By Virginia Spoon
We found that raised board beds are easier to weed
and keep people from walking over the irises. However, they have their
problems. When we first started making the board beds the lumber was treated
with chemicals that kept them from rotting, at least for 20 years or more. We
weren't going to use the area for vegetable beds because of the danger of
chemicals leaching into the soil.
Some of our first raised
beds--photo by Ginny Spoon
Our first board beds were started around 1996 with
some lumber that was already used, given to us by a iris club member who was
moving to a smaller home. We are still using those beds and the lumber has not
rotted. Another friend who was moving
gave us some lumber that was never treated that he used for his vegetable
garden. He said it was a special wood
that was very expensive and that was over 20 years ago. It has not rotted yet.
40 year old non-treated
lumber--photo by Ginny Spoon
We made plenty of mistakes along the way. Don made
many of the beds too wide, some were six feet wide and that made it hard to
weed without walking into the beds. Some were too long, 30 feet (five, six foot
joined boards). Many of the beds were too close together so that the mower
would not go between the beds. I tried to tell Don that as the years went by we
would be older and it would be hard to weed eat in between the rows. Unfortunately,
that time has come to us.
Raised board beds, too long and too close
together--photo by Ginny Spoon
Oh, what I would give to be able to mow with my
riding mower in between the rows now. We have found that the ideal measurements
for a board bed is four feet wide, eight feet long and either six or eight inches
high. However, now the lumber is not treated with the same deadly chemicals and
they barely last five years without rotting. The treated lumber even has a
warning on it that says "Do not put in contact with soil."
Rotted treated lumber that
needs replacing--photo by Ginny Spoon
I recently purchased a cedar board kit that is four
feet wide, eight feet long with two boards making it eight inches high. I used
screws to put it together and used our two picnic tables to place it on to save
my back. I then turned it over and put 1/4 inch mesh hardware cloth on the
bottom to keep out the voles and moles that plagued that particular area of the
garden. They must love the sandy soil there. I filled it with topsoil to the
top. It is important to fill the beds to the top because if you do not it
doesn't drain well and then you have a rot problem.
New cedar raised bed--photo
by Ginny Spoon
