Lesson 2: Lesson Two - Raised Beds, Invasive Herbs & Weeds
In this lesson we will discuss garden design and raised beds. What materials to use in building raised herb beds. Ideas for keeping invasive herbs in their own territory. Are they really weeds?
What materials to use in building raised beds.
In the last lesson we discussed container gardening. In this one I’d like to focus on a larger scale container garden, or a raised bed planting area. Most raised beds are built with four sides, the floor of the bed being good garden soil and compost. Raised beds are ideal for herb gardeners for several reasons; chief among them is the fact that you can control the soil, drainage, and invasive varieties of herbs. They also make it more convenient to tend and harvest your crop. Another advantage to using raised beds, especially when keeping herbs, is that a majority of herb plants have shallow roots making them perfect for this type of planting.
There are basically two choices to be made in regard to raised bed planting. The beds can either be portable, or permanent.
I am sure we have all seen the delightful two wheel cart sitting outside the kitchen door amass with blooms, or in our case, growing grocery greenery. This is one of the most simple raised bed concepts. You could just fill the cart with potted herbs, but you could also fix the bed of the cart as a garden by placing drainage holes in the floor. Either way you have a portable garden.
More complex samples of raised beds would be something as unconventional as planting in a flue tile or a hollowed out log which could be moved when desired.
Wood planking and treated landscape timbers are probably the most widely used material for raised bed planting because of its ease in construction and its accessibility. Other materials might consist of brick, concrete or in my case (I love to recycle) used tractor tires.
Since we live on a farm we have to occasionally replace tires and the old ones are hard to dispose of. We placed our tires in a circle with one tire in the center. For ornamentation we made a brick walk the circumference of the inner tire.
The only alteration we made to the tires was to cut back some of the rubber from the center. We did this not only to allow more planting room but to minimize the danger of snake bite. Snakes are drawn to raised beds in the summer because they are cool. They like to hide along the inner edge of the tire. I have nothing against snakes; I’m just not comfortable being up close and personal with them.
Whatever type of construction you decide to use you must keep in mind good drainage. That is crucial to any garden project but even more so in the raised bed concept since the water can puddle and cause root rot.
If you decide on some other method than a four sided bed, for instance plastic half barrels, make sure you have enough drainage holes in the bottom and sides of the barrels to allow the water to move away from your crop.
A word about the plastic barrel planting – it is difficult to grow in them if you place them in full sun. The plastic holds the heat and ‘cooks’ your tender plants. They do fine if provided with partial shade.
Dimensions of your bed are, of course, personal choice but you should allocate enough space around them to compensate a wheelbarrow or other gardening conveniences. The normal height of a bed is around 18 inches to 20 inches. Their width should never exceed four feet. Any wider and you will not be able to cultivate and harvest your crops.
