as I have pointed out many times -perhaps to the point of becoming annoying, I live on a rock. coral limestone under the thinnest veneer of truly weak dirt. no choice but to raise the gardens and fill with organic soil, compost and sand.
we have two corrugated metal beds and one exactly as @ClutchLinkey describes of untreated 2x12s filled with our soil mix that we call our “ground garden”. we cover that with a moisture holding mesh to keep the chickens out. right now there are squash and pole beans growing there:
the two “raised” beds currently planted with Asian greens and the other has peppers. the space between the two give us a place for a shelf to place starter pots and flowering plants for bees:
in addition there is another, small bed built as @cannibalpeas describes, with block wall. it does stay cooler and wetter during the very hot summer months. it also gets greens, cucumbers and sweetpeas:
we have had great success with all of these boxes, but do have to add soil, compost and mulch twice a year (we typically get two full growing seasons a year) and the gardens are always growing someting, greens mostly until the bees show up, then the veggies. truly freeze and frost proof zone 11 on an island between the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, we can grow some interesting things almost year-round.
couldn’t do it without the raised beds.
Snapshot of The Now:
Soil lab test? try not to use the county extension office soil test lab, usually they slack off and send out “results” based on zipcodes
Since you already know about soil horizons, here’s the short version of what I’d do about restoring freaked out, wrecked up soil, roughly in order:
Sheet mulching.1 Takes a fair bit of biomass: unsprayed cut grass, fallen leaves, kitchen waste, spent coffeegrounds from coffee places (they will cheerfully fill a bin you leave out back by their service door) or if nothing else is available, wood chipper landscape trucks who will dump their truck- or trailer-load of chipped wood (caution, high carbon, so some introduction of N will be needed) for some cash and gratitude. See: https://www.permaculturenews.org/2021/12/25/sheet-mulching/ and https://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/9-easy-steps-sheet-mulching
See Step 3. Fallow out at least one growing season. For really freaked out soil, go for two fallowings (the cool season and the warm season; cover crop according to seasonal requirements).
Buy (veg) starts, plug them in through the die-back of cover crops (below). If you can soak your plugs in compost tea (just throw them in, containers and all, in a shallow pan, the night before planting day), all the better. If you have some B-complex vitamins at hand, take one tab per 5-gallon buck of water, dissolve well, and flood the new planting holes for the next few weeks with this fabulous low-tech version of Superthrive. You can do this soak-then-plant with seaweed emulsion (it does not burn, it’s safe, dilute acc to label directions) (Maxicrop can be hard to find in some areas and yes it ain’t cheap). They both reduce transplant shock. They do different things in the soil though, both are likely to be needed.
End of season: steps 2, 3.
If it were me, I’d skip all the heavy feeders like nightshades in the first season.
This is TOO BIG arrrrrgh!
Page 64 is where the fun starts.
Beware of sprayed hay, animal manures from cows, horses, sheep that have eaten sprayed hay.
This family of pesticides (herbicides) poisons the soil for a minimum of 3 years and nothing but maybe grass can grow on it. In such a case, raised beds with sealed bottoms and side-drains aka “big container gardening” is the only safe effective way to garden.
Yeah, this is a great way to start any bed, though you could eliminate some steps if you’ve already got good soil. Otoh, compost tea won’t hurt a thing and is always welcome.
Well, a ton of work for her. Unfortunately, I live about 1,400 miles away and haven’t been able to visit since the pandemic.
there were mistakes in the manufacturing … it was best to reinforce the bed with metal plates and L-brackets … instructions claimed it took 30-45 minutes to assemble. It took me days.
And what few people seem to do is unpin one hinge (the pin just knocks out) and then instead of an 800mm x 1200mm bed you can join two together to make a 1200mm x 3200mm bed. I’ve got a few of those. The pic above shows another way to do similar.
Or like this (video is cued up to raised bed method)
I filled my tree-pallet-collar high beds with a lot of wood at the base, plus some stones for drainage and then some soil and then some compost. They don’t dry out (though I did staple opened compost bags to the inside to line them before filling - also slows down wood rot) and they have not compacted unduly in the 5 years since I did the first one.
But you are on point about a lot of the rest, although the organic matter does not need to be worked into the soil by the gardener. Just layer it on top and let the soil and its inhabitants do the rest.
Say no to
As Charles Dowding, guru of the no-dig movement shows.
TBH I’m not sure DD is much benefit where there is sand or clay, unless someone REALLY wants/needs to improve the drainage - and ‘soil’ - at that level. Just pile compost on top (or ramial woodchip) and let nature take its course.
Also, in heavy clay just a single dig and plant potatoes. Growing them and earthing them up and then digging them up and then raking it level and dumping compost on top will do a lot of the work for you.
I’m glad we’re not the only people that relocate worms when we’re digging or when they end up in the middle of our driveway in the morning. I think our neighbors think we’re goofy when we’re out moving the worms before they get squished.
One word of caution on pallets. Judging by all the YouTube projects and such, surprisingly few people know this about them- they are full of nasty chemicals. Way more than treated lumber, for example. They are treated with every preservative, pesticide, and herbicide you can imagine in order to last as long as possible in every climate in the world (and to prevent cross contamination of different ecosystems via shipping). I would personally never burn them or use the wood for projects as so many people do. I would definitely have reservations about using them in contact with an edible garden, but I don’t have any hard data to say there’s anything wrong with it, so take that opinion for what you paid for it.
‘Pallet collars’ does not equal ‘pallets’. Different thing. And few pallets I’ve seen are made from wood of the higher quality seen in pallet collars.
Over here in EU (well, I’m not any more, technically, but they are called europallets sometimes, for a reason) chemicals are far less present now and many such things are heat treated instead, and they all have to be marked to say which.
We do this with worms too. If I find one while digging, I dig a little divot somewhere we aren’t working that day, plop it in, and drizzle the dirt on top.
@j9c we have clover in the yard that we simply don’t mow. I purposefully spread the seeds too. It’s a pity fire ants are such assholes. They do a great job aerating the soil.
I have seen, on more than one occasion, yard workers peeing on the stacks of pallets that are stacked up to go back to wherever they go. I guess it’s easier than using the bathroom right over there.
That’s always made me wonder or worry that you never know the history of any given pallet. I certainly wouldn’t be sanding one or running it through a thickness planner without a proper mask.
Exactly what I did during the pandemic. I had put together a block version the summer before which my wife detested the look of. Moved the blocks to another project and put in some wood “walls” like this, put some corner brackets on for strength on the inside, gave it a quick coat of stain on the outside, and done. It was harder to move the blocks than the entire build. And it was tons cheaper and looks better than the “storebought” kits I see.
Two years of really great backyard veggie harvests already and looking forward to year 3!
I only have a few, and only in areas of the yard that are not level so as to level the ground to slow down erosion. Generally I agree, tho: raised beds are a waste of time/energy.
