A sunflower that I grew in my family’s raised garden bed last summer.
Last spring, one of the best things my daughters and I did together was designate an area of our yard for a raised garden bed, and started a flower and vegetable garden. We started small and planted sunflowers, peas, tomatoes and sunflowers.
My daughters loved watching the sunflowers grow, and especially liked eating the peas straight out of the garden.
This year, we decided to expand our garden, and bought the same raised garden kit that we purchased last spring from Eartheasy.com, the Farmstead Raised Garden Bed.
Made from Vermont White Cedar, the wood in the raised garden beds don’t have any harmful chemicals that could affect our veggies. Plus, the beds’ slot and peg construction are so easy to put together — I was able to slide and secure the pieces in about 15 minutes top. The assembly is sturdy — my bed from last year is still holding up fine and is weathering the winter well.
I decided to go with a raised garden bed because the soil in my yard is hard clay — so constructing a raised bed and then adding rich soil was a lot easier than amending the existing soil. Plus, having the raised bed should help with drainage and keep the weeds down — last year, there were very few weeds in my family’s veggie plot. Saving time during harvest is also important, which a raised garden bed can also help with because it negates having to squat or bend over to pick your veggies.
My daughters are looking forward to gardening this spring. We hope to plant some peas around St. Patrick’s Day, as a good friend of mine tells me that’s when she usually plants hers, with much success.
Check out this YouTube video from Eartheasy.com on how to install their Farmstead Raised Garden Beds.
I wanted to build a raised garden bed. What wood would be best? Is there any wood that would repel pest?
I think cedar works well — it is also non toxic, if you plan to plant veggies. Good luck!
If you are plainning to plant with deep root sstyem (carrots ) you will need at least 8 . For regular rooting crop like tomato, squash . 6 should be enough. Make sur that your bed is wide enough to allow root spreading and to allow the heat to disipate. Water retention will also be lower in a smaller bed. In a warm zone this can mean more watering. Use a mixture base with a good compost rather than peat moss.Marc
I was thinking of ctearing some 3ft by 5ft raised beds, but don’t know how tall to make the beds. I was planning on using 2 6 s or 2 8 boards, or should they be made higher? Just to go to the 2 8 s instead of the 2 6 s, increases the lumber price to almost double. Thanks, and any advice would be appreciated. I’m trying to make my ugly veggie garden look better and more controlled.
In my garden center magazine it says to measure out the areas and then dig the grass up then turn over on itself. I was looking at doing this myself, and it gave full instructions of how to do a raised garden, and as long as no sunlight gets to it, it will not grow through.
Thanks for the tips!
i just got a raised platner .3 5 and 22in tall. I plan on growing herbs in it (maybe a vegetable, too). What kind of soil/mix of soil should i use to fill it.a cheaper version seems to be 3 cubic foot bags of garden soil by Kellogg any opinions?should I mix in compost..how much?should i add any sand?worms?anything else?I am new to this and want to do it right.Thanks for your help.
Hi — I am new to gardening myself. I just bought a bag of garden soil (from Scotts) from Home Depot, and went with that!
I plan to build a raised garedn bed in my back yard to grow vegetables (tomatoes, squash, etc.). I am planning to raise the bed only about 5.5 from the ground. Is that enough to make a difference or does the bed have to be higher? It seems like there are lots of variations on bed height from about 5.5 to about 30 . I don’t know if this makes a difference, but I am in Zone 7. Thanks for the help.
Sounds good to me if you’re getting enough sun there. A raised bed there should work out fine. You won’t dry out as much. Be sure to add enough well seasoned compost. You can always divert the run off if it is too bad. Go for it!