I am a big fan of using raised beds for gardening. We have built and used them in the past and each time we do I feel like we get better and better at it. I like using raised beds for a number of reasons, but the two reasons that top that list are:
~They help the garden look very orderly and neat.
~They are easy to get to and to keep weeded.
When building raised garden beds you also get the advantage of creating and perfecting the soil right from the start. Since it won’t get walked on it, it remains loose and airy at all times, something plants and their developing roots need to grow, and comes along with the advantages of having excellent drainage. But perhaps I am forgetting my absolute favorite reason to using raised garden beds…and that would be that:
You can extend your gardening season and harvests well into the fall, start harvesting much earlier in the spring, and even overwinter some vegetables and create yourself a harvest the whole year through. Yumm.
For more details on four season gardening I highly suggest (even though I know I sound like a broken record), Elliot Coleman’s Four-Season Harvest
Winter Density Lettuce
Giant Winter Spinach
Evergreen Hardy Bunching Onions
Curly Vates Kale (but really all kale would be fine)
Wild Arugula
Chard
And there are others too, which definitely opens up a whole new world of gardening.
Of course it is always nice to have a helper when you work 
We used some really nice and thick pine boards that were in the basement when we moved here to make the two beds pictured in this post with. However, when we build more we will most likely get the same thick cut wood except use cedar, which is naturally rot and insect resistant. Of course, depending on what one has lying around, you can always re-purpose or reuse some materials as long as they haven’t been treated with harsh chemicals that could leach into your healthy growing food.
Jason made some cuts and pieced them together, screwing in each corner twice, and bracing it with a triangular scrap of wood.
Going with a no till approach to these garden beds, we got to put lots and lots of cardboard boxes left over from our move to good use.
Our board lengths were 12 foot 3 inches each, so each finished bed ended up measuring 12′ 3″ long x 4 1/2′ wide and approximately 12″ deep.
Jason also took a 2×4 and braced the bottom center of each bed just to help it from bowing out after adding the soil and fill to them. In the past we haven’t done that and after a couple years the beds get a little misshapen. Although I doubt that would happen with these beds since the wood is so thick, we decided to do it anyways as a precautionary measure.
Then I layered. I started cutting down cardboard and covered the ground inside each garden bed. I was happy to preserve some of those boxes in some way. They are riddled with drawings and writings of my children and for some reason this way, vs. burning them, seems like a happier solution for some reason. I mean, they will still just decompose and break down into the Earth, but I like that better than the thought of fire, which seems like destruction to me. I don’t know how I can be sentimental about things like this but sometimes I just am.
At this point children came out and thought these boxes must be for them to play in right? Nope, move over…time for some old chicken barn hay. Jason brought a truck load of old hay from the farm’s chicken barn. Chicken poop has a really high nitrogen content and typically should be fully composted before using it in the garden. Although I do not think that the chicken poop mixed in the hay was completely decomposed and was definitely not composted, we did not add a concentrated amount, it was old, and with putting a layer of the hay on the bottom of the soil, I do not think it will cause a problem. By the time the plants roots grow down to that level, if they do at all…it should be well decomposed.
After the layers of cardboard and hay Jason shoveled in a screened topsoil/composted manure mix. I think next time we will add some peat in as well just for girth as well. Since raised garden beds typically stay put where you initially place them, it is a good idea to make sure the soil within them is packed full of organic healthy stuff. This creates less work down the road in following years.
After the beds were filled came the exciting part…putting on the hoops! We moved all of our pvc hoops from our old gardens and just reused them. Basically, if you build a raised garden bed approximately 12×4…you will need five 8 foot lengths of 1/2″ pvc piping to arch correctly across each of the beds.
In the past we just stuck pieces of re-bar or garden staking that fit into the pipes right on the insides of our garden beds and slipped the piping over it, however, with little ones who sometimes think these pvc arches might be good to swing on…we decided to go a different and sturdier route this time. Jason picked up some of these little metal brackets (they probably have a name, but if they do I don’t know what it is) at the hardware store and evenly attached them alongside of the beds. The pvc piping easily slips into them and stays put, and also makes it easy to remove when we need to.
Since we live in a valley, and the winds seem to be pretty strong at time, Jason wanted to stabilize the pvc framing just a little bit more. He cut another length of pvc piping and screwed it into each of the pvc arches. Now it is very secure.
We got right to planting in these little mini greenhouses. The first bed is entirely Lacianto Dinosaur Kale. The second bed consists of Ripbor F1 Kale and Improved Rainbow Mix Chard. That is a lot of greens. But I say, the more the merrier! We got some greenhouse plastic from the farm to cover the hoops and if it gets cold enough, we can also put some frost blankets right on top of the beds as well, but I’m hoping it won’t! I’m thinking springtime!
I have seen raised beds with arching trellis between them, not over.
You can plant vines to grow over them and walk under and harvest.
Only I can’t find the site now. Can you help?
Good that you went to great measures to have soil of quality.
I was curious, do you keep the plastic on year round, and if you plant your seeds in the fall, do you water it and such, and do you have anything to harvest through the winter, or do they stay fairly dormant through the winter. If you do harvest throughout the winter, how do you get to your garden to tend to it with the cover on? Thank you and sorry if they are dumb questions. I am new to this.
No, once the weather warms up (above freezing) the plastic comes off. When we plant seed in the fall, we might water it on very hot indian summer ish days, but rarely…and definitely not at all throughout the winter. It stays covered and stays put. In a way the seeds/sprouts/plants stay dormant. If we do have something fully grown such as our spinach and lettuce now, we simply just lift the plastic from the sides, harvest, then readjust the plastic. Other than the occasional harvest we have found that growing food like this throughout the winter taken no maintenance what so ever.
Great tips and instruction. PVC pipes are a cool idea. Do they work just as well or do they have some draw back? how long to they last?
We have used these same pipes for about 5 years now. I do hear that they degrade over time from sun exposure. another alternative would be to use electrical conduit piping.
Those are some great pictures! It really is a great project to do with the kids. They have running in and out of the raised garden beds and they get outside! So fun!
awesome! We just made a square foot garden bed. Tiny compared to these giants!
I’d really like to start making raised beds. Was the lumber expensive?
Well…it would be an investment of some dollar form. And cedar definitely isn’t the cheapest wood to buy. Ours was piled in the basement when we moved in so didn’t cost us anything.
Nice post! FYI, if you don’t want to burn the cardboard Waste Management on 652 has a nice single stream recycling bin where you can just drive up and drop off all your recyclable items.
Thanks! That is good to know.
Looks great!! We are also working on some raised beds, can’t wait to get planting.
this is so awesome! We put together raised beds last year, but I don’t have hoops/cover on ours (yet!). Did you plant actual plants or just the seeds for your greens?
We planted seeds, but in the past we planted actual plants and kept them covered in frost blankets and greenhouse plastic and they were totally fine….giving us a head start to our gardens.
thanks! I had my dad help me install hoops on one of our existing beds…I just need to get some plastic and I’ll put my kale out next week! Thanks for sharing this great idea
I love how everyone is participating in this project (even the furry family members)! The beds look lovely already.
Wish we had room for more…someday.
Wow. That is impressive.
Thank You!
what function are you using the cardboard for? i am only asking because i have heard others raise concerns about using cardboard for gardening/food growing due to the chemical process involved in making it, and wondered if it is truly necessary. i totally hear you on the kid drawings though- i have such a hard time letting them go, too!
You bring up a good point. 95% of our cardboard came from our previous local health food store. So I’m guessing that most big “green” and organic companies probably use untreated “green” materials and natural based inks for their packaging. So, I am not concerned. But, I did come across this quote from Garden Organic:
“Corrugated cardboard does not usually contain glue as it is made from cellulose fibers which stick together naturally. It is a great addition to your compost heap or can be used for mulching.”
Our reasoning for using the cardboard layer is to mainly suppress and smother the weeds and grass that we want to avoid having pop up in the gardens. This was our quick way of not having to remove any sod or grass by hand or tiller. This cardboard layer also provides compost as it quickly breaks down, and a dark moist area which will attract earthworms that will help loosen the soil beneath the cardboard…quickly conjoining the above and below into one.
I’ve been wanting to do this- thanks for the instructions.
awesome! i love the idea of using the pvc pipe over the beds. i wanted to do no till beds this year, but i wasn’t sure if they would be ready to plant in so quickly? for some reason i thought you had to establish the beds in the fall for the following spring/summer. i’d love to just put down some cardboard for our remaining beds… the rocky soil makes me slightly crazy!
Ha, we have learned a lot about the high rock content of these NE PA soils! With a bit of grumbling I must say.