Raised Garden Beds

[illini40]

Hey INGO,

So my wife and I had anticipated building a raised garden bed or two this spring, but some other projects got the best of our time. Thinking back, I think I was a little hesitant as well as I did not know the best way to go about building. I can at least plan ahead for next year.

Could you provide some insight in building raised beds? Materials you used? Ground prep?

We have some unused ground behind a shed that I think would be great.

What lumber did you use? How deep should it be?

Do I need to dig a trench around the perimeter so that the box sits down below grade?

What do I do with the sod? Does it need to be removed?

As you can see, I'm struggling on where I would even start.....

 

[Leo]

We use plain, untreated 2 X 10 or 2 X 12. Treated lumber has chemicals that can leach out and eventually work it's way into the food you are growing. I also do not put plastic under the dirt. GOD didn't when he made the plants, I figure the system probably works ok without.

I do not lag the boards together screwing into the end grain. I use a piece of 4 x 4 and use long lags into that. The box will last longer that way.

My wife says the sod needs to be dug out, but I didn't dig out the sod from one of them and she never noticed any different. Since she uses grass clippings in the compost, I figured the sod becomes compost also.

My tip is to set the boxes so that you have 360 degree access around the box and never build one more than 4 feet wide, so you can work without ever having to climb in and walk on the plants.

It is not rocket science, lots of ways to do it and none are really wrong.

 

[skulhedface]

Raised beds can be as simple our as complex as you want. If you're not going to make them very high, you may want to lay cardboard under them. Second the no more than 4 feet wide thing. If the appearance doesn't matter much, cement block is hard to beat in terms of durability.

 

[voodoo304]

I put cardboard down to kill the grass, it decomposes anyway. I also used cedar wood since it is rot resistant and will last longer. Used a 4x4 on corners as Leo did. I did not dig down, just put down cardboard then the frame and filled her up.
As already mentioned, make sure you can get all the way around it for weeding purposes. Really easy, don't overthink it.
Good luck!

 

[illini40]

Thanks for all of the responses. Anyone else out there care to chime in?

So it's ok to just set the bed directly in the current grass? No need to dig down and level it out?

Also, would it be beneficial to dig the sod out if the inside if the box and turn it over?

 

[snapping turtle]

I always used 3 2x4 or 2 2x4 depending on how deep I needed the soil. 2x10 and 2x12 are expensive. Most are just 2 high. Get straight boards and look at the crown. Screw the ends into the extra board from the ends and you got a bed.

I make mine 3 feet wide not 4 since my arms are not reAl long. I had an old set of roll up car lifts that allow me to roll the tiller right up to the edge and go in. I use landscape fabric over the soil since I don't like to weed. I never worried much about the grass under the bed as it seems to die rather well with 8 inch or so of soil on top. I add compost and peat moss to the top soil.

Easy to do. Just takes time to fill it up with dirt. A simple level if you are anal but I just eye ball it.

We used tires for watermelon in the past but it looks tacky. Worked very well but wife did not like the look.

 

[Hexlobular]

I made one years ago when I lived in Bloomington. I used landscaping timbers right on the ground over the grass. It was already fairly level, but I filled the first 4 inches with pea gravel, then the rest with a topsoil/peat mix. Worked great, and that was back in the early 90's. The box is still there. You shouldn't have to dig out any sod; depending on what you intend to plant, most root systems shouldn't make it that far anyway. Even if they do, they'll find their way.

 

[woowoo2]

Landscape timbers here also, I believe they are only pressure treated, they stopped using CCA's in 2004

 

[Archbishop]

We put down black ground cloth. Then, I think, 2x8s to build the boxes. we built to 4x8. with 4ft across that means the farthest in one has to reach to work on the garden is 2 feet. If you build the beds too narrow then a lot more of space is just walk ways than needed. If you build them too wide than you won't be able to comfortably be able to reach the center to work on the garden.
Don't overlook the length if you build it too long you may be tempted to cut across the garden as opposed to walking around the edge.
The soil that went in the middle was mix of a few different ferterlizers, potting soil and peat moss.
If I had more space I would probably have built to 4x12.

 

[Cameramonkey]

One tip... dont bring in plain topsoil. Bring in a 50/50 mix of topsoil and composted manure. If you are in the Indy area, the best place is Greendell Mulch and Mix just west of Mooresville. AWESOME family business that takes care of their customers. I can tell many awesome stories where they have treated us like family.

I expanded my raised* beds this year and brought in my first truckload of half a cubic yard of their "topsoil plus"... all the mini truck could handle. There is an obvious difference between where its mostly old soil and where its mostly new. 20-30% larger plants in the new section!


*OK, just framed. Over the next several years we will bring in more dirt to make them truly raised.

 

[hysteria]

We use plain, untreated 2 X 10 or 2 X 12. Treated lumber has chemicals that can leach out and eventually work it's way into the food you are growing. I also do not put plastic under the dirt. GOD didn't when he made the plants, I figure the system probably works ok without.

I do not lag the boards together screwing into the end grain. I use a piece of 4 x 4 and use long lags into that. The box will last longer that way.

My wife says the sod needs to be dug out, but I didn't dig out the sod from one of them and she never noticed any different. Since she uses grass clippings in the compost, I figured the sod becomes compost also.

My tip is to set the boxes so that you have 360 degree access around the box and never build one more than 4 feet wide, so you can work without ever having to climb in and walk on the plants.

It is not rocket science, lots of ways to do it and none are really wrong.

This is exactly what I did for our raised bed. I had some 2x10s floating around and was tearing down and old deck so I reused the 4x4 rail posts from the deck for the corners. I did bury my corner posts 12 inches to keep the bed from moving when I inevitably hit it with the mower. 4 feet wide so I can reach pretty much all the way across without stepping into it. I did take the extra step of tilling up the sod before adding my topsoil. I still have some stuff growing up thru.

 

[Meyer]

We built two 4x8 beds this spring. 2x8's stacked two high. 2x4's on the inside of each corner and at the midpoint of each long side, if that makes sense. The 2x4's extend about 12" into the ground. Filled them with a mix of topsoil, composted manure, and vermiculite. Planted green beans, carrots, tomatoes, various peppers, etc.

All of it is coming up nicely!

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

How do you guys keep the deer out of those things?

 

[Apistoman]

I'd go with the 2x10 or deeper. I did my original with 2x6 cedar and wish it was a little deeper. Also, consider pea gravel in the walk way between beds as mulch tends to get spongy after a rain.

The 50:50 soil manure mix is ok, but Tiffanies Mulch sells what they call "planters mix". I tried that in one bed this year and the difference is astounding.

 

[Hexlobular]

How do you guys keep the deer out of those things?

For my little in-town garden, I have a Stinger 78 electric fence with two wire heights; one near the ground, and one about 3 feet high.

 

[88GT]

I have twelve raised beds, most of which are 4x8 constructed with 2x12s. A few are shorter than 8 feet long due to curvature of pre-existing landscaping. The lumber is treated; no arsenic in the lumber anymore, no worries. I went for longevity; we're all going to die of something anyway, amiright?

Eight of them were built over an existing landscaping area that had been mulched with pea gravel one time in the past (it had since become a gravel/soil substrate). I did not put anything down between the substrate and the bed fill. I added 4 more beds the second year and just plopped them right down on the grass, no need to dig 'em in. There's also no need to separate existing substrate from new bed fill. You'll have far more weeds from above than anything you'd get from below. My beds are in great condition in part because I have a healthy earthworm population. I don't know that this is possible with a separator.

Regarding bed fill, you want something with a goodly amount of organic matter, hence the recommendation for the composted manure. But you will also want adequate drainage. While raised beds have an advantage over the alternative in this regard by simple fact of their construction, you still want to avoid standing water (I use the 15-20 second test: water it so that the water pools as deep as possible then stop adding the water; if it doesn't drain below the soil surface in 15-20 seconds, it's not good enough for me. YMMV on this though). So be sure to add enough peat moss or other material to help. The initial filling of the beds is the hard part. Now, I just add a couple of bags of composted manure and a couple shovels of peat moss to the beds each spring when I turn them over to prepare for planting. I also mulch the fall leaves and use them to blanket the beds as winter prep. Those I turn over in the spring with the manure and peat moss. Any mulch I add during grow season becomes part of the beds too.

How do you guys keep the deer out of those things?

I live in the 'burbs, the yard is fenced, the garden is fenced, and 2 GSDs provide patrol duty.

I'd go with the 2x10 or deeper. I did my original with 2x6 cedar and wish it was a little deeper.

I agree. Unless you have fabulous soil below the bed, rich and friable, the extra depth is a benefit.

Here are a few pics of the garden:

From the roof of my house:

From the not-so-bird's-eye-view:

Close-up:

The above are older, but the area is cleaner (i.e. less weedy). I now have a retaining wall of sorts built for the upper level of beds:

And you can see it really well here:

 

[Apistoman]

Nice pictures are always helpful to us visual learners. Rather than 4X8, I made 3 parallel beds, each 5X30. The longer beds fit my property nicely and it sure is easy to rip right through with the tiller.

 

[jhparsons78]

Here's the plans I used. How to Build a Raised Garden - Sunset
I used cedar and bought a cubic yard of soil.
I used a tiller to break up the ground and laid newspaper over the tilled soil, then wheelbarrowed in the new soil.
The new plants are going like gangbusters!
Plus w raised beds, you can plant closer than normally.

 

[88GT]

I made 3 parallel beds, each 5X30. The longer beds fit my property nicely and it sure is easy to rip right through with the tiller.

Yeah, actual configuration is going to be determined more by preference and physical limitations than anything else. Beyond that, the imagination is the limit.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Here's a pic of mine from another thread.

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I used old pressure treated 2X6's stacked two high, since I had that lumber from a deck I'd taken out. I used to have mulch between them, and that was nice for growing things like melons that can be rooted in the bed, but you can trail the vines on the mulch between the beds to save space. Can't really do that with grass in between. Another thing I've learned is that I could have gotten away making them only 1 board high in my yard. Making them deeper allows you to provide more good soil, but my deeper ones require a lot more frequent watering during dry weather. The soil in my yard is good stuff, it's just poorly drained. I did put a strip of landscaping fabric around the perimeter of each bed to keep the dirt from getting out the cracks between the boards and extended it a few inches into the ground to keep grass from spreading into the beds. The trellis in the back I use to grow gourds on.