While gardening chores are at a minimum, it’s a good time to build a raised bed.
Also called garden planters, raised beds are great for small plots of vegetables and flowers. In addition to preventing back strain, they can keep pathway weeds from your soil, prevent soil compaction, provide good drainage and serve as a barrier to pests such as slugs and snails.
Plus, you can fill them with soil right for planting rather than the poor soil found in most yards around the area, said Master Gardener Mike Payne.
“Soil is key to what you’re planting,” he said.
He and other Hamilton County Master Gardeners have been working on 20 raised beds behind Chattanooga Area Food Bank so that the facility can grow its own produce.
Building them now, Mr. Payne said, will give Food Bank volunteers a chance to get a jump on the growing season.
He offered these tips for building a good raised bed.
1. Choose materials that will hold up to the weather, such as pressure-treated lumber, new composite board materials, concrete block, brick or stone. This makes the framing of the bed last longer and in some cases last for decades.
2. Consider shortcuts. If you are not very handy with tools, look into purchasing a click-together kit or corner pieces that allow for easy assembly.
3. Consider the size of the bed. You will want easy access to the bed, so it should be no wider than what you can reach from each of the sides. Four feet wide is about right for most people. If you make it 18 to 24 inches high, you can sit down on the edge and reach into the bed without having to get into the bed.
4. Get the right mix of soil. The soil is the life of the bed. Your mixture of soil can be a personal touch, but Mr. Payne recommends about 25 percent compost or mushroom compost, 25 percent sand or river sand, and 50 percent topsoil. “If you have some clay mixed in, it is not a bad thing, as clay will actually help hold the water in the bed,” he said. You’ll need to add a new layer of compost annually as compost will break down during the year.
5. Take a soil test each year. Since your bed will be intensely worked, its pH level may change. A soil test will indicate the amount of fertilizer you will need for the plants or crops you will be growing. Your plants will reward you by growing healthy and producing an abundance of flowers and vegetables.