Why Raised Beds Are Better (And How To Make Them)

If you've already used raised beds and had less than grand results, or you're just convinced you don't have the time or energy to make them, please hear me out! Read at least this one more post before you decide it's not for you. This is not traditional raised bed gardening, although some of the benefits I'm about to list also apply to traditional raised beds. Here are some reasons why Mel Bartholomew's raised beds are better.

Benefits Of Square Foot Gardening
Less Space - In a traditional garden, at least half of the space is used up just to walk on. Yet you plow it, you till it, you fertilize it, you water it, and you have to weed it! Just to walk on it! What a waste! With raised beds, you don't walk on them at all. The entire bed is used for planting. One 4x4 raised bed will hold 64 corn plants 6 inches apart, the same amount as you would normally put in a 30 foot single row. Most single rows are 2 1/2 to 3 feet wide (between rows) which means each 30 foot row takes up 75 to 90 square feet of space! With raised beds, that same amount of corn is raised in 16 square feet of space. Because you don't count the space you walk on.
No Tiller - You can sell your tiller. You don't need it anymore. Since you won't be walking on your garden, there won't be any of that compaction that's so bad for the plants. In fact, the only tool you really need is a cheap planting spade.
Less Fertilizer - And it takes less fertilizer. Mel Bartholomew says it doesn't take ANY with his special Mix. It's true that a steady supply of fresh compost provides a steady supply of nutrients, but so far I've still done better with adding some organic fertilizer. But at least you're only putting it on the planted area instead of where you walk!
Less Water - Once again, you're only watering the planted area instead of where you walk. And our special Mix is designed to stay moist a long time, and yet not become water-logged.
Less Weeding - The kids are going to love this one! Our special Mix can be made with no weeds in it (we'll discuss that in more detail later). Even with weeds, you have only a quarter of the space to weed compared to a traditional garden. And you don't have to hoe them. The soil is so light and loose they just come right up when you pull on them.
Depth - In Mel's first book 'Square Foot Gardening' he tells you how to dig deep and add peat moss and compost to the existing soil. I remember helping (or mostly watching) my Mom do that when I was about 5 or 6 years old. While this does greatly improve almost any soil, people said there was still too much back-breaking labor involved. So with further experimentation, Mel discovered that it isn't necessary to go that deep at all. In fact, most garden vegetables do just fine in only 6 inches of Mel's mix. You might want to have a few deeper boxes on hand for carrots and similar root vegetables, or use tubs or buckets. But for the main garden, use 2x6s. Everything I've seen so far had incredible root systems using this rich, loose mix that we'll show you how to make. I had some onions last winter in Mel's mix, and when I pulled them up in the spring some of them had roots 18 inches long!
Location - You can put it anywhere. You don't have to hide it behind the house. You can put it on rocky, barren ground, on pavement, or on your deck. If your roof is flat, you could put it on your roof! And your garden doesn't have to all be in one spot. If some of your crops want more shade than others, put them in a shady spot while the rest of the garden enjoys the sunlight.
Convenience - If you ever have to move, you can take your garden with you! You can bag the soil (it's a very special soil, after all) or, if you have lots of it, load it on a pickup. If you give your boxes a plywood bottom you can move your plants into your garage to protect them from frost or hail.

Making Your Raised Bed
Here's how to make a 2x2 raised bed for the children. Remember, start small. You can always expand later. For a 2 foot square box, you need one 2x6, 8 foot long. You can get those at our local Lowe's Home Improvement store for just over $4.00 plus tax. Any cheap 2x6 will do, as long as it's untreated. Do NOT use treated wood, because of the risk of chemicals leaching into your soil and the plants taking them up. Regular untreated wood will last a number of years. If you would rather, you can use cedar or redwood for a more permanent bed. Or make it out of composite material (that man-made stuff made with plastic and sawdust). It'll last forever. Usually there's someone in the store that will cut your boards into whatever size you want if you ask them to. For the 2x2 you need four pieces of wood 2 foot long. Drill holes in one end of each board to keep them from splitting when you screw or nail them together. A 1/8 inch or slightly smaller drill bit is perfect. Draw a line 3/4 inch from the end of the board, then drill your holes along this line, one about an inch from either side and one in the middle.

If you're going to use screws, use 3 inch deck screws. Insert all of them into the pilot holes now (you'll need 12 screws or nails for each bed). If you're going to use nails, don't go smaller than 12d. If one side of the board is nicer than the other (as many are), then turn the nicer side up at this point. If you're going to stack the boards like I did, start putting the screws in the bottom board first so they don't get in your way as you proceed.

Now lay the boards out as shown and fasten them together.

And that's the frame. So simple, and yet so profound. If you're going to give it a plywood bottom, now's the time to do that. Remember to drill some drainage holes in the plywood. Use a half inch drill bit and drill a hole in each square foot. If you don't do plywood bottoms, then lay out some other kind of weed barrier. Around here, we have some very aggressive crabgrass which if it gets started will spread through your box like a spider web! If you're on concrete or pavement or wood, you'll be fine. Otherwise, you can use plastic. I do most of mine in plastic simply because I have plenty of it. I do know of a few weeds though that can grow through plastic. They send up a sharp spear that pierces right through it. Or use some good quality weed barrier (don't use the cheap kind from Walmart, it only lasts a few months and doesn't do a good job in keeping weeds down anyway). One of the best things to use is old carpet. Carpet readily lets excess water drain out and is superb at blocking weeds. You can even use it for your walkways, and if you don't like the looks of it, just add some decorative gravel or wood chips or whatever you find cheap or attractive. Carpet stays down well and will last for years.

Location
Besides needing decent lighting, put your garden in a convenient place. Close to a water supply. Not too far from the house so you can make a quick trip out to get some salad greens. You might want to put it where you can easily see it from a main window; for one, to enjoy the beauty; and also, so you'll be more likely to notice if any critters are showing too much interest in it. If you DON'T have a plywood bottom in it, be careful about getting it too close to trees or shrubs or they will grow their roots right into it and rob you of precious water and nutrients. Also, don't put your garden boxes where a lot of water runs through when it rains. You'll lose precious soil from washing. And you don't want them in low spots where water tends to puddle a lot. Plants need good drainage.

Cats
Just one word of advice before we move on. If you have cats, or someone in the neighborhood has cats, consider having a piece of chicken wire handy to lay on the raised bed right after you put the soil mix in. Cats and dogs love loose soil to dig in, and cats especially will think you made it just for them! Cats are like that. Dogs can be trained to a certain extent, but I've never yet been able to train a cat to not do something that they want to do. Chicken wire will discourage them and keep order until your plants are up. When your seedlings are established and the cats understand that this place is off limits you can lift the chicken wire right off the young plants without harming them. Or you could just leave it on for the season and let the plants grow right through it! On my next post I want to share some recipes you can use to teach intruders to leave your plants alone.

Spiritual types coming soon.
Blessings to all!