Raised Vegetable Garden

i just got a raised planter….3×5 and 22in tall. I plan on growing herbs in it (maybe a vegetable, too). What kind of soil/mix of soil should i use to fill it.

a cheaper version seems to be 3 cubic foot bags of garden soil by Kellogg…any opinions?

should I mix in compost..how much?
should i add any sand?
worms?

anything else?

I am new to this and want to do it right.
Thanks for your help.

Compost and worms

From an organic gardener.

My front yard is pretty much always water-logged and nothing(other than grass) grows well in it, so I was thinking of making a raised garden bed. Roughly how high should I make it and would I still need to remove the grass growing under it?

No need to remove the grass. Just cover the grass with used newspaper – several layers (so it dies rather than taking over the garden). Then cover the newspaper with approx. 12 inches of compost+soil, or just plain top-soil. Usually people use wood or concrete blocks to "frame" the raised bed. Just don’t use treated wood (treated with chemicals to suppress pests and fungi), or those chemicals will leach into your crops (assuming that you are growing food?).

Would they survive or would they suffocate?

Many would probably die in the competition for water, light, and nutrients. Some would live but they probably would not be healthy nor produce well because the soil would be exhausted.

It would be better to plant only 2, possibly 3 if the soil is well amended, of the large indeterminate plants in a bed that size. You could plant 2 – 5 determinate types depending on whether planting cultivars that grow large or those that are bred to grow in pots like some of the "patio" tomato cultivars.

You will not get a better yield of tomatoes by planting more than the optimal number of plants in that space but less.

Even a single well-grown and cared for tomato plant can yield more than enough fruit for 2 people to use for salad or slicing.

I am already aware that it would be better to use untreated wood. The question I want to know is whether or not Hemlock Fir is preferable to Pine or vice versa. And when I say which wood, I do mean UNTREATED, as I have already clarified in the question itself.

Neither one will last very long but most species of Pine will outlast the Hemlock by quite a bit.

I bought a Butterfly/Hummingbird garden and want to plant it in one of the beds that sits alongside my house. It has 2 Butterfly Bushes–will they grow too large for this area?

Butterfly bushes can get VERY large. Depends on the amount of sun it gets. The good thing about them is that you cut them down every year. So, if one year doesn’t look good, you start over the next. I’ve found that they trim up very good. Just keep it pruned. It wont bloom as well, but should be enough to keep it pretty and the butterfly’s coming. I also put a butterfly house next to my bush….so far, none have used it. But, it sure looks cute.

that is 42 in x 42 in?

Depends on the type of tomato you want to grow, determinate, indeterminate, patio, cherry, or Roma. Standard tomato bush would do best having only two in the area. Patio tomatoes could be four and some determinate types. Also consider if you will stake them up or grow in a cage. That will make a difference on the space. If you grow them to just one leader then you might do well with four, but that would have to be indeterminate types. I would recommend 2 to four for the space.

I finally have a yard after moving into my first house and I am interested in growing a garden when it gets warmer. What are the best materials, tips, or plants that would be best for my project?

I heard that growing marigolds with your veggies will combat bugs, is this true? Are there any other flowers that do this too?

to build a raised veggie garden make sure to use a non pressure treated wood….pine will do. Do not use old railway ties as they are riddled with chemicals.

If you are building this garden above turf make sure to remove the turf before continuing. Leaving the turf will cause it to break down in turn stealing nitrogen from the soil above, therefore stunting the growth of your garden.

I found a great article that you can read in my source links. It will give you a great start on getting started.

Marigolds are a natural way of combating pests in the garden…heck have you ever smelled one? They keep me away too! There are other organic means of keeping pests away too.

Keep your garden away from ‘Black Walnut’ trees as well as they will poison the soil stunting the growth of your garden.

Cheers,

Richard Murphy
The Lawn Blog

I would like to build 3-4 beds which will probably be about 8×4 and 12 inches deep. I’m not sure where to buy this much soil (in NJ) or about how much it will cost. I’m looking to do this soon as the last frost has finally passed.

Also, if anyone has any ideas on where to acquire inexpensive materials (railroad ties, cinder blocks, wall pavers) to build the beds with that would be great too!

It is easy to get the soil but you might have to purchase more than you need. Google "landscape supplies soil" + your location. There should be several places near you.

Problem is, these suppliers often have a 3 cubic yard minimum and you only need 1. The other problem is, the delivery charge might cost more than the material.

Ways around this are to find a neighbor or two who would also like some soil, to borrow a pick-up truck, 3 yards will just fit, and deliver it yourself. You split the cost with your neighbors.

What you should buy is loam, don’t get topsoil because you never really know what’s in it or where it came from. Loam should cost about $35.00 – $40.00 per yard. You should also get 6 or 7 40 pound bags of compost. That should just about fill up your area and give you some nice fertile soil to start your garden.

If this bed is going to be in a conspicuous location you should get the most attractive building materials you can afford. Cinder blocks would be hideous, and most of the wall pavers look fake. Real railroad ties are very hard come by but landscape timbers are sold at most home improvement stores and even some lumber yards. They last about 7 or 8 years then start to rot so you’d need to replace them.

Those would be your least expensive option though that doesn’t look awful. And they come in 8′ lengths so you wouldn’t need to do a lot of cutting.

Post a new q on how to do this, I have done several such beds, if you like the idea. It is easy.
All you need is a drill and some bolts or cut rebar sections basically.

How do I calculate how much soil is needed?

It depends on what you are growing. With root crops such as carrots, you need about 12". For most flowers and above grownd crops such as tomatoes 6" should do.

They sell soil by the cubic yard, so you need to take the length and with of the bed in feet and multiply them to get the square footage. Multiply the sq. footage by the depth (use .5 for 6" and 1 for 1 foot). This will give you cubic feet. Divide the cubic footage by 27 to get the amount of cubic yards of soil needed. so if you have a 4′ x 12′ raised bed 6" deep, 4×12x.5 = 24 cubic feet divided by 27 =.889 cubic yards of soil.

I want a tall bed so i don’t need to destroy my aging back. Rather than filling a 8×4x3 bed with all that soil, I want to put in a bottom that will give me about of foot of soil to work with. Are there any free plans online?

I don’t know about any plans, but I built some elevated beds by taking a piece of 5/8 treated plywood and building a stand for it out of 4×4’s. The stand has to be pretty stout, it will be holding a lot of weight. Build the frame first then set it on the legs, It has six legs. I have a full frame around the outside with two cross pieces evenly spaced from end to end. I cut sides and ends out of another piece of plywood 16" tall and then attached them to the floor by running a 2×2 around the edge , set back far enough so that the outside of the sides and ends are even with the edge of the floor. I ran another wall across four feet from each end and stiffened that with 2×4’s. I used screws throughout that are rated for use in treated lumber.
I have three of the beds that are three years old and still going great. Don’t forget to drill holes in the floor for drainage.