Monday, May 11, 2009

Introducing the new raised beds

A few weeks ago I finished building the new raised beds and last week I finished digging all the native soil out. Because the veggie patch is on a slope I have to terrace the lumber into the hill and then dig down to make an even spot to refill with good soil. The soil in this part of the yard is mostly sand, gravel & big rocks. Nothing worth amending so I just remove it and replace it. I fill the beds with trucked in triple mix from a local yard. It is really nice black soil and is pretty affordable at $30 a yard. Here are the photos of the new additions:

Starting at the top this is the first new bed. It was built on a 15 degree angle to
maximize space and It is approx. 3'x8'. This bed will have the potato bin against
the concrete retaining wall at the top and will also have a trellis installed
against the back wall.

Here is the second bed, it is connected to the first raised bed so it is also on the same 15 degree angle. It is approx. 4'x6'. It currently has the cold frame in it but that will be put in storage once I refill the bed with good soil. This bed will have a new bamboo bean trellis against the back wall, post to come about that soon.

Here is the last new bed, it is located in front of the A/C unit between the
four raised beds I had last year. It is approx. 4'x3'. This one will mainly be
home to peppers.

I will end with the previous and new square footage of the whole garden. The Modern Victory Garden was asking about the square footage of the new additions and it made me realized I had never calculated the old or new garden size so here we go:

Existing Garden: 103 sf
New Additions: 60 sf
Grand Total: 163 sf

So what is the square footage of your garden?

20 comments:

  1. Dan, counting all of the swc's, I have 210 sqft. This is a big jump from the 136 from last year.

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  2. How many square feet do I have?
    Not enough. Just three 4x8 beds and scattered spots through the yard.

    Oh, yeah, my containers would add a few more square feet.

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  3. I calculated mine at about 394 sf. I'm planning to add another 4'x4' lettuce bed this summer and next year I'm adding approximately 80 sf more, probably for melons. I'll be pushing 500 sf by then. No matter how much room I have, I can't catch up to EG's harvest!

    Granny

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  4. Mine is 40 sf, then again, I just started. It also doesn't include the garlic and potatoes and lettuces I have in pots. Great blog BTW!

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  5. Mine just went up significantly this year with the big expansion project - it is now 1,192 square feet of growing area between all the beds and the permanent greenhouse containers.

    Dan - the new beds look super. You are a skilled craftsman and all your projects demonstrate a real talent in that area. Looking forward to the peek at the bamboo trellis.

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  6. That's a great idea to calculate the sf of my garden area. I'm glad you posted this question for everyone! Right now I have 234 square feet. I'm getting ready to expand though... I'm adding some raised beds around the chicken run. That will be an additional 103 sf -- making my total garden space for this year 337 in raised beds.

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  7. I currently have 307sf in RBs. They should call them ‘potato chip’ beds. You cannot build just one.
    John

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  8. Your beds look great - and just in time for planting. I have about 120 sf in raised beds plus other odd places and SWC's around the yard. It's fun seeing how other gardeners used every square inch around the yard.
    Are you the person who had the step by step photos for rain barrels? I lost track of where I saw them.

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  9. Very good question Dan and trust me, trying to figure out the answer will hurt my head for days. I have one acre of space (43000 sf), taking away hardscape, buildings and so on, I bet that leaves me with about 30000 square feet. Out of that I have lawn and grass. They are probably about equal, though the grass is losing ground all the time. One of these days I will scientifically figure it out and this should be easy since I have it all on graph paper, but I've been lazy. Important to know when applying treatment to the lawn more so than the gardens. Did I hurt your head too? Mine is now. :) Gotta run..

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  10. No idea what the square footage of my garden, but I am always expanding. Your new bed looks great. I can't wait to see what you grow in them!

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  11. 128 sqft. at home and 512 sqft. out at the satellite garden. I'm thinking about getting into growing garlic and want to build another raised bed. Yours look great!

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  12. Well the fenced in garden is about 20x20' but that includes paths. I'm not sure how much the beds are. The fruit garden on the other side of the house is about 100sqft of bed space.

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  13. I ALMOST put in another raised bed last fall but resisted. I have 6 raised beds at 8ft x 4ft which come out at around 192 sq ft, plus the 2 little areas I "stole" at each end of the path at around 2 foot square, plus the containers on the back patio, plus the small mesclun box, plus I've sneaked 2 tomato plants into the flower bed at the front of the house while the wife wasn't looking, plus there's going to be the "upsidedown" tomato plant in a 5 gallon tub project......it goes on and on......
    I like the small 4' x 3' raised bed box you made. I may go that route next.
    Jeez, I wish it would stop raining, I've got plants straining at the leash, waiting to get out there.

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  14. I have just 48 sq. feet in raised beds. I'm using another 24 sq ft for the cold frame, but it is going to have mostly flowers and sesame seeds later this season. I wish I could expand!

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  15. I have no idea how big my garden is but I know it keeps growing every year! You sure have been busy with the beds and all. When do you find time to sleep?

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  16. Never thought to count up the square footage of my garden, but it's 96 sq.ft. of raised beds, and probably 10 or so containers on the porch. But I'm only in my second year of gardening... just give me time. :)

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  17. EG - I wish I could have doubled the area but I am basicly at my limit now.

    Cheryl - I forgot about the containers, I have a few of them too.

    Granny - Your garden is huge!

    Kalena - It is always best to start small and expand as you go. That is what I did. Glade you like my blog!

    KitsapFG - Wow, 1200 sf, I think you take the cake. I must admit I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to things being in there place & lining up.

    Judy - You have a pretty big garden, two of mine.

    John - Good statment, raised beds do seem to be rather addictive.

    Sande - I don't have a rain barrel but you maybe be thinking about the one EG just made at the following link: http://engineeredgarden.blogspot.com/2009/05/making-rain-barrel.html

    Tina - I'd love to have acres one of these days. Maybe not acres of veggies though, my 163 sf is enough work.

    DP - I can't wait to plant the new beds. My plants that are languishing in pot can't wait either :-)

    Kathy - Your satellite garden is amazing, so lucky!

    Daphne - ooh 20x20, that's nice!

    Mick - I think all veggie gardens stick plants every where they can. I sure have a menagerie of pots and hanging planters everywhere I can find a spot.

    Emily - I am maxed out now, every where else is to shady for veggies.

    Skeeter - This time of year certainly is busy. I think it's all the pent up planning all winter coming out over a few weeks. Maybe by July I can just sit on the patio, I hope...

    Kristina - This is my second year with raised beds too, previously I just grew tomatoes in pots.

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  18. This is my third year with square foot beds. in total, i have about 260 square feet of garden space:
    - 88 ft2 in Square foot beds
    - 25 ft2 (maybe a bit more) in containers - patio + greenhouse
    - 132 ft2 in the garden (mostly grains + perennial fruit + veg)
    - 16 ft2 herb spiral

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  19. We expanded quite a bit this year. Started with 48 sq ft of growing space and now have 230 sq ft, much of it from raised beds, but about 50 square feet we converted from a weedy area. We also made screens out of conduit and garden netting to keep the bunnies out of the lettuces and peas.

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  20. janice - the herb spiral sounds interesting!

    andrea - We have some huge bunnies out back. There is a 3' concrete retaining wall between our yard and the back so it seems to keep them out.

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