The walls of raised beds can be constructed of just about anything non-toxic that will hold soil.
Plucking fresh, ripe tomatoes or cucumbers right off a vine in your own backyard is undeniably appealing. No matter how tempting that harvest may be, however, an intimidating vision of a vegetable garden—a large plot of land with crops in long, straight rows—prevents potential gardeners from even planting those vines.
Or maybe it’s a question of space. Not every backyard has room for such extensive plots.
The good news is that you don’t need an acre of land to grow your own food. A few square feet, fashioned into a raised-bed garden, can produce a surprising amount of edible produce.
For the novice or hesitant gardener, a raised bed is an excellent way to begin growing vegetables, says Reece Lyerly, director of Gardening for Good in Greenville.
“Raised beds seem more like gardening and in-ground rows more like farming, so raised beds help new gardeners transition to growing their own food in a defined space,” he says.
Chances are you have enough room for at least one raised bed. Consider the benefits that these small-scale, defined plots offer to a gardener:
- The clearly defined gardening space makes raised beds easier to maintain than typical in-ground plantings. It also makes soil preparation, weeding and planting easier.
- For areas with poorly drained soils or a high water table, raised beds improve soil drainage. This is important, because most vegetables abhor wet feet.
- Raised beds can make use of difficult sites, such as those with poor soil, excessive rocks or even pavement. Raised beds have even been built on old tennis courts and in driveways.
Site selection is crucial. Choose a level area that gets as much sun as possible—at least six hours a day if you’re planning to grow vegetables. Avoid the shade near trees. Not only will shade reduce the bed’s productivity, but tree roots will quickly discover the rich soil of your new bed and compete for water and nutrients.
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A spot near your home and a water source is ideal. The more convenient the bed is to your home, the more likely you are to give it the attention it needs. Raised beds will do well on the south side of a building, because they will get ample sun, and the light and heat reflecting off the structure can help protect the bed from cold snaps.
Designing your raised bed
Bed design is all about personal preference. Your imagination and budget are the only limits. Lyerly encourages gardeners to be creative when choosing materials for their beds. Recycled materials, such as broken concrete sidewalk, may be more affordable for people on a limited budget than pressure-treated lumber, synthetic lumber or stone.
“They can be built out of anything non-toxic that holds the soil in the beds,” Lyerly says. “Dry-stacked materials, like concrete blocks or rock, work great and allow flexibility to redesign the garden later.”
Rectangular beds are the easiest shape to construct from dimensional lumber. Design the bed so you can reach the center without ever walking in the planting area—usually 3 to 4 feet wide, depending on your reach. Raised beds should be at least 8 to 12 inches deep to provide a good planting depth. Anything less than 6 inches is basically just a border.
Walking space around your bed should be at least 2 feet wide in order to accommodate rototillers and wheelbarrows. Lining the paths with weed-barrier fabric and placing a layer of mulch or gravel on top will make them attractive, functional and low maintenance.
If you have good native soil, use that as the basis for your bed. Filling your new planting area with pure organic matter, such as compost or potting soil, may seem like a good idea, but soils with more than 20 percent organic matter tend to dry out quickly and degrade rapidly. They won’t hold nutrients as well as blends with native soil, so they’ll need more frequent watering and fertilizing. Instead, add 2 or 3 inches of compost, pine bark or other organic material to the native soil and till it all together to a depth of 6 to 8 inches. Adding a similar amount of organic matter each year will help maintain excellent soil for the long term.
To establish new beds, Lyerly recommends “double digging” the soil beneath the planting area.
To double dig a bed, remove the top 10 to 12 inches of soil and set it aside. Insert a spading fork as deeply as it will go into the soil beneath to break it up, and mix in compost. Then generously mix additional compost to the soil that was removed and return it to the bed. This extra effort will prepare the soil 20 inches deep, yielding better drainage, aeration and moisture retention, and will benefit the bed for years to come.
“Double digging gives an even greater rooting depth for the plants to grow in, allowing you to build shorter bed heights, which translates into cheaper construction costs,” Lyerly advises.
After the bed is filled, submit a sample of the blended soil to your Clemson Extension Office for testing. Follow any recommendations for needed additions of lime or fertilizer, and your bed will be ready to plant.
Planting and caring for your garden
The sky is the limit when it comes to choosing which vegetables and herbs to plant. You could plant just one crop, but I recommend mixing crops of various sizes that mature at different times. Known as interplanting, this process creates variety, extends your harvest and reduces the risk of crop failure due to pests or disease. A trellis in your garden will allow you to include vining plants.
Water your raised-bed garden as needed. Hand watering is easy in a raised bed; just be sure to water the soil, not the leaves, to prevent disease.
Inspect your crops daily for pest insects or disease. If caught early, most problems can be remedied by simply removing the pests by hand or plucking off diseased leaves. Yellowing leaves and poor growth are signs of nitrogen-deficient soil, which can be remedied with natural fertilizers such as calcium nitrate or fish emulsion applied at or near the roots. Liquid fertilizers from a hose-end sprayer are another alternative.
Daily inspections will be more fun when it comes time to harvest. Bring a basket to collect the ripe produce you’ll soon be enjoying from your backyard garden.
S. CORY TANNER is an area horticulture agent and Master Gardener coordinator for Clemson Extension based in Greenville County. Contact him here.