Raised Beds

I have added a couple of raised beds to my yard in an attempt to extend my garden outside of my garden area. I have strawberry beds in the front yard, one for dill hidden in the back corner, others for vegetables that I will be moving this year into my main garden. All of my beds vary in size and depth so in order to fill them I had to get creative as I do not have great soil on my property to draw from. Knowing my plants need about 14 inches of good soil to grown in, not all my beds needed to be filled from the bottom with good bedding soil but over time I wanted what I used for filler to add to the soil quality. I did have to purchase my bedding soil from a garden center which was not cheap so I layered my beds with a variety of material according to size.

The largest beds got larger pieces of bark and sticks in the base layer, medium ones did not need the added sticks or large pieces of bark, the smallest only needed some mulch. What I always have an abundance of is bark from the firewood we cut every year. Nearby were some slash piles that were mulched up and shipped out to a local pulp mill, leaving behind a good layer of fresh mulched wood that I could easily gather into bins to transport. I also live close to a large river with nice clean sand to mix into my soil as needed, again easily gathered into bins. Recently we did clear a small section of our yard of small brush and young trees which I had broken down into smaller size sticks.

Using material like freshly cut and mulched wood has its problems. As the wood decomposes it is too hot to place directly around my plants but overtime it will degrade to a point that it will feed my plants the needed nitrogen they lack so I use that as the first layer in my beds. Low enough to not affect my plants directly but may also provide a heat mat affect for my seedlings. Providing the benefit now of not only a filler but as it breaks down it will continue to feed the soil below and compress giving the soil above room to settle leaving more room to add compost and good soil on top next year, continuing the layering process into the future.

The second layer I used was top soil I purchased which is cheaper than potting soil and compost. It served as added filler but also a good foundational layer of soil for my plants. As the compost on top is watered it will wash through this second layer and blend the nutrients throughout. It will also compact into the base layer of mulch composting below.

My third and final layer is organic compost and potting soil. Potting soil does not compact like top soil giving my new plants roots room to grow and stretch and the compost helps to feed them. I opted out of using any sand but if I were to have planted any potatoes in these beds I would have wanted to mix the sand in with the top soil, as top soil tends to compact harder than potatoes would tend to thrive in, the sand would help provide the space for them to grow larger and with less scarring.

This is a pretty standard model for creating a layer system of bedding. I will be adding a compost area to may garden as well to continue this process in the future and cut down on the extra costs of material. This can be labor intensive to begin with so don't feel like it all needs to be done at once. You can easily add beds year after year, start with the basics - a couple plots for your essential plants. Then each season add something new, do not overwhelm yourself, enjoy your garden and the process.