beccas_froggie asks: Vegetable Gardening?
I have limited space available, with rocky ledge under the dirt. I am looking at having to use RAISED BEDS for my vegetable garden next year. How would you suggest I accomplish this small feet?
If you could send diagrams – I’d appreciate it.
Thank you!
Sincerely,
Becca
I can get pictures of the area I intend to use – if you are willing to help work me through it ((for free))… ~Rebecca
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Answer by bashfullyours1973
I just started a vegetable garden. I hate gardening but I find I am having fun with it. I have a shuffleboard court in my backyard that I have covered with dirt for grass to grow over. Well, I dug up part of it and framed it with wood. i put top soil and potting soil in it. 8ft by 6ft frame. i have my tomatoes growing in it as well as a row of collards. It depends on what you want to grow. For a raised garden, you can do the same. Frame a section and pour concrete to make it raised. Keep it framed for weed control and make sure the wood frame is higher then the concrete. Concrete does not need to be that thick to be effective. Pour the dirt in and watch your seedlings grow. I also decided to do a pumpkin patch. I took out a section of my lawn to put the new seedlings. What is nice, once the weeds come back, you do not need to weed the garden. and they can climb on rope so they will be off the ground.
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Go to http://www.burpee.com/product/id/104961.do?KickerID=100106&KICKER. This is their raised bed garden system. We started a raised bed garden this year with this system but we bought our own cedar boards. Our soil is crap and if yours is too I recommend a combination of topsoil and either compost or humus. They system comes with directions.
That depends on what you want to spend on materials and how long you want it to last, most people use pressure treated 4×4 stacked on top of each other for a simple flower bed 3 high works, for deeper rooting plants like say a potato you are going to need to go 6 high
First figure out what size you want, lets say you are doing a little Garden 40 x 72 feet you will want 3 100 foot strings we will use these to find the corners
So lets mark the string with one color at 40 feet and another color at 72 feet easy enough
Pick a spot for the first corner, place a stake here have a friend go out with the other end and find the distance, put down a stake at 72 feet you want 2 speed squares so you can both check (this is coming up) you want the sting to be flush with the outsides of the stake everytime you measure
Carry your end of the string over to 40 foot mark have your friend make sure it is perfectly flush with their stake place your stake make sure it is flush
have your friend take their end of the string over again 72 foot mark place the stake make sure it is flush now carry your end to the first stake make sure all is flush with the first
if it looks good take the other 2 100 foot strings attach them crossing from the corners simple measure the cross is at 20 foot and 36 foot from the sides? If you have done it absolutely perfect it is….if not logic will dictate what adjustment is needed….don’t feel bad if you need to amke an adjustment this is a skill that takes time….this is where the speed squares are going to help
OK Now you need materials place 4x 4 posts into the ground (post hole digger) on the inside of the corners it will preferably be 1.5 times as deep as it is high so for 21 inches high (oh by the way standard 4×4 is 3.5 x 3.5) that is 32.5 inches deep…hard work but this is how you ake it last a long time do the 4 corners check the posts to make sure they are vertically level (with a level)
Double check the square with the strings adjust the post if needed
Attach the string to the top of the posts by crossing them again and now make sure the are level horizontally
You want the side boards to overlap so make sure the connecting seems are overlapping this adds stability if you are using 16 foot length 4×4 then place a post every 6 feet
Put your side boards on, now the fun begins soil seed water and sun
Here is a photo and description of the one we built this year…
We used 8′ landscaping timbers we got at Home Depot for $ 3 each (cost effective, too!). Our area is 8’x16′, and is 2 boards deep. We filled it with 50 bags of topsoil and 5 bags of manure, as well as about half a bag of 12-12-12 fertilizer. It took about 2 days total (we had to dig up the sod there first…). We did everything by sight as opposed to precise measurements, we wanted a sort of rustic feel to it.
Here is a link to the photos of it:
http://flickr.com/photos/stahlsgarden/517232759/