Raised beds.

[DogDiesel]

If I set a raised bed on a weed infested area. Say 2 foot dep. . Will the weeds come through ,or will they die.

[Suzanne D.]

I would definitely lay down a kill mulch first. I use layers of old phone book pages. You could also use cardboard or newspaper. Wet it well--both the ground before laying it down, and the mulch afterward; that'll get it decomposing faster. You can then fill the bed with soil, but be sure to put organic stuff in it as well...dead leaves, grass clippings, straw, shredded paper, kitchen scraps, finished compost... A little cow poo above the mulch will get the earthworms interested.

You probably don't need two whole feet for the bed. If you want to grow large root vegetables like carrots then one foot of good, sandy soil is plenty. Anything else could probably take six inches. My wooden beds are six inches tall, and not fully filled, and I do fine. The roots will eventually go down through the decaying mulch, so the bed itself doesn't have to be too deep.

--S.

[Jim Elbrecht]

Not for the plants-- but we did a 2' high raised bed for my dad several years ago when he got a new hip & couldn't bend very well.

He is a lot more flexible now, but that 4x8 bed still produces most of his daily veggies. The 50x100 plot gets filled each year, too.

It was placed on a piece of lawn. We put nothing down- filled the whole thing from his compost pile. His garden is on clay- so he's happy to have someplace to garden early in the spring when the old plot is a mud-hole.

Jim

[gardenlen]

g'day,

they should not come through all depends how you start the process.

see our presentations might be an idea or 2 there?

On Thu, 27 Jan 2011 21:55:03 -0500, "DogDiesel" wrote: snipped

[Billy]

I haven't had much luck with mulching and growing carrots. Insect hide in the mulch and then come out at night to eat my plants. My best luck with radishes and carrots come from cleared ground. Mulching works much better (for me) with seedling (starter plants)

[DogDiesel]

Sweet idea.

You can then fill the bed with soil, but be sure to put