Edible Yards

We  just added this raised garden bed to our backyard mix. We designated it “Joe Henry’s Special Garden” and we told him he could grow anything he wanted in it. As you can see, he has decided that the best current use is for earthmoving with his diggers. He’s also planted plum seeds (even though we told him they probably wouldn’t grow to produce plums like the one he ate.) In addition to plums, he also wants to plant corn and strawberries (strawberries, ah-ha, finally something that works in this planting season!)

There are so many things to say about building raised beds in Austin. Many folks choose raised beds over in-ground beds because you can fill them with some really fabulous, imported soil mixes and get good results right away. Raised beds are often easier to manage too. There are many different ways to build raised beds and many different materials to use. Some of my favorites for outlining the bed are untreated cedar or pine, tree logs including native cedar, cinder blocks and rocks. We had some old limestone blocks sitting around and decided to use them to outline Joe Henry’s garden. It might be hard to see in the picture, but we leveled the bed since it is built on a slope. When building on a slope, it is important to level the beds so you don’t end up with a bunch of seeds and soil running out one end. Also, if you are building a raised bed in an area with a lot of weeds or grass, you should try to put down some sort of weed barrier underneathe the raised beds – make sure it spreads out into the path area since weeds love to creep through the paths and into our gardens. Good weedbarrier material includes things that may break down over several season such as cardboard, layered newspaper and paper mulch. These will all allow water and air to move through and will hopefully kill the grass and weeds below. Once these materials break down, the soil underneathe the raised bed will provide additional depth and fertility for your plant roots. Here’s a link to an interesting discussion about raised beds. I really love the raised beds made out of willow. Anyone out there trying anything like this in Austin? I’d love to hear about other interesting materials used to create raised beds.