raised bed gardening

Danielle V
by Danielle V
About 4 years ago, we decided it was time to have less grass and more garden. We both like to plant vegetables so at first, we just planted like our parents had, with the vegetables in the ground. Found out the first year, that our ground was full of decomposed granite, and large granite chunks. Nevertheless, we planted and got mixed results.
Last year, my husband made raised beds out of landscaping timbers which have worked out wonderfully. We ordered soil, a 50/50 mix of garden soil and compost to fill them. We were both amazed at how well this has worked out. We got twice as much produce, enough to can and freeze. The corn did especially well. I froze corn which we enjoyed at Christmas.
Garden before the raised beds
Here is just a few of the rocks we found..its really incredible.
One of the larger rocks
Here is one of the raised beds he constructed.
This last bed is for our strawberries. Note the grass mats in the front, we intend on laying them throughout the bed area, No more dirt getting blown up into the patio from our high winds! We have since covered this with shade cloth.
another view
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 2 comments
  • Douglas Hunt Douglas Hunt on May 12, 2013
    Those are some handsome raised beds. I hope you found a project for all those rocks you had to remove.
  • Danielle V Danielle V on May 12, 2013
    Yes. the large ones are used in landscaping in the flower beds, and the smaller ones we used for drainage under the raised beds..it all worked out!
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