This fall we’re converting one of our 30’x35′ backyard garden plots to all raised beds. Why are we doing this on established in-ground garden plot?
We’ll tell you why we decided to make the decision to go with raised beds and what kind of raised beds we’ll be using. We’ll also continue with our fall seed starting schedule in the greenhouse with some lettuce and mustard green planting.
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50 Comments
Those composted woodchips for the bottom and any soil-less bags will need some Nitrogen and Mineral sources added. I mixed my own soil using composted Wood Fines/Bark, Peatmoss and Vermicullite. To start with, I added bales of straw on the bottom and then everything else on top. The straw will decompose and sink some in the beds, so the following years I just kept topping each bed off….it takes about 2 seasons for the soil level to then level off. But, you can't beat that wonderful soil those straw bales create, almost becomes the perfect soil, incl. fungal action. To amend the soil-less bag contents and Peatmoss…add pelleted organic Chicken Manure, Bone Meal, Feather Meal, Alfalfa Pellets, Potash (or pure Woodash from your own fire pit) and finally Green Sand. I just spread it on top + work it all in with a garden fork. This is how all my 15 high raised beds (4'W x 8'L x 22"H) were made, monster harvests. They are made of 2×8''s and 2×6's treated wood (yes, they are approved for organic gardening). The reason I chose wood is because I can sit on top of each of the beds, work and harvest, and can easily mount portable covers for shade, bug, and Fall/Winter protection. These are the staples I grow: Beans, Pole Beans, Salad/Pickling Cucumbers, Peas, Beets, Onions, Green Onions, about 15× different Herbs, Leeks. Broccoli, Cauliflower, Turnips, Rutabaga, Celery Root, Celery, Parsley Root, Carrots, Radishes, various Lettuces, Tomatoes, Peppers, Winter Squashes, Potatoes, Zucchini, Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Gooseberries, Red/Black Currents, Aronia Berries, June Berries, Rhubarb, Apple Trees, Plum Trees (and this year a Peach Tree -supposedly it is hardy to Z4…we'll see!). I should mention I also have an inground garden 50×50 ft. and another section with 40 pcs. of 26" round buckets. All except the inground garden plot has the soil mentioned above. Tomato harvest has just begun, harvested around 250 lbs of Paste tomatoes off 2x 40 ft. Rows – another approx 350+ lbs. to go …bumper crop this year with determinate varieties – Plum Regal, Tachi, Picus. Neighbors will be happy that's for sure! 😊
Love the raised beds. I use wood chips between the beds but some weeds do grow through. My beds are filled with 3/4 topsoil and top layer is compost. Then beds are amended with compost each season. I make enough of my own compost to keep a closed system. Never have to weed if straw mulch is used to cover soil or leaves over winter. Great easy system with no soil disturbance.
A mix of raised and inground gardens work for me. Depends on the weather each year as to what wins. If you have the space, why not!
I fill mine 3/4 full of weeds (they are full of nutrients), all kitchen and garden food scraps including meats, bones, even fats, then a layer of shredded paper, dried leaves, paper “stuff” and finally about 4-5 inches of my good homemade compost. I know this sounds crazy, but the worms find the beds immediately and there are so many of them that they keep the beds fertilized going forward. I can’t wait to follow this new bed y’all are doing!
We have a raised bed garden and use metal raised beds too. We use the "Mel's Mix"…1/3 peat moss, 1/3 Black Kow Manure, and 1/3 vermiculite to fill
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I would consider getting soil by the truck load over bags. It gets expensive using those bags and guess what? Those bags are now smaller yet cost more. We found a good source of organic garden soil in our area and get the truck loaded up. We shovel it into our wheelbarrows and dump into our beds. We covered our ground with black landscape fabric (we like it best; other folks hate it). Then, we built our beds. We did poke holes in the bottom of the bed's fabric for the worms we added. Our first beds we filled with old logs and such…hate it. Our second garden of raised beds, we put in Georgia clay from our property for the bottom, middle we put our chicken compost from our girls, and the last layer was from the sourced soil I spoke about. It was so much cheaper and the harvest from those beds has been amazing this summer. I want to go and get a truckload or two to top off my old garden beds. I love the Sage green beds you (Brooklyn) picked out. Oh, and I love AgroThrive. I have always used FoxFarm/Happy Frog products until this spring. I bought the AgroThrive and won't go back. Highly recommend the product. You always do such a great job with all the information. Thank you!
Do you research on mulching. Last year was first year gardening in raised beds and I filled them with full dirt and and garden soil from local dirt yard. My Top layer of dirt was really woody almost like a wood mulch. Plants were always struggling. Never did a soil sample so don't know. What the problem was. Last month I put grass clippings on the beds and the plants got so much greener and healthier. Soil keeps a lot more moisture and does not dry out as fast. You will need to mulch with something, to keep moisture in soil. I live just north of new Orleans, so weather is about the same, my winter season is just shorter than yours.
Have you tried the Georgiaboy sweet onion from NEseed, i might give it a go and see how does.
Given your location, you may want consider using peanut hulls for the bottom layer of your beds and then covering that with an appropriate planting mix. I'll bet they are locally abundant in your area — just check with any nearby peanut processing plants.
We did potatoes, tomatoes, peppers our first year. We didn't have in ground beds at that time except for onions. We eventually put berries in them and they are doing a lot better. Easier to maintain acidic soil for the berries and it's kind of set and forget
How is the compost coming?
I fill my raised beds with a rose soil/compost mix. The yard I get it from calls it vegetable soil. $25/yrd. After about a year the remaining wood chips finish composting and the soil is even better than when I put it in.
We have 8 4×8 raised beds, some constructed with 2×6's, one with Cross ties, one with Cinder blocks. I use Horse Manure thats been composted with Kitchen Scraps and leaves to fill the beds. Because of the limited space in raised beds compared to in ground gardens some crops aren't worth growing for me, like dried beans so I'm always looking at which crops maximize space to production.
If your gonna use garden soil you Definitely want to add some Perlite I use garden planter mix from my local nursery and after several years the soil gets compacted so Definitely add some Perlite to the soil mix you choose . In between my raised beds I layed tarps on the ground and cut around my planter boxes then added 6 inches of mulch on top of the tarps this tremendously helps with weed suppression 👍
Like the idea Travis. I just can't afford the beds. I would totally use weed fabric other wise you will deal with weeds coming through. Still super hot in sw florida. Now the mildew and mold. Argh
Looking forward to the raised bed content. I have raised beds up here in Anchorage, AK and I like to fill it with steer manure compost from Home Depot and cheap topsoil, I mix it prob a 4/1 ratio of soil to compost. I then use my own compost as a mulch, a basic organic fertilizer, and fish fertilizer in water once a month during the growing season. I plan to put it all to bed this fall with my own unfinished compost on top, some fertilizer, and a cover it with weed fabric. This will leave it ready for planting in the spring.
I’ve had great results with pretty much everything using this method. The standouts are bush beans and cauliflower.
For what it's worth, I've found that composted horse manure works the best for me. I balked at the idea at first, based on what people had said, but it stays moist longer than the bulk gardening blends I've bought from our two rock and bark centers. Any mixtures I've made up myself have also failed, especially with any peat. And the plants love it!
I have 9 raised beds of varying sizes in our small back and side yards, and in the summer I was having to break up the soil every ding dong morning to get it to take water. But this year I met a couple who keep horses and offered me some of their compost. So far, it's the best stuff I've grown in and it's not drying out anywhere near as quickly. The plants are happy, I don't have to water nearly as much, and I use far fewer amendments and fertilizers. I'm also not seeing the ton of weeds growing that my neighbor swore would show up. It's my first season trying it, so I'm a newbie, but I'm convinced for now, and I'm grateful to not have to pay a good deal over $100 every year to top up the beds with mediocre soil that I still have to pump more money into to make the plants possibly feel secure enough to provide us with some groceries. I do recommend putting down some hardware cloth if you have tunneling rodents (we have moles, who wreck the roots but don't eat the plants, but they're followed my the voles, who do…and it is dang difficult to set a trap in soft soil). I'm excited to see you putting in some raised beds, Mr. Travis. Your whole body will love not having to reach all the way to the ground. I wish you nothing but good times ahead! God bless!
4' is a good choice in spacing. 👍
I did the hugekultur method on mine. Logs, sticks and sand from my property filled all but the top 6 inches. Then a 50 50 mix of compost and garden soil from my local nursery for the top 6 inches. I grow big carrots and other deep rooted crops with no problems. And every year between soil being taken out by roots and the substrate breaking down I have room to add compost. I have in ground plots but my raised beds are my dream garden. Hope you enjoy raised bed gardening as much as I do
If I could afford it, wood chips is what I would put between my raised beds to keep the weeds down and I think it would just look nice. I'm constantly having to weed eat around them
Now I know you vote democrat spend your money on you a compact tractor them raised beds for city boys
Mels mix for square foot gardens does well.
I filled my raised bed up about halfway with woodchips around here the electric company has tree trimers that come through and will leave me a lot of free mulch. But I also put a good layer of old hay and straw down on top of that so it would hold moisture better. Then I filled up my new beds with half compost and half really good topsoil which has worked out well. Another thing I would advise is to put down a good heavy landscape fabric that reaches under the beds before you put your mulch down, trust me you won’t regret it. Hope my advice helps you out and good luck with however you choose to make your beds.
i put asparagus in mine
Year 2 will be better than year one with raised beds
I wound up with raised beds because my only available garden spot (30 x 30) is on red clay that is a good 80" deep to bedrock and it just turned into sucking mud whenever it got wet. This year I am replacing my rusted 8 year old galivinized beds with a similar aluzinc brand. I went with one that had extension panels so I could do long beds that are 4 feet wide by 30 feet long. It is a good solution for a space limited suburban home gardener with some really rough soil.
The good thing is also we are older and when our house is eventually sold, one of my kids can take apart the garden beds and reuse in her own garden. It is an epic project because right now we have over 20 yards of great organic soil to transfer over to our new ones.
We went with 17" tall beds even though in our 60s after realizing I could work that height just fine sitting on a turned over 5 gallon pail or kneeling. Makes room for taller crops, too since we do a lot of trellising on our small space. And, yes, they are "no till" beds ;).
One suggestion – 1/4" galvanized hardware cloth under the beds. keeps out the voles and moles.
I had raised beds about 15 years ago. I abandoned them because I could never get the watering right. I’ve been on the ground ever since. All is good on the ground but I’m considering curbing my rows so I can mulch heavy where I walk to slow the weeds down. I will probably use wood I have at first as not to invest too much time or money. I will leave the ends open and use a wheel hoe and drip tape. Time will tell. I’ve enjoyed your input for quite some time now, thanks for what you do!
I'm not sure if you already thought of this but I would set the beds, fill with the broken down wood chips then shovel the walk ways and add that as the top layer since the chickens just went over it then fill the walkways with mulch. You'll get all the nutrients in the top layer of the beds and you'll have more room for the mulch without raising the height of the walkways. I can't wait to see what you do… it will be perfect!
I am wishing I put the few raised beds I built in part shade. I use them mainly as a border. Being 8 inches high pressure treated wood. They dry out fast even with mulch. This summer has literally heat damaged my beans, squash, and cucumbers that were not shaded somewhat. I think I can assume it will happen again next season. Truthfully I have several sectioned off in ground beds, but over time they have become raised beds from all the amendments added in. I also made a planter bed from both halves of a car top carrier with no holes. There are times when I literally put enough water in them to make mud all the way through. Given the amount of p!ants I put in them they would get sucked bone dry in less than a week. In a drought big drain holes are your enemy. Aside from that a person should always have real clay in every bed for minerals and water retention. Many people who buy potting mixes will more frequently open the door to soil contamination from poor ingredients and from unknown sources. I hate potting mixes for that reason. In ground and raised beds all have a mixed bag of benefits and problems.
Great video. Eaglegards…
By using overhead sprinklers you’ll have more trouble with weeds growing between the raised beds. This video was very helpful to me as I was starting out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCM0Tvp6Dko
Some other people have commented that raised beds dry out quickly and they do. Make sure you install drip. Water retention in raised beds doesn’t exist. Mark from “self sufficient me” channel does tall raised beds in a hot wet climate. Might be worth checking out his channel.
Good luck m8. I’m looking forward to the content. God bless you.
My raised beds are about 18" high. I filled the bottom third with fresh un-composted material that would normally go in the compost bins, the middle with partially composted material, and the top third with a homemade potting mix (finished compost, peat moss, perlite and vermiculite). The soil level dropped considerably the first year as the un-composted material broke down of course, but since the beds are for annual vegetables it was easy to raise the soil level with additional homemade potting mix at the end of one season and beginning of another.
I filled my raise beds with peat moss, black cow and top soil. I did an even mixture of this, it was cheap and the soil is very loose and it worked well. I also threw in some rice hulls this created a really nice consistency
just started raised beds this year, and i can tell ya the bug pressure is high on gnats and squash bugs if you put beans in them. grows fast though, and doing them square foot garden style works well for growing. ive added vermiculite in the soil mix
We switched to Vego beds so that we can continue to garden during retirement, it is considerably easier for weeding. They are expensive, we opted for the taller beds so we’re not bending over as much. Some things we still grow in the ground like tomatoes, squash etc.
We like to make arches with our Vego beds. I put 2 beds across from each other and put cattle panels for the arch. I did a cucumber arch and a bean arch this year, next year we plan on adding 4 more. The shorter beds we use for asparagus, carrots etc.
Very excited to see the raised bed project. I think filling it with those composted wood chips as a base is perfect and then use a bagged mix for the top. You could use a combination of your compost, Black Cow, coconut coir, top soil, raised bed mix, etc. Since you will have so many beds it may be better to have it delivered in bulk. Can’t wait to see what you do!!
There is a lumber mill near me and he gives me rotten wood chips. It is a good base for the raised beds. Then finish with compost.
I have raised beds–some deeper than others. One thing I can't stress enough is to put hardware cloth at bottom of each of them.
That way–if you provide cover during colder months–you can stop the burrowing critters from getting inside. if beds are deep enough–adding some logs on top of hardware cloth, then topping with compost–it will act as a sponge and ease watering pressures. Can't wait to see your raised bed gardens.
I use pure composted Gin waste in mine Travis. You’ll need to keep it watered in the hot months, but the results will make you smile.
I love my Vego garden beds !
Great video
Thanks! Due to some mobility issues from a bad work accident I have to use raised beds, working off the ground is uncomfortable. This year I used those fabric like grow bags on short terraces for my tomatoes and poblano peppers and had very good success. Gone a month with my son watering them when needed (they tend to dry out quicker), but doing nothing else they all went jungle like native but produced nicely. Have some soil amendments on me, with the limited space in the bags it is much needed.
Happy yaw are finally getting some raised beds like the rest of us!!! I believe lazy dog should use the hugelkultur method also instead of the old wood chips!!!
Your beds were made in China. Is child slave labor something you aren't concerned about? Birdie beds are made in Australia. Basically the same beds and no Communist Chinese Child Slave labor involved! It's time for EVERYBODY to do a little research before making these on-line purchases!
Sounds like an exciting project!
Oh I just went and looked on their website I really like those raised beds I’m glad you happened to choose them. I have inground garden areas plus I built several raised beds about four years ago out of two by tens. I have the raised beds for the area I call my kitchen garden that’s the stuff I use on a daily basis,tomatoes, lettuce greens herbs etc. my big garden areas are in the ground like for the plants I will use for preserving over the winter and bigger plants like cabbage etc. I really really like these beds I think I will order one and that beautiful blue to start replacing the wood which is beginning to give away. And like you said if you end up moving you can take them with you which is awesome because they are pricey. Thanks Travis😁
We are really excited to see those amazing plans come to life, Travis! We are thrilled to see your community actively sharing their thoughts on this one! We can't wait to check out the Pro-Tips you're going to share with your audience that will definitely make their garden life efficient, convenient, and worthwhile! 🤩