Raised Bed width and ideas ??

[dmbenson]

I've decided to just give up on the weeds this year, and go virtually (except for corn) 100% raised beds for my garden - besides, that ground level stuff is getting old - along with me .

So I scored a bundle of 'slabs' (and can get as many as I want at $30 bundle - the sawmill sells bundles as firewood) - the rounded edges of logs that they cut off when making boards - bark on. Each 'slab' is just over 8' long, and varying widths and thicknesses. That part isn't a problem since I'm fine with the 'rustic' look and can mix and match to get the roughly 2' height I'm looking for. My question is what width would y'all recommend for raised beds? I'm thinking 2.5-3' but I don't know for sure. I know there's an issue with reaching into the center if they're too wide, and whatever else I want to make life easier on myself . I was thinking that each bed will most likely be about 6' long but I could go the full 8' length of the slabs if I wanted to - based on 1 bed = 1 or 2 types of vegetables. And then a 2-2.5 walkway between most of the beds with a central pathway wide enough for my rubbermaid cart to go down. (the main garden area is only about 30x20ish, so we're not talking masses and masses of room at best. I was planning on putting down non-woven, non plastic (think the gray stuff) weed barrier over the whole space, setting my beds on top of it, (and of course filling them with compost/top soil) and then mulching the ever loving heck out of the paths between them, since it's virtually impossible to get any kind of mower down to where the garden is (if it was I'd just plant grass between them).

Any ideas? What am I missing that I'm going to be really really sorry that I didn't think of BEFORE I get these heavy suckers set up and filled?

[Lannie]

I have mine at 4 feet wide, and the pathways in between them are the width of the push mower. That way, the weeds can be mowed down when they start getting too long in the pathways. Before that, the walkways were too narrow and I had to hand pull all the weeds as they got big enough to hang over and drop seeds into the beds. So make sure you can get a mower in there, if you think you'll ever need to mow the pathways. I haven't done this yet, but I think it would be nice to get some grass seed and just plant grass in between, then keep the grass between the beds mowed. It would be pleasant to walk on, and as long as it was thick enough, it would (hopefully) choke out any weed growth between the beds.

Anyway, the 4 foot wide beds are good because you never have to reach farther than 2 feet from either side, and I can just scoot my folding chair along beside the beds and pull the weeds from the beds with no contortions required. I lost the ability to squat or kneel to pull weeds several years ago - my knees are just too old and abused to do that anymore.

~Lannie

[Lannie]

I apparently didn't read your last paragraph... forget my idea of the grass and mower thing... (I must be in a hurry or something, I USUALLY read posts in their entirety before responding.)

~Lannie

[Debbie Lincoln]

You will still have to pull weeds out of the mulch. And I think the "weed guard" underneath makes it harder to pull them out . Roots get into it and you cannot use a spade to dig it out.

[farmerchris]

I did this for several years. The slabs that I got were Cedar. If you can't get the mower down there how about just a weed eater?--for between teh rows.

My rows were about 2 foot wide, and the path between was about as wide as a good sized riding mower, about 36-42", but the tomato plants always spilled over in to the walk way--even though I tied them to the cattle panel fence that I put in the center of the row., so I suggest wider that 42".

[kristi]

Some vegetables need a really deep root system. Have you considered putting down paper (feed bags with no plastic liner, old newsprint, etc) down inside the raised bed area? They'll rot eventually but in the mean time will help kill the grass beneath. Also, weedeating in between rows BEFORE the grass grows up and drops those seeds inside your beds is ultra important. Another is to put in plenty of mulch - if you have to weed it helps that the roots will be loose. And depending on how much you plan on growing my Dad plants corn in his raised beds. They're about 30' long and he gets 2 rows in there. Enough to eat fresh or freeze some ears, not enough if we're making creamed corn. Just a few thoughts for you.

[vkrussell]

Don't forget to put down chicken wire or something similar to stop the critters that tunnel under your beds to get to your veggies... We forgot to do that and have had some issues with moles.

We put down layers of feed sacks to kill off the grass and that seems to have worked well. Our beds did settle almost half way down this year, so we just finished mixing soil, compost and sand to fill them back up again.

You will love raised beds!!!

[dmbenson]

Well I'm in the process of building them - 2 different sizes - all of them 2' high and then either 8'x3' or 5'x3 feet (to maximize the length of the slabs I have. I'm filling the bottom half of each with not yet composted used straw/grass hay from the goats and llamas and will fill the top half with compost/topsoil mixed. I'll probably have to get a bag of vermiculite or perlite to mix in as well since the bulk top soil I can get here tends to remind me of heavy sand . I'm keeping them 3 feet apart and 3 feet away from the fence, so I won't have as many as some might be able to get in, but I'll have plenty of room to maneuver, and I figure I'll be able to maximize production since I won't be harvesting mostly weeds ;D. I know I'll have to 'top' them off as the bottom half composts, and I'm expecting that - but one thing about having this farm - I'll NEVER run out of compost - goat, llama, rabbit, horse, cow, poultry - it's all good (and plentiful )!

Now if I can just survive the building and filling part, I can sit back and enjoy......

If I can get my camera to work, I'll take some pictures 'in progress'.

[ramblinrose]

dmbenson I know this is an old thread but I'm curious as to how your raised beds worked out for you? I'm going to build some for my garden this spring.