This epic wet weather in the North State over the past few weeks has me holed up and dreaming about my spring planting of seeds. I am working on expanding my raised beds for vegetables from the existing two to a productive six beds – each about 3 feet wide, 12 feet long and 2 feet deep. Photo: Raised beds framed in cedar in an enclosed and formal home garden.
My beds are “framed,” meaning the beds are contained within non-dirt walls. My two original beds are were built by my husband and framed out of wood; the new beds will also be built by my husband and will be framed out of stacking cement “stones,” and they will be arranged in a more formal, less utilitarian arrangement than my original two. Photo: More wood-framed raised beds in a home garden setting, this one owned by Hal Mackey of Chico. These beds are less formal and the branches crossed over the beds demonstrate how easy it is to protect young seedlings from squirrels and rabbits in such a controlled environment.
Besides framed raised beds such as mine, the terms actually refers to any gardening done with soil that is raised above natural ground level – so planting in berms or in small mounds, such as cultures have done since the beginning of recorded time with crops such as squash, corn and beans. As far as that goes, I guess all containers are really just raised bed on a small scale? Photo: Some of the world’s most famous vegetable gardens are at Villandry, a chateau in France’s Loire Valley. The potager, or kitchen garden, much of which is in raised beds, is one that others the world over are modeled after.
Denise Kelly, owner of The Plant Barn Nursery and Gifts in Chico, is a long-time gardener and a long-time believer in the benefits of raised beds. From the large and formal raised bed vegetable garden that she grew in Durham for many years, to smaller more bungalow-style raised-bed pocket gardens, she has worked in raised beds for many reasons over the years. Photo: Raised beds are not just for vegetables – these raised beds in the gardens at Skylake Gardens in Durham, California, feature roses and culinary herbs.
“I like to think of them as ‘enabled gardening’,” she says laughing. “Raised beds enable you to do so much – with less effort and in many cases with less space – just space that is more efficiently used.” Denise likes raised-beds enough that she did a lot of searching in order to find some good raised-bed kits to offer for sale at the nursery in order to encourage customers to try raised beds.
“So many benefits come with a well-built raised bed,” Denise starts by telling me. Here’s her short list:
1. With a raised bed of any kind, you can easily control the soil – its nutrient levels, its pH levels, its porosity or drainage. Photo: This raised perennial bed in the home garden of Alicia Stewart of Chico is raised just six to eight inches and held in place with informal river rock edging. The slight raising of the bed allows for better drainage and easier feeding and mulching of the plants. “If you want to grow root crops,” Denise suggests at least a 10 inch depth to your raised bed.
2. Because a raised bed is very clearly delineated from the surrounding soil, and is most often designed for one gardener to reach all parts of it from outside of the bed, the soil is never compacted from being walked on and it remains light, friable and aerated.
3. Because you are building the beds without having to incorporate paths in them, you do not waste good soil conditions and you can grow more fruit/vegetables/flowers in less overall soil space used.
4. Because the soil is more likely to be well aerated, it is more easily worked earlier in the season, and because the bed is more easily isolated and covered, the soil in a raised bed often warms more quickly than ground-level soil. Both of these facts help to extend your growing season and increase your yield. Photo: These raised beds are higher than most, sitting at close to 40 inches tall – but they keep household dogs out of them and allow children and adults easy working access.
5. Raised beds are perfect for critter control! If you have trouble with gophers. moles or voles – build your raised beds with one or two layers of hardware cloth on the bottom of the bed and you will be protected for several years. The hardware cloth can rust out eventually, but it is easy enough to did the bed out and put down a fresh layer of the barrier material in two to three years. If household children, pets, backyard rabbits, squirrels or birds are your biggest enemies, raised beds are far also more easily caged than standard row crops.
6. Now I know that most of you out there reading this or listening to the radio portion are really young and very fit – so don’t take me the wrong way when I point out that raised bed gardening is incredibly easy on the back. The gardener does not have to bend as far to dig or rake or harvest or weed and this pays off over a long season. Your lower back will thank you. Photo: Mounded rows of strawberries and artichokes employ some of the easiest raised bed techniques.
7. Raised beds are easily irrigated and fed, and because you are only watering/feeding soil on which crops are growing, they are far more water conserving and environmentally conscious than standard field growing for the home gardener. However, because they are not fully integrated into the native soil, they can also be depleted of nutrients more quickly and so should be top-dressed with a nutrient-rich compost every season.
8. Because raised beds are parts of the greater whole, they are easily controlled for both growth and aesthetics – you can arrange them in patterns or build them into spaces that are not useful for other things. This makes them both handy AND beautiful. Photo: While raised bed gardening may not make sense for large-scale production gardens, they are ideal for cramped urban situations such as here, the renowned River Walk in San Antonio, Texas.
Finally, Denise recommends never using treated wood to build your raised beds as the chemical preservatives could leach into the soil. She points out at once your sight is chosen and your beds are constructed, you can either buy soil by the bag or order it to be delivered by the yard. A mix of at least half compost and half good quality top soil is a standard formula for a ‘planter’s mix’ in raised beds built for vegetable and or fruit growing. Try your local landscape supply or sand and gravel yard for a good soil mix delivered by the yard. Photo: Denise Kelly at The Plant Barn in Chico.
Besides that, she recommends you get going and give it a try. Raised beds may just raise the expectations you have for your garden.
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In a North State Garden is a weekly Northstate Public Radio and web-based program celebrating the art, craft and science of home gardening in Northern California and made possible in part by the Gateway Science Museum – Exploring the Natural History of the North State and on the campus of CSU, Chico. In a North State Garden is conceived, written, photographed and hosted by Jennifer Jewell – all rights reserved jewellgarden.com. In A North State Garden airs on Northstate Public Radio Saturday mornings at 7:34 AM Pacific time and Sunday morning at 8:34 AM Pacific time. Podcasts of past shows are available here.
