I've tried a couple of small in ground gardens over the past few years and haven't had much success. (Mainly because I didn't put enough time or money into it) This year, we've decided to give raised bed gardening a try. First, I scraped the grass/weeds off the ground where the beds would be set. Then, I loosened up the top few inches of soil and broke it up with a shovel. Next, I added cow manure and broke that up in the loosened topsoil. I placed a layer of leaves on top of the manure. I ordered our beds from Greenes fence company because they come already cut to size and ready to slide the pieces together. We got a variety of bagged soil (organic topsoil, organic compost, organic garden soil) and filled the boxes. My oldest son enjoyed the next step the most probably. We dug worms up and put them in the raised beds.


We have some seeds starting in our sunroom. We may have gotten carried away because we decided to go ahead and plant a few of the cool weather greens in the beds. We put in some kale, spinach, Swiss chard, and turnips this morning. We may have to cover them later, but hopefully they'll do ok.

Hopefully, raised beds will be a time saver and better option for us.

Wow, your beds look amazing! Lots of work went into that. I have used raised bed gardening for a number of years and truly love it. How wide are they across? Can you reach across to the middle without any problems?

Remember the reach when you plant, so you don't have any difficulty picking anything. None of my beds are wider than three feet, so I have easy access. Only exception is my big octagon bed where I just plant flowers.

I have one low bed that has been out so long the cypress boards have decided to decompose this year. I think I am going to knock the boards off and let it just transisition into a small inground plot. In addition, I am planning to till up a regular inground plot near my beds this year too.

Best of luck with your beds; they look great!! I too have placed a big order with Burpee for plants and seeds that should be here the first of the week. Getting things going inside is always a plus. I am also awaiting my order of onions from Dixondale Farms!! Love the spring!! Love getting in the dirt!!

Thank you.

They are 4x8. It seemed to be the standard size so I hope it's not too wide. It wouldn't be ideal for our kids to reach the middle, but I think me and my wife will be able to.

How soon will you begin planting the cooler weather greens and such outside?

I noticed some of our lettuce and a marigold starting to sprout in the sunroom.

Totally unrelated, what is that with the baculums on it in your avatar? A knife sheath?

Ha! Yes, that is a knife sheath for a custom Fire Ant made by Charlie May out of Strong, MS. Handy small knife I wear as a necker and a great knife maker.

I planted cabbage and butter crunch lettuce this past week. If needed, I can throw a tarp over any of it.

Good luck with your beds!

ETA I planted establisned plants, not new sprouts.

Enjoyed the bit about digging up worms with your son! I did not do that but I ordered 2000 red worms, got them in the mail and added them to my raised beds.

Here is a photo of the Fire Ant, with the second photo including an orange handled one my husband purshased.





The decorations are a collection of "Mo-jo"...given out by a member of a group we used to go camping all over the states with once a year. Every attendee was given a coon pecker as a momento by the southern contingent. I amassed quite a collection of them.

Mark of a true country gal, coon pecker for a toothpick............

I been wanting some raised beds but haven’t got around to making any.

Our raised beds are also 4 x 8 feet, but accessible on all 4 sides, paver walkway in between. We add leaves and compost out of our rabbit manure pile to ours, along with some worms. Like Maggie said in another thread, nematodes can be an issue if you don't rotate crops. Some years we do all cabbage, brussel sprouts, and the like, sometimes several varieties of onions, then the next year it'll be all tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, etc...sometimes just watermelon...grew a yellow meat Moon & Stars watermelon year before last that was 37 lbs when I picked it.

Raised beds are easier to feed, easier to keep weeded, easier to keep watered, grow bigger and better produce, and are definitely the way to go! I've seen pictures before where people even planted peas and beans in them...you'd be amazed at how densely you can plant and still make an outstanding harvest, as long as you keep your plants fed.

Looks good. I don't have a lot of space so I use buckets.

I have too many seeds. I may try some buckets too