Ultimate Raised Beds
I dream of a day when these beds are scattered across our nation. The idea itself is not at all unique, I am simply hoping that I can demonstrate to you a way to make it practical or worthwhile . . . or inspire you to create a way to do that yourself.
For me and many others, one of the most difficult aspects of gardening is all of the bending down that you have to do.
You have to bend to weed, bend to plant seeds, bend to plant starts . . . and that is a lot of bending. Of course, the older you get, the more difficult that can become. I have given a lot of thought on how to make waist high raised beds that would allow people to garden without ever having to bend at all. At most all they would have to do is reach forward a little.
There are many ways that this can be accomplished, so let me just share my thoughts with you.
You can construct the walls of the beds from concrete, block, or even add the stones from your garden to your concrete. Pressure treated wood or railroad ties would not be a very good choice especially if you are planting vegetables. I would be remiss if I did not mention that they could indeed be constructed from "plastic lumber" made from recycled plastic.
As far as how high to build the walls, that would depend on the height of those who will use them. A large project that will serve many gardeners would have raised beds of varying heights to accommodate a variety of people.
Ideally, the beds would be wide enough to allow for gardening from both sides. A dividing row running down the middle is an option, but not necessary.
You could have a long one sided bed that is built into a hill, but that would be no cheaper to construct than a wider two sided bed that would be half as long but serve just as many gardeners.
Now what do you fill these beds with?
There are several options in the "dirt" category. You would not want to waste your best topsoil more than a foot below your planting surface. Your "fill" can contain clay, rocks, and gravel provided it can retain some moisture, and at the same time is able to drain.
I prefer and recommend you consider going another route.
Fill your beds with wood chips gathered from local tree trimmers(provided it is free). If you have a source that has been sitting for at least 2 years, that would be ideal, but even if your chips are fresh, they will still work. Especially with fresh chips, you will want to use those with the highest amount of leaves (those taken from trees in full leaf). If your chips aren't too fresh, you can fill your beds nearly to the top, even after packing them down as tight as you can.
You will only need to leave about 1 - 2 inches of "space"at the top.
Now you are probably wondering how we can fill the beds that full with chips . . . or worrying about the settling that is sure to take place. Well, here is how I would do it.
Fill your beds with chips nearly to the top as I said, and then add your top soil on top of the chips. What you want to do however is mound your soil so that in the center of your bed it sits well above the top height of your wall.
This way, the growing space slopes toward the gardener, and at the same time it allows you to over fill your beds to compensate for the settling that is sure to come.
By adding a steady supply of compost mulch throughout the year including a heavy layer of shredded leaves in the fall, you should be able to maintain a "filled" bed.
The question may be raised as to what direction the beds should run.
If all things are equal and both sides are used, but by different gardeners, always try to run north to south so that one gardens from the east side, and another gardens from the west.
If you run the beds east to west, you can plant the heat loving plants on the south facing "slope" and those crops that prefer cooler conditions on the north side of the bed. Remember, your "hill" isn't going to be that big, so anything will grow on either side.
Finally, as much as you are able, I would definitely plan to have gaps built into and scattered all throughout your walls. This will allow you to plant trailing flowers that will hang down the sides . .. or strawberries would do well there too. They would be growing out of "spaces" in your walls, so they would not interfere with what you are growing in your bed above.
