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
There are many advantages to gardening in raised beds. Making your own can not only save you money, but allow you to tailor their size to suit your needs and available space. This is a page about how to make square raised garden beds.
Here is a raised bed that my husband put together this weekend. It is 4x10 feet and 20 inches high.
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.
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.
Old tires have long been used for planting both vegetables and flowers. There is more recent controversy about using them to create raised beds for food, but they can safely be used for flowers.
There are many thrifty, creative ways to use natural or recycled materials to make raised garden beds. This is a page about inexpensive raised beds.
Raised beds can be constructed in a number of ways. Making a stacked stone bed or even one that is mortared together can be attractive as well as functional. This is a page about raised beds made with rocks.
Making a raised bed edge from various sized stones that you collect can be a thrifty, decorative, and functional garden feature. This is a page about raised rock flower beds.
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.
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.
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.