How to Start a Raised Bed Garden
- 1). Mark out the shape of one or more rectangular raised beds with stakes and strings, choosing the sizes based on the space you have available. Allow a walkway between each bed that's at least 2 feet wide, though 3 or 4 feet is recommended if you want to get a wheelchair or wheelbarrow in between the beds.
- 2). Dig a hole in the corner of each bed 6 inches deep with a spade and set a 4-by-4-by-18-inch post in it. Fill in the hole, pressing the dirt around the post to hold it upright. Also set a post in the middle of any side that's 8 feet or longer.
- 3). Measure the distance from the outside edge of each corner post to the outside edge of the next one and saw two 1-by-6-inch boards for each side of the beds. Fasten the boards one above the other to the posts, using three 3-inch nails or screws to attach the end of each board to the post. Drill pilot holes if you use screws.
- 4). Dig a trench 12 inches deep and as wide as your spade across the end of the first bed, just inside the boards. Pile the soil outside the other end of the bed. Dig a trench next to the first one, dumping the soil loosely into the first trench. Add a mix of compost and good topsoil also, so the loose soil in the first trench comes up almost to the top of the boards. Dig a third trench, piling the soil into the second trench along with more added compost or topsoil. Continue working down the bed digging and refilling trenches to loosen the soil, until you come to the other end. Use the soil you piled outside the bed to fill in the final trench.
- 5). Rake the surface level. Plant vegetables or flowers spaced the normal recommended distance apart in their rows, but instead of leaving a wider row to walk between them, space them the same distance the other way, too, and tend them from outside the bed, without stepping on the soil.
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