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Growing Your Own Growing Your Own Vegetables | Composting | Container Gardens | Fall/Winter Gardens | Fertilizing | Insect Pests | Plant Diseases | Planting Guidelines | Raised Beds | Regional Tips | Site Selection | Slugs | Soil Improvement | Tilling | Warm-season Crops | Watering | Weeds Building Raised Beds Gardening is a challenge if your soil dries slowly in the spring or is hard to till. In the summer, you may face crusts, clods, and poor water absorption. Fortunately, you can improve your soil by adding organic matter and creating raised beds. (See story on soil improvement.) This lets you plant earlier in the spring because of improved drainage and faster soil warming. When fall rains begin, better drainage means healthier plants that yield longer. You'll need a lot of organic matter, so choose a source that is readily available and inexpensive. Sawdust, ground bark, leaves, manure, or chipped pruning materials are good options. Other satisfactory materials, although more expensive, include planting mixes. If the materials are composted, so much the better. The following method of creating a raised bed is easy and permits good garden production in the first year. Step 1. If the soil is compacted, rototill it first if possible, even if only to a depth of 2 or 3 inches. Do not rush this step; wait until the soil is dry enough to crumble and will not turn up in large chunks. Step 2. Spread a 2- to 3-inch layer of organic material over the soil. You will need two-thirds of a cubic yard per 100 square feet (6 to 7 cubic yards per 1,000 square feet). Step 3. Unless you used a composted product, manure, or fortified planting mix, add nitrogen fertilizer. Nitrogen is needed for breakdown of organic matter (e.g., sawdust, leaves, or grass clippings) and for plant growth. Broadcast one of the following evenly over the organic material. Product Amount* Ammonium sulfate 20 Ammonium nitrate 12 Urea 9 Poultry droppings 400-700  *Pounds needed per 1,000 sq ft, assuming you added 2 inches of organic material Step 4. Rototill to a depth of about 6 inches. You can use a spade instead, but a tiller makes the job more uniform and less backbreaking. Step 5. Create 48-inch-wide beds by shoveling a walkway between them. Make the walkway 14 to 16 inches wide and 6 inches deep. Add the excavated soil to the top of the beds. You now have a soil-organic mix about 8 inches deep. Step 6. Rake the beds level. The natural slope of the soil will leave about 36 inches of flat planting space on top of each 48-inch-wide bed. Once you finish shaping the beds, walk only in the paths. Add sawdust or bark to the paths to reduce mud. Retaining walls are unnecessary unless you want to create special shapes or use narrower walkways. They hold the soil in place but also create hiding places for slugs. Boards, blocks, or railroad ties make good retaining walls. When you plant in your raised beds, you'll need to apply additional fertilizer because the nitrogen you added in Step 3 took care of only the 2-inch organic layer. See story on fertilizing. Proper irrigation is important. (See story on watering.) The soil-organic matter mixture in raised beds dries faster than clay soil. On the other hand, it is loose so it absorbs water faster. Soaker or sprinkler hoses work well; with low pressure, they water only the raised bed. Keep walkways as dry as possible to control weeds. Place stakes at the corners of the beds to prevent hoses from damaging plants. Organic matter decomposes and disappears, so add more each year. In the summer, use compost to provide nutrients. In the fall, cover the beds with 2 inches of leaves or other organic material. After you've built your beds, rototilling should be unnecessary. Conditions might not yet be ideal the following spring, but light spading or forking will create a suitable seedbed. As you continue to add organic material, the soil will improve each year.

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