I have had "raised beds" in my garden for over 10 years because if we plant straight into the soil it becomes so hard and compact it chokes the plants. The raised beds work extremely well. I till the entire area and then rake the soil up from the paths so that it makes the raised beds. I also don't put anything along the sides as the soil stays put. This has enable me to have a VERY fruitful garden year after year including carrots and potatoes because they have a nice area to grown "down" into.

We are using a raised be technique sin our food garden We are utilizing old railroad ties, that have long lost their creosote finish. I had used this technique years ago in Florida and am hoping it works as well in South Dakota.beds are 4 feet wide and 8 feet long allowing for easy access from both sides of the bed.

This is our first year to plant a garden. I live in the TX panhandle and have very poor soil. We are using 2 4'x8'raised beds with organic garden soil. Hopefully everything will grow good for us.

This is our first year to plant a garden. I live in the TX panhandle and have very poor soil. We are using 2 4'x8'raised beds with organic garden soil. Hopefully everything will grow good for us.

I have gardened both ways, and for me, especially now with a bad back, I would only use raised beds. It really is not that labor intensive; I make wooden squares, staple weedblock all along one side, flip it over, fill(compost, manure, perlite, peatmoss) and garden. I have them spaced out and plan on adding gravel for a comfortable path. For now, since I am slowly expanding the garden, I am using chicken wire and tall (5') stakes as a "fence" to keep deer, rabbits and my dog out! :-D

Peace,
ivy, ny

When my bend-over quit working, my son built me 4 raised beds out of untreated landscaping timbers. The strawberry bed is 2X8 feet with a squirrel blocking hardware cloth lid. The other 3 are 4X8'.

I can sit on the edge of any of the larger ones and reach half-way across it for pulling weeds or tending plants. When I get done with one side, I just go sit on the other side.

Without these sit-down beds, I wouldn't be able to have a garden at all.

Our soil is pretty nice; loamy with good drainage. I like to grow with the intensive methods in narrow island beds. I am putting in 5" walls. The main purpose is to keep the lawn from invading the beds. Better 15 minutes of weed-whacking every week than hours fighting the grass.

I have 4' of sand before I hit any form of earth; I built a 24" raised bed and filled them with 6 cy yd of planting soil; I also used a double layer of landscape fabric on the bottom and up the sides of the boxes. Originally did a 10" bed but could not keep up with the lack of water. So far, everything is growning like mad and the soil is damp longer using a drip system; time will tell if this works but I like it and you do not have to bend over very much to work it.

Starbaby wrote:
Our soil is 100% Sand, like a beach. It drains too fast. We are planning Raised Beds this year with some sort of fabric on the bottom to slow the water from draining too fast. Does anyone have a suggestion for the fabric?

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A thin layer of rockwool felt should work well for you. Use the type without the aluminum foil backing. The type that is held together with wire mesh will last longer than the type without. Sandwich the rockwool between two layers of landscape fabric or drain sleeve fabric. Pin it in place with garden staples so that it wont shift every time it swells with water. Good luck.

I live in Arizona and our soil is mostly clay in very poor soil. Not to mention that we bought our home in a planned community so who knows what kind of building materials were dumped on our lot before it was built on. Raised beds solved both these problems. We did have to buy better soil to fill our beds in with but we also mixed in some native soil to help the plants acclimate to that as well. We mixed in compost and mulched the surface with wood chips. Our garden is only a year and half old but it is already thriving and uses minimal water, even in the 115 degree summers.

Our soil is 100% Sand, like a beach. It drains too fast. We are planning Raised Beds this year with some sort of fabric on the bottom to slow the water from draining too fast. Does anyone have a suggestion for the fabric?

I have raised beds, too. There are lots of rocks in our soil and it dries out quickly, as well, so beds made more sense. This year I am going to try to catch rain to water them as they do dry out in the summer.

I also make "raised" beds the same way as Cheryl. I till the whole area, and then rake the excess dirt from the pathways into the beds. I don't use any type of sides and the dirt usually stays. I also use composted horse manure as a top dressing on a lot of my plants which further builds the bed up.

I agree that raised beds are definately more work to make, but for us folks with less than ideal soil (made up mostly of rocks and clay), raised beds are sometimes the only alternative.