Well my plan to put everything in buckets has fallen through. I don't have near enough to even think about doing my toms let alone peppers and everything else so I am going to have to put in a raised bed. So here goes the barrage of questions. How high of a raised bed do I need for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, beans, radishes, sugar peas and dill? My plan is 6 inches high for right now. I can go higher, this is just me starting point. Using cherry garden boards for my beds and they are just under 3 inches tall laying down. I plan to do a LOT of companion planting. I have all the charts but would like some advice from those who have done it. What did you put with what to get the best results? I need to prepare the bed once I build it. I have compost, peat moss and coconut coir for a base. Will use some of the soil after it is sifted and broke up so I don't have to use so much of everything else. How deep do I want to work the soil for the whole thing? I will work it all to the same depth so which ever plant needs to deepest depth will be my starting point. I am sure there will be more question but that is enough for now. I hate changing things last minute but I should have known better than rely on others to make something happen. Good thing I can get a raised bed done fairly quickly, or at least I hope so.
What is your soil like under the raised bed area !! Tomatoes and zuchinni will have the deepest root systems of the ones you mentioned !! I would have at least 12 inches above ground for those two !! You possibly could get by with 6 inches for the others if the soil under the bed was loose enough !! Radishes would need the least depth !!
I live in the Southwestern desert. I think of myself as in Zone 8 in the winter and 9 in the summer. We get some frost and light freezes in the winter. Last summer I had a few days that hit 110 degrees. (Yep, I said 110). We always have a lot of sun. I do some in-ground planting but I also have some raised beds. Mine are 14", 12" and 9.5" deep. All my raised beds have a layer of golf ball sized rock in the bottom to discourage gophers. I hauled it from a nearby wash. (Creek or stream). It's worked. I've had gophers get in the in-ground beds but not the raised beds. My beds are mulched. In those shallow beds, I've successfully grown chard, spinach, lettuce, kohlrabi, kale, lettuce, radish, beets, bush beans, cucumbers, parsley, and small carrots. This year I'm trying tomatoes, peppers, basil, watermelon, and winter squash in the deeper beds. I trellis cucumbers but I'll let the other vines cascade over the beds onto mulched but not cultivated soil. What I like about my raised beds is that they are easy to water and maintain and gopher free. I grow dill in ground under a mesquite tree. I plant it in the early spring and again in the fall. I grow veggies all winter. But, in the winter I only use the raised beds because the are easy to protect from frost. As crops get tired or harvested, I chop up the waste and roots and and dig them right back into the raised beds to decompose.
110 is hot, it got up to 103 up here for 5 days year before last with 75% humidity. Most people wouldn't come out of their homes while I was out with my kids fishing in the morning. I think I can do 12 inches but not sure, 10" is more likely. I can always dig down a little for deeper. I have a very small area I will be working with. Maybe 20'x3' (maybe 4') wide with another 8'x3' section at the end of the area. So companion planting is gonna be a must with cucumbers, zucchini, beans and everything else trying to fit in this area. Thankfully I will have most of my herbs and small stuff in buckets with some spattered here and there for their benefits to whatever plants. The tomatoes I put in there will be layed down for transplanting so I don't know how deep I really have to go with them. Maybe someday I will be buying a house and won't have to worry about this headache anymore.
i had sandy soil under my beds last year and used available 8" boards. Toms grew very well, companion planted with borage. planning to do both borage and basil this year. when building your beds try and keep them so you don't have to walk on them. my big beds are two meters and probably a little too wide in hindsight.
I would suggest reading a book called square foot gardening. There is also a website. It is a very organized way to plant raised beds. Just did it myself a few weeks ago.
I have used raised beds exclusively for the last 7 years. I bought cedar 2 x 12 (you will probably want redwood) these will not rot or attract bugs. I have used the same wood the whole time. I broke up the soil under the beds about 10" down with a tiller and added some chewed up leaves. I have heavy clay so that was a must. I currently have new/more beds made from 2 x 8 cedar. Not sure how well these shorter beds will work this year as it was last minute but the tom plants are still doing really good (4 feet tall covered in fruit). Raised beds can dry out fast and the soil in them will be warmer/cooler than the soil under them so keep that in mind when selecting plants. Be sure to protect from weed/grass growing up from below. I have recently had a mole start harassing the beds so I wish I knew about the rocks but a handy mole trap will most likely work. I have lots of pictures from my 09 garden and results of the raised beds. You might find them interesting and helpful. Try not to make the beds any wider than you can reach across for easier weeding and harvesting and dont walk in them either. Good luck Green
