If your ground is solid rock, the best way to raise veggies is in a raised bed. My husband built a raised bed garden this year. The "blocks that hold the garden together are, believe it or not, Styrofoam. This was salvaged from boat docks a few years ago when they banned its use in the local lakes. Its insulating capacity, helps to keep the earth cool. The first picture was taken before the topsoil was added. The second picture, taken a few days ago, shows the results of our Mother's Day planting date.
We are about to start picking squash and tomatoes... at least for fried green tomatoes. :)
By Harlean from Arkansas
If you're short on space or the soil in your area is riddled by sand or clay, building raised beds may be the best solution to your gardening woes. You'll trade the time, money and effort required amending poor quality soil for maximum yields in a minimum amount of space.
This idea is very old, my grandmother used to have straw bale gardens. It was great for her not to have to stoop over to pick and weed her garden.
We made a 30x20 foot garden in our back yard with plastic and cement blocks. You do not have to remove grass. Put down plastic or a thick layer of news papers, and place cement blocks on top around the edge of the space.
Here is a raised bed that my husband put together this weekend. It is 4x10 feet and 20 inches high.
I love my raised beds. It helps keep different gardens separated and makes it easier to keep weeds out. They can be watered separately, depending on what you are growing in them.
In the summer of 2011, I had raised beds made to accommodate a wheelchair and my short arm width necessary to reach across to weed. They have landscape fabric to control weeds on the bottom, a layer of sod face down, then layers of newspaper and leaves that will decompose and on top, regular soil.
This is a page about making a raised be vegetable garden. There are a number of ways you can create a very successful raised vegetable garden, whether you build with new materials or use recycled items.
Raised beds are usually made from wood, concrete or stone. You can use something as simple as a large cardboard box however, it will last likely only last one season.
There are good reasons to create a raised garden bed, and concrete blocks can make it easy to build. This page is about making raised beds with concrete blocks.
Raised garden beds do not have to be a complex job. There are many good ideas for building simple raised beds for your garden. This is a page about directions for building simple raised beds.
