

I'm lost.

Worth