Raised beds – Planning a Circular Raised Bed – Creative Gardening

Raised bed gardening has become a favorite of mine. The beds are easy to maintain and I have added benefits of easier watering and covering crops if I need to.

I was recently talking to a friend of mine who is switching over to raised beds and we decided a circular bed would better fit their garden needs.They want a compact easy to maintain garden and need to be able to sit and relax while working. By setting the garden up in a circular design we can put the water cans in the center along with a place to set and relax.

The garden beds will come out from the center like wheel spokes.The plan will make an artistically pleasing garden with a nice work center in the center close to all the beds.The beds will be 2-½ foot on the ends that are closest to the center and 3-½ foot at the ends.

At this time we are still deciding on how wide the paths or aisles will be. Do we want a simple walking path that would be 1 to 1 ½ foot wide? Or should we make a path that would handle a small cart or wheelbarrow? The decision has not been made on this yet, but we can still plan most of the garden.

The next decision is do we plow the land; hands dig it or cover it with heavy cardboard to kill the grass? Since this garden can sit for a bit we are covering the ground to kill the grass. As soon as we decide on our pathways we will know how many raised bed forms to make and get them positioned.

Once in place we are filling them with straw, leaves and compost. This will set until planting time then a mix of topsoil, fertilizer and compost will be added to get out soil to the top of out raised beds.

I always suggest to anyone making raised beds that you add pipe to the side or make brackets that you can slip pipe into and bend over to the other side. This way you can cover the beds to act as a greenhouse or to protect plants from bugs and sun.

Using a method like this your garden can be covered in a matter of minutes. My suggestion for this raised bed garden is to make the center about 8 foot in diameter and comfortable. A small bench, a place for tools such as a mailbox or box with a lid and if at all possible a small sink with a hose attached for watering and cleaning produce.

Spread the love

Posted

November 11, 2007

raised bed gardening

Denise

Tags:

Comments

2 responses to “Raised beds – Planning a Circular Raised Bed – Creative Gardening”

Denise Blackerby

May 20, 2009

Many years ago one of the women’s magazines had an article about a circular garden. It was 9′ in diameter with the center 3′ being a compost area with wire around it. You just watered the center. The wire was covered in climbing vines and then the plants were chosen with the ones needing the most compost being at the center and then radiating out. The only thing that did not work the year that I did this garden is that the cucumbers were right next to the crook neck squash. The cucumbers were a little yellow and the squash a little green. Cross-pollination? Don’t know. They tasted fine. I cannot find my plan for this but am searching now. Have you ever seen this?
Denise

May 20, 2009

I like the idea of a compost pile in the middle of a garden. I cuts back fertilizing.

Yes, cucumbers and squash are vegetables relatives and will cross pollinate. Try planting them across the garden area from each other and see if that helps. Vining beans in between the two crops might help too.

I haven’t seen the garden plan you are talking about but I’ll see if I can find it. Denise

Raised beds – Planning a Circular Raised Bed – Creative Gardening

Comments

2 responses to “Raised beds – Planning a Circular Raised Bed – Creative Gardening”

Leave a Reply