Raised rows or raised bed

[midstroke]

Hello, cannot make up my mind on what to do. What is your oppinion? Was going to build a couple rased beds 2x16 feet and about ten inches deep with soil beneath tilled. Or just till soil and make raised rows? I have a couple yards of good soil and compost mix. My natural soil is not bad either. This will just be for my tomatoes. And how many square feet is suggested per heirloom plant? Thanks Mid

[Worth1]

Go raised beds three feet wide and stagger/zigzag the plants down the rows.
This is proven to work fantastically.
I would not bother tilling the soil either way you go.

Worth

[whoose]

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=43790

This will answer your questions

[brownrexx]

It really depends on your reasons for wanting to raise the bed.

My native soil is perfectly fine so why would I want to go to the trouble of building something to hold it? I till the garden once a year and I am quite happy with my garden.

In my opinion, raised beds do look pretty and are very helpful if you have poor native soil, bad drainage or have trouble bending over. I have none of these issues so planting in the ground works fine for me.

If I had a small back yard (which I don't) I would probably do raised beds just for the looks but they are certainly not a necessity for a successful garden.

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Go raised beds three feet wide and stagger/zigzag the plants down the rows.
This is proven to work fantastically.
I would not bother tilling the soil either way you go.

Worth

Up in PNW all I had was raised beds, 3ft wide and about 11" deep and used to plant zigzag. With 2ft width you can plant one row, spaced at about 30".
With the native soil underneath tilled, 10" deep should be fine. I used to amend the native soil with pine bark mulch to improve drainage.

[b54red]

I only have raised beds and love them. I first put them in because of the sloping contour of my garden resulting in washing away of soil during heavy rains. If your native soil is good then there is no need to go 10 inches; six to eight will be fine and give you soil that is ready to use much sooner after a heavy rain. I used mounded soil before I went to raised beds and it was sure better than planting flat but weeding and erosion were major problems for me so even with a hard clay under layer I went with just 8 inch raised beds and have been very successful with them. They do require a good mulch during dryer times but other than that they have made gardening so much neater and less work in the long run. For crops that require a lot of land like corn I would not recommend raised beds.

Bill

[Cole_Robbie]

I would love to have some nice lumber edges to the ridges of dirt that I grow in, but I have almost 1,000 row feet, so it is cost prohibitive. I cover the ridge with drip tape and black plastic mulch so it does not wash or blow away.

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

I would love to have some nice lumber edges to the ridges of dirt that I grow in, but I have almost 1,000 row feet, so it is cost prohibitive. I cover the ridge with drip tape and black plastic mulch so it does not wash or blow away.

I have a whole 50 feet Cole.jimbo

[BigVanVader]

Yeah, same as Cole so I cover all year to keep the soil in place. I am adding some small raised beds from spare lumber to plant winter crops. Raised beds are easier to cover with hoops/plastic.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

Yeah, same as Cole so I cover all year to keep the soil in place. I am adding some small raised beds from spare lumber to plant winter crops. Raised beds are easier to cover with hoops/plastic.

They are definitely easier to cover but not easy. I have been using hoops for years and this year I only had to cover my beds 5 nights and 2 days but if I hadn't had the hoops I would have lost all of my winter crops except maybe my Brussels sprouts and carrots. I guess I am going to have to remove my hoops soon and store them up until next winter.

Bill