Easy Raised Beds for the Instant Garden

From the

EAST SCARBOROUGH COMMUNITY GARDEN ASSOCIATION

• By Dave Jones - netdavejones@netscape.net
• Click here to down load this as a free pdf.

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Semi raised, or raised beds with soil levels above the perimeter gardening paths allow loose soil beds within easy reach for weeding, mulching and harvest, and are usually 4 ft. wide by 8 ft. long.

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• Build your raised bed with untreated white cedar

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• Create your frame from boards that are 5/4" or 1 ¼” thick, and about 6” as the nominal width, using selected deck boards

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• Choose strait boards 8 or10 ft. long, cutting one in half

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• Using longer deck screws into the corner stakes, to level the frame, is the way to go

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• To level the frame: Hold frame corners square with temporary braces across corners while setting the frame in place.

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• When you level the frames, supported by corner stakes, insert utility grade cedar shingles around the inside of the perimeter, sharp end down

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• Keep making new rows of wood, until the raised bed is able to hold the new soil up to a depth of 15 inches

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All this is possible quickly, when new soil is sourced from the City of Toronto "Waste Transfer Station", where they store the compost. This is free, If you don't have a truck, then you can fill yard waste bags with this compost to carry it in a car. As well, local garden contractors sell top soil by the cubic yard. A double frame height, set on landscape fabric, can prevent growth of weeds.

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The landscape fabric is cut out on the inside of the frame. For taller, deeper rooted crops, the existing is soil turned before the new garden soil is added.

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Wood chips cover the landscape fabric in garden pathways between the beds, remaining weed free.

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For Raised beds on sloping ground use a long carpenters level to set frame level, and stick tapered utility grade shingles, sharp end down, around the inside of the frame.

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Content last modified on April 17, 2010, at 08:59 PM EST