Quick! Get your raised bed going!
(Our job is to make it simple. Your job is to take a leap of faith and try.)
BRAINS REQUIRED (Dif]iculty): BODIES REQUIRED:
1. Your Frame Beds should never be wider than 4 feet. This is because the average person can only reach 2 feet. With a 4 foot wide bed you can reach your whole garden without ever stepping on the soil. Stepping in your bed compacts the soil (making weeding more dif]icult) and is dangerous to small growing things. Take a tip from the masters and keep it 4 feet wide. We prefer our beds to be 4X4 or 4X6, but the length is up to you! If you’re planning on putting a bed next to a fence or house, just build it 2 ft wide since you can only reach in from one direction.
How to build a 4x4 bed frame a. Get two 2x8x8ft boards. b. Cut in half. (Most home improvement stores will do this for you.) c. Mark your ends with crayons or markers (]igure 1)
Figure 1
d. Lay out boards. Blue sides cover red ends. (]igure 2)
e. Join, using 3” wood screws, If you’re extra thrifty and imaginative, 2 per joint to create a consider recycled wood. Some towns have stable, square bed. (Your recycling centers where folks drop off wood 1/2 person can help by of all kinds that you can repurpose into beds. holding parts in place.) Make sure you ]ind untreated wood as treated wood can leach chemicals into your soil. Beds you build out of recycled materials may not be give you exact square foot dimensions, but that’s ]ine. You just make some minor adjustments when you’re planting. (And we’ll tell you how when the time comes.)
Figure 2
If you’re not up for fabricating your own bed, you can always use a pre-‐fab design. Beds kits can be found at most home improvement stores. Pallet collars also work well (although they’re not in even square foot dimensions-‐ it’s okay, don’t worry!). 2. Place Your Beds Make sure you put your beds where they’ll get 6 to 8 hours of sun each day. The nearer your beds are to your house, the easier it will be to water and harvest. When you place your beds, make sure you leave aisles so that you can push your wheelbarrow and lawnmower between them.
Here’s an example of what you might ]ind at a recycling center.