[AT] Raised bed gardening

[David Bruce]

Most of my gardening is in raised beds.  Varying sizes from 4'x4' to 
3'x50' all bordered by cedar logs (leftovers from some logging done here 
a few years ago).  The beds are all about 12" deep - that does vary a 
bit with the diameter of the logs but that is the general case.  For the 
soil in the beds I "made" my own with rotten shredded pine bark and 
composted cow manure from around the hay feeding station in the pasture. 
  I filled the beds with the mix (roughly a 4:1 ration of pine bark to 
manure, wet the mix well and covered the bed with clear plastic to help 
kill the sprouting weeds.  In about 3 months I had a very nice soil 
texture.  Each winter I top off the beds with more organic matter 
(usually the same old pine bark) and every couple years I spread a small 
amount of lime (our soils here are acidic and the lime will leach).

The walkways between my beds are covered with landscape cloth and mulch 
- normally well rotted hay in a thick layer but you could mow between 
the beds.

I also started with clay soil and with clay you can garden but most of 
your work revolves around working the clay when it is ready to be worked 
- too dry and it is a brick, too wet any you will make many bricks. 
That TB Horse can work the clay well under the right conditions but with 
a raised bed life is much easier.  The day after a downpour I can work 
my raised beds - even to the point of planting or digging - never can do 
that with clay.

Another nice thing with raised beds is you can start with one or two 
(with no wife objections) and build as time permits.

David
NW NC

On 5/22/2012 11:40 PM, Mike Meulenberg wrote:
> Hi all, when we moved to our new house late last year we really looked forward to having a garden again. With 10 acres of ground I figured I could till up a nice garden, as I had done at prior houses, and all would be good. Well, things didn't really work out that way. When I went to till the area we chose, (good sunlight, water supply) I made about 6 or 8 passes over it with the old TB Horse, and I had barely scratched the ground, it was pure clay, and very hard. My wife would like me to put in a raised bed garden which I have never done. I have the building part down pat, but I'm curious to know how deep to make it, and any other things I may want to know, so I'm not re-doing it in a couple years thinking, "I wish I would have known that when I put it in".
>
> Thanks,
> Mike M
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