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St. Ann
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| Posted: April 15 2016 at 1:39am | IP Logged
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I have been torturing myself with the question of - to start up a raised bed or not? It is not a MORAL question, but I am finding it difficult to reach an answer! 
I don't have a handyman  around here, dh is the academic, the garden is for enjoying a cold beer on a summer day type of loving husband...
My FIL said I could buy organic veggies for our family for a few years with the money I would end up spending getting a high raised bed going and maintaining.
With a raised bed I am committing myself to my garden.
On the other hand - I have a great desire to plant and nurture. I like to step out of the door and grab a zucchini or fresh salad.
My problem now is that my garden earth is not great and even zucchini and pumpkin don't grow well here - which is strange for our area.
I am getting older and the idea of not always having to bend down to work is certainly appealing.
after my rambling... What are your experiences with raised beds or not. I know some of you do have them. High or low please share your thoughts!
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Stephanie
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roomintheheart
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| Posted: April 15 2016 at 11:44am | IP Logged
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We decided against raised beds. We hauled in some black dirt and started composting to keep it nutrient-rich, and then the next year we fenced the garden to keep out the critters. I have not done raised beds, and I realize that you can do them many different ways, but my neighbor who has them gets much less produce than I do, in about the same area. I like to can or freeze my extra--she's content with having just enough to eat fresh. Just my .02.
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: April 15 2016 at 1:03pm | IP Logged
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We love our raised beds, though, they aren't very tall. We used concrete block to build ours. It is an investment over time; you won't be better off in the first year than you would be joining a CSA or buying from a local farm. But it is an enjoyable hobby, and you can't beat the taste of produce fresh from the garden.
This year, because we have a baby due end of May, we are not doing much that is elaborate but are focusing mostly on storage crops (potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, etc...) and one or two things that are cost prohibitive to buy (e.g. bell peppers) that are easy and don't require a lot of maintenance during the summer since it can be hard to stay on top of picking. So, even though we will be buying more summer produce than some years, it won't be wasted space by any stretch. So I don't think you have to be ambitious every year to make it worthwhile, and I do think it is a good learning opportunity for the children as well. You can start small, too, and add more beds if you find you want more space.
I like raised beds because weeding is very easy, not just because of height but because the soil remains loose and things pull out much easier than the ground. However, I do approach it more as a French style potager, eating mostly fresh from it and not attempting to get the yields I would from row crops. I think I get decent yields from the plants themselves, but I'm not planting quite so many as a traditional row garden. I do have my beds in our front and side yards though, and the potager style is very conducive to keeping things looking orderly in a neighborhood setting. We've tried more traditional rows in different places as an experiment, but we ended up putting more beds in instead because we just like it so much better for aesthetic reasons, maintenance, and planning purposes.
One issue, though, is that both zucchini and pumpkin are crops that will take up a TON of space. You can grow them in raised beds, and I have, but you won't be able to fit a lot else in the bed with them, and viney things, while you can use trellises, will mostly likely escape and be quite wild by the end of the season.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
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[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Mackfam
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| Posted: April 15 2016 at 2:08pm | IP Logged
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We love ours and I'd ditto pretty much everything Lindsay says. I plan and plant in a kitchen potager style - planning to eat directly out of the garden. We have a collection of 6 rectangular (6' x 4') boxes, but would like to expand and add (which we'll probably do next summer). I can see mine right out of my kitchen window and it's quite cheery! I keep a free standing wooden swing out in my garden and it's one of my favorite "get-away" places to sit with a glass of iced tea in the summer!
Some years we've planted abundantly, other years (especially the years I'm either expecting/just had a baby) we just do tomatoes and my small herb gardens. I just LOVE having my kitchen herb gardens in my raised beds! That's probably my favorite thing about my raised beds. It's pretty and I cook with a lot of fresh herbs.
Ours are made of raw oak - we found a local lumber mill and bought raw milled oak lumber (essentially just means that the boards haven't cured/rested and aren't super smooth - they're rough) which was cost effective for us since we have several raised beds. We've grown everything in our raised beds that we would have grown in a traditional garden - including corn, which was surprising.
They are indeed much easier to weed, and even if you can only start with one small square garden, and put in a lovely little kitchen herb garden with a couple of your favorite veg, I think you'll find it quite charming - and will really enjoy the fresh produce!
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Jen Mackintosh
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St. Ann
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| Posted: April 15 2016 at 3:22pm | IP Logged
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Thank you all for responding.
You all have much more space available. I am only considering 6'x3' with a height of 30 inches or so... But of course, the higher I go the more expensive it gets.
Here in Germany everyone says to use larch wood, as it won't rot...
I've seen examples of hazel branches intertwined to form low beds, which is interesting for me, because we do have a hazelnut bush/tree with branches needing a good trimming.
Another question. Do you have your own compost heap? I am thinking that if I have raised beds I have to have my own compost heap, too.
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Stephanie
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Kristie 4
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| Posted: April 15 2016 at 4:18pm | IP Logged
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We have both. Our raised beds are only 18-24 inches high and mostly 4x8 feet, and are made of cedar (no rotting there). On the beds that aren't raised, I still plant as if they are raised. They are in ground beds, but I have pathways with landscape fabric and cedar chips. Think of mounded beds. You get all the goodness of a raised bed- intensive planting, low weeds, non compacted soil- but don't need to build them. We put a little low fence around to keep out the dog and stray soccer balls.
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: April 16 2016 at 7:41am | IP Logged
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Kristie, that sounds like the method used by the author of The Vegetable Gardener's Bible. He uses no-till raised beds without sides.
We have three 4x4 wooden raised beds made from regular lumber, and they have lasted several years. Cedar was so expensive, and we weren't positive we wanted these particular beds long term. After 4 years, they are still fine. We've moved them, too, so while moving soil is no cakewalk, it is doable, so if you wanted to try something less expensive, you might consider a lesser wood. I don't know if larch wood in Germany is as cost prohibitive as cedar can be here, but since this is an experiment for you and cost/benefit seems to play a lot into your process, you don't have to start out with the "perfect" raised bed. If you find it is a hobby you love, then you might invest in more permanent options for your landscape down the road.
When we had a smaller garden at our old home, we used Mel's Mix recipe for soil from Square Foot Gardening. This is my favorite gardening book for using raised beds, and I highly recommend it. When we expanded at our current home, we couldn't afford the ingredients for all the beds, but given our proximity to mushroom farms, we have access to great soil that is is a mixture of topsoil and mushroom compost. I have ammended the beds periodically with vermiculite, though not up to the ratios that Mel recommends, but it does help keep the raised bed from drying out so readily, and his mix really is great for keeping the soil loose and easy to work with.
I do keep a compost pile, but I've neglected it in recent years. We did have a problem with rodents around it, and while it was pretty straight forward to get rid of the rats and voles, they are a menace to have near the house. So I'm afraid I am not as green as I would like to be, and since we purchase the soil that already has compost, I don't feel like I need the compost as much, though we still do add leaves and such. Really, using kitchen scraps in compost is just a way to get rid of the kitchen scraps, but it doesn't do that much for the compost, from what I have heard. Plain old leaves make the best compost.
I do, however, use this fertilizer recipe to ammend my beds at the start of the season. Since I'm not always able to rotate crops ideally since we don't always grow equal parts fruit, root, and leaf vegetables, I feel better about not following a strict rotation by making sure the fertilizer is covering all the bases.
In square foot gardening, Mel says that rotation is not needed with his method, but we grow something is a much bigger quantity than he does, like whole beds of potatoes or squash or lettuce, etc..., so I do feel like I need to follow more basic gardening rules given our deviation.
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Lindsay
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[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: April 16 2016 at 7:52am | IP Logged
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Something else you might look into is the Back to Eden gardening method. It, too, is no-till, but it ammends the soil by bringing in wood chips and having them work to break down the soil.
As I said below, we ended up preferring raised beds, but we do use (free, from a local tree service) wood chips around our raised beds, and it is astonishing how amazing the soil is under them after years of their breaking down. Our yard was very hard with tons of clay, which was one of many reasons we went with raised beds, but now, our pathways would grow amazing things, too, if we planted them!
Anyway, if you could source the woodchips cheaply, it might be an option for you to affordably ammend your current garden area so that it will more readily grow the things you desire next year. You can't plant things directly into non-composted woodchips, but in just a year or two, they break down and make amazing soil underneath, and you can pull back the woodchips to access the newly broken down soil beneath the surface.
If anything, the enthusiasm of the farmer in the video series I linked will inspire you to grow your own food!
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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St. Ann
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| Posted: April 18 2016 at 1:50am | IP Logged
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Lindsay, the rodents really are a deterrent to having a compost heap here. My neighbors also might not be thrilled about it 
Thanks for the encouragement to start small and simple. I had convinced myself, that if I do it then I have to do it right! ...high walls, larch wood...big money and energy. I can try a lower bed with great earth mix and see what happens.
Thanks also for all the links. I plan to study them later today.
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Stephanie
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Erica Sanchez
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| Posted: April 23 2016 at 5:10pm | IP Logged
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Cash built three raised beds for me. I like them because I do feel like they mostly keep balls out which are usually flying around our fairly small lot at all times. Sometimes I undo a large old tomato wire thing and put it around the front of the beds for extra protection.
It's inspiring to read about your gardens, ladies. I've had good luck and not so good luck, but it is fun trying. I'd like to try to make it more profitable (more produce to balance the cost of water) but it is mostly a hobby at this point.
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Have a beautiful and fun day!
Erica in San Diego
(dh)Cash, Emily, Grace, Nicholas, Isabella, Annie, Luke, Max, Peter, 2 little souls ++, and sweet Rose who is legally ours!
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JodieLyn
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Erica you might explore the possibility of using grey water to water with.. for instance.. hooking your washing machine drain to a large tub/trashcan during the rinse cycle (maybe the wash cycle too depending on what soaps you add).. then you can use that for watering.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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Erica Sanchez
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| Posted: April 25 2016 at 11:06am | IP Logged
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Jodie, we did that! I mean, my husband did that. :) Because of the drought in California, we were finally put on a watering schedule by our water district and were fined (or had to pay more for more water usage). We started collecting water in the shower and at the sink and Cash rigged our washer to drain the grey water on our backyard lawn. Considering our large family, I think we did great. And, most of my stuff lived. Thankfully, we've had an okay amount of rain lately.
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Have a beautiful and fun day!
Erica in San Diego
(dh)Cash, Emily, Grace, Nicholas, Isabella, Annie, Luke, Max, Peter, 2 little souls ++, and sweet Rose who is legally ours!
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: raised garden beds
