Backyard Self-Sufficiency: 5. Building the Raised Growing Beds

We now have seven (7) raised growing beds to compliment the horseshoe garden and the greenhouse. Many plants love the additional warmth of a greenhouse but some do not. With Melbourne summers being particularly hot (sometimes up to 40 degrees centigrade) a greenhouse can sometimes be an unpleasant place to grow. Plus the fact that some plants need a large amount of room to grow in, including corn, pumpkin, zucchini and cucumbers. Celery does not like the warmth of a greenhouse at all. Therefore it becomes necessary to provide external growing areas for these type of vegetables.

Each raised bed was built from untreated railway sleepers. Do not use treated timber of any description as there is something in the treatment that leeches into the soil and will kill your plants. Make sure the soil underneath each bed is level or you will lose some soil underneath them. The levelling of the triple-bed was a significant amount of work. They were fixed with metal brackets at each connection along the top and about half way down each edge. Finally large stakes were belted in on the outside and the inside of each bed. The whole idea is to understand that these beds need to last a long time, they will incur much wear and tear, including being sat on, leaned on, stood on, dug around, watered and knocked about. Use the toughest material you can get and spend some time affixing them well.

The length of your raised beds will depend entirely on the size and amount of usable space in your backyard. Try not to build a raised bed wider than 1.3 metres. It becomes difficult to work with any bed that is wider. If you can't bend over and reach the centre of your bed, it is too wide. And remember, you will still have to plant, weed and cultivate. Unless you wish a sore back it is better to have a few smaller beds than one giant one.

For plants that develop a deeper root system, consider a deeper raised bed;

This bed clearly shows a double layer of railway sleepers, and because it is being prepared for tomatoes the stakes are already being placed before soil was added. Make sure any double layer bed is secured to each other as well as to the ground. We used straight metal brackets.

For plants that require securing or something to climb up, consider a fence-based bed and utilise anything that will give your plants something to grab onto;

Whilst my wife calles me a "bower bird" because I cannot throw out anything, the old wall-hanging clothes line made a perfect "trellace" for peas and beans to hang onto. As we follow the principle of crop rotation (don't plant the same vegetable in the same area in two successive years), next year we will plant tomatoes or cucumbers here.

Because I have an external workshop, protected by trellacing at the end of the extended carport that creates a wall, it was just another excuse to create a raised bed behind it, again for the benefit of a climber;

Trained raspberries or blackberries, using the espalier method (height and width, but no depth) would do very well here and would add some shade in the afternoon, but since both of us love grapes the choice was very easy.

Raised beds next to a brick or metal wall produce great vegetables for slightly longer than normal because of the warmth they generate;

Again a little trellacing helps to secure what you are growing. The cucumbers just love this spot and the growth is extraordinary. The corn is now two (2) metres high and the cobs are almost ripe.

However most raised beds are the usual single spans, as follows;

Ours are 2.5 metres long by 1.3 metres wide with a .8 metre gap between each raised bed. The best "rule of thumb" for the gap is the width of your wheelbarrow. If you can push your wheelbarrow between each bed and around them, your gap is correct. The base around each raised bed is crushed rock but that does not stop determined weeds. Use weed mat underneath or be prepared to drag out the rake on a regular basis.

So what does all this building of beds lead to? The following is just a sample of the current growth;