Raised Vegetable Garden Beds

This has been a bigger project than expected. We have an area in our yard that is exposed to sun almost all day long. It is a great location for a garden, however, it is a little wet. Last year, the vegetable garden did not do too well because it went in late and it flooded several times. So, one of my top priority projects this spring was to install some raised growing beds. Unfortunately, it was another wet winter/spring around here and the soil has just reached a point where it is workable. So, we are starting late again this year, but, better late than never.

In keeping with acronym W-O-R-D, from The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible, I planned out three rectangular plots 4 feet wide. Before beginning the construction of the beds, I went over the garden twice with the rototiller. I mixed in several wheel barrow loads of good black compost from the bottom of our compost pile. I also wanted to keep with the theme of “Home Improvement, with an eye toward sustainability,” so looked around at materials that were locally available for making the beds.

One thing we have a lot of around here is stone. Lots of stones and rocks that range in size from pebbles to boulders. I decided that I would use this supply of stone to make the walkways and build the raised beds themselves. In my opinion, stone is a better product than wood because it won’t rot or degrade, is plentiful and free. Also available from several local sand and gravel quarries crushed stone. I purchased 2 yards of 1 and 2 inch crushed blue stone. The price of crushed stone is $30.00 per yard, which is inexpensive. However, the delivery charge was actually more than the stone itself, what with the fuel surcharge tacked on at the end.

In any case, I began by digging out the pathway around the outside of the plot. These pathways are about 4 to 6 inches deep. The dirt from the pathways was used to make the raised beds. I laid down some heavy duty landscaping cloth to keep the stones from integrating with the soil below and disappearing. I placed several of the larger natural stones that I raked up from various projects around the yard over the last three years on the landscaping cloth.

I also made a sifter out of 1/2 inch chicken wire and a 2 x 4 frame. With the sifter, I was able to remove almost all of the rocks and stones from the soil that went into the raised beds. These rocks were also placed on the landscaping cloth in the pathways. Finally, I topped it off with a layer of crushed stone. I used the crushed stone as a bed to set the bed retaining stones on.

Interestingly, I think I found an arrow head while sifting the dirt. That is not too far of a stretch since there was a large settlement of Esopus Indians (more properly a branch of the Delawares) about a mile away before the area was settled by the Dutch. It would seem likely that this place would have been a prime hunting area for them. The “arrowhead” is made of a flinty slate like stone, clearly very sharp as I found out when it stuck in the end of my thumb and has pretty distinct tooling marks on it. I would post a picture of it but it has been temporarily misplaced. When it turns up again, I’ll take it to the local collage and have them look at it.

As I said, this was a lot of work and it probably would have gone a lot faster if I had bought some rough sawn cedar and made the beds out of wood. That would have been a more expensive option, and over time, even cedar will rot. This way I know these beds will be there for a long, long time.

As of now, the project is about half way finished, the first bed has already been planted. Hopefully next weekend it will be completed.