So You Want a Garden: Raised Beds

It's getting prettier outside, in case you haven't noticed: in fact, this is one of the earliest and warmest springs I can remember.  So, assuming you about a month ago, they're halfway on their journey to your garden. This means you'll need a place to put them once our last-frost date of May 15 comes around!

I've done the old-fashioned gardening thing before.  You know -- strip the top few inches of soil, dig two shovelfuls down, remove rocks, break up clay, work in organic matter and fertilizer.  It is achingly, sunburningly, cursingly difficult work.  Not to mention that once you're "finished," the larger project of weeding will never end; those little devils won't sleep until the "plot" is indistinguishable from the rest of your yard.

So last year I tried something different.  My dad built me two raised beds and filled them with equal parts vermiculite, peat and compost.  We laid a grid on top and planted seeds.  We watered and waited.

And? Sweet, juicy cantaloupes; crunchy, spicy radishes; bowlsful of tart, firm tomatoes.  Minimal weeding and watering.  The stuff grew like magic.

I wish I could say I'd come to this revelation on my own, but in fact I read Mel Bartholomew's book, All-New Square Foot Gardening.  The system, so easy it's almost embarassing, is built on a few basic premises:

• Gardening is all about the soil. This is why we spend so many hours building it up, year after year.  The funny thing is that
• Very little soil is necessary.  Bartholomew used to recommend raised beds be 12 inches deep, but he discovered 6 was plenty.  I used 9 in mine because I just couldn't believe it, but at the lowest parts of the garden, where the level was closer to 6 inches, the crops grew just as well.
• Most gardens waste a lot of space.  Think about it: if you plant a row of carrots, you have to leave enough space to be able to walk between it and the next row, so you're losing a lot of valuable horticultural real estate.  In the square-foot method, you plant in a grid so you can use every bit of every square.  To grow the amount of produce in a traditional garden, Bartholomew explains, simply remove 80 percent of the space and plant in raised square-foot beds instead.

You really should read the book, since it explains all of this in more detail, but the information below is all you need to get started:

1. Pick a spot.  Raised beds can go anywhere, but choose a location that drains well and receives appropriate light for your crops.  Most herbs and vegetables need full sun; many flowers and leafy greens prefer partial shade.  Keep in mind that bushes, furniture and houses cast shadows for part of the day, too!
2. Prepare the area.  We tore up an unused section of our asphalt driveway and put the box right on top of the gravel bed.  If you want to plant on a section of your lawn, kill off the grass first; there are numerous methods, including turning over the sod, laying a thick layer of newspaper and "sweating" with a tarp. Some of these methods can take several weeks, though effort is minimal.
3. Build your box.  You need 6-inch boards, 1 or 2 inches thick, in increments of one foot.  Bartholomew recommends free wood, and I can't argue with that; often construction sites have leftover pieces they'll sell cheaply or give away. Avoid lumber that's been painted or pretreated, as those chemicals will leach into the soil.  When it comes down to it, all you have to do is nail 4 pieces together to make a square -- my friend's two teenagers built several dozen for their family in very little time!
4. Fill the box with equal parts coarse vermiculite, peat moss and "blended" compost.  For the blend, use small amounts of every type you can find: look for plant builder, soil booster, humus, organic matter, worm castings, and manure. Measure by volume and simply dump it all into your box; use a shovel or rake to mix and smooth it.
5. Plant in a grid.  Some people don't like the look of a grid, but it does help to keep track of where things go.  Honestly, once your plants are growing like mad, you'll hardly see it.  If you really object, simply construct a makeshift grid out of string and remove it after you've planted; your plans will be properly spaced even though the grid is no longer visible.  This adorable (and free!) online designer will make a planner out of the freest spirit!

Once more, I have to recommend you read the book for yourself: there are sections on starting and maintaining a , designing and varying bed styles (he has some lovely pyramid-shaped gardens as well as raised beds on tables for gardeners with limited mobility) and useful planting charts and instructions.  One of my favorite features is a list of all the crops you can grow in one season using one four-foot square bed: it's simply mind-boggling, and an encouraging incentive to start the project right away.