Bernadell's Raised Bed Vegetable Gardening

Construction is underway . . .

   I wanted a vegetable garden, so the answer for us was raised beds and the required deer fence. Some people use 1 x 12 treated lumber for their raised beds, but I was not comfortable with the treating solution and opted for cement blocks.

   The enclosed garden is 45 x 19 x 40 x 19 feet. The reason for the non-symmetrical shape was to use a North-South axis as well as to take advantage of an existing spray field and to minimize the cutting of any non-cedar trees in the location. I also wanted to allocate more space to the beds and minimize the loss of space to walkways.
    I ended up with single beds with 32 inches of plantable surface next to the long fenced sides and one double bed in the center with 48 inches of plantable surface. The single beds are 39 feet and 33 feet; the double bed is 28 feet in length. There is also a composting area that is 57 x 55 inches.

     
   The beds are 16 inches high (2  8-inch high blocks) and are filled using a modified Lasagna method of gardening. First, I layered wet newspaper (20 sheets overlapped), then purchased topsoil, then purchased composted manure, then shredded newspaper, then a "4 in 1 mix" from a local nursery. All of this was topped off with another layer of newspaper sheets to help control weed growth and, finally, a top dressing of hardwood mulch.
   Eventually I will have a shade cloth to help filter our extremely hot sun, and plans are to add a tank to capture rainwater. For those of us that capture rainwater, we hate to see the overflow water running down the cliff! And, of course we will  need an irrigation system to use that captured rainwater.

 Back to Our Gardens