WHAT CAN A RAISED BED BE BUILT FROM, and what dimensions should it have? That question, from member LuckyKate44, was my favorite this week on the Urgent Garden Question Forum, where moderator Leslie and others are busy offering up answers from wattle to locust, talking the pros and cons of pressure-treated, and more. What’s your take on raised beds? Come share it now.
THE LECTURE that he’s been giving for a number of years is not-so-subtly called “Kill Your Lawn.” Ecological horticulturist Dan Jaffe Wilder knows that starting over and creating an entire native habitat instead of a lawn isn’t for everyone. But Dan just wants to grab our attention and get us to start to make some changes at least in the way we care for the turfgrass we do want in our landscapes. And maybe give up a little square footage of it to some other kind of more diverse planting, too, like the wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana, inset). Alternative, more eco-focused styles of lawn care, along with some lawn alternatives is what he and I talked about on the podcast. Dan is Director of Applied Ecology at Norcross Wildlife Foundation in Wales, Massachusetts, and its 8,000-acre sanctuary. He’s also co-author with Mark Richardson of the book “Native Plants for New England Gardens.”
(Stream it below, read the illustrated transcript or subscribe free.)
Just caught an old Victory Garden episode where they featured the “Victory Garden” at the San Francisco Civic Center. They were very PC, they made all thier beds by making long forms of rice straw wrapped in something like burlap and tied. These straw filled tubes, one stacked on top of the other, formed a circle and the plants were put in the center. Because the circle was rather large, they did a keyhole effect. By that I mean the circle did not connect and a pathway was left so one could reach the center. There is no reason these could not be done in squares or rectangles.
This seems like a lot of work but when I consider the cost of straw, burlap and twine as compared to the lowest grade redwood I used, if I were making more I would consider it.
Hmmm, I like that idea. I’m going to go look for that episode.
The absolute easiest raised bed must be gardening in straw bales.
Our son raised prize watermelon in one.A neighbor had bales
left from Christmas Scene, he delivered 6 bales to me and will attempt
to grow peppers, cucumber, eggplant with nasturiums trailing from the side.
I did say ATTEMPT as we have had no days above 50 degrees F, yet.