re: Raised Bed Garden

I like inexpensive concrete edging for my raised beds...the 1950s looking kinda scalloped stuff your grammaw had around her rosebushes. It's very sturdy, doesn't decay, and comes in 2' segments, so it's easy to make an irregularly shaped bed. Heavy, so marauding neighborhood dogs won't knock it down. It's also not very tall--which means the bed is slightly raised (6-6 inches) above surrounding soil. I find that tall raised beds require way way way too much watering in the depths of summer...this depends on how well drained your soil is.

A thick layer of newspaper (no color-printed pages) will make a nice biodegradable weed shield at the base, before you fill with soil. A few buckets of sand will help the soil texture to be loose & non compacting. Consider sowing a cover crop of winter peas, vetch, sesame, etc or similar "green manure" winter crop when you start your beds...you can turn it under once it grows. Works wonders for your soil quality. Baker Creek Seeds can sell you some, if you don't have a feed store nearby: LINK /

The Seed Saver's Exchange is another great seed source...open pollinated varieties of all kinds of veg & herbs: LINK /