How To Fence Raised Beds

The chickens eye the tomatoes, the dogs walk all over the bean bed, and the squirrels want into everything. What's a space intensive gardener to do? Fence around the beds. Yet every spring I resist. Fencing is ugly and expensive. It is a pain (literally, I have a hole healing in my finger from a wire poke) to install and remove. Grass is hard to cut around the edges.

This year I was intentional about planning and installing fencing. I finally have the perfect balance of function and aesthetics. Here's how I fence our raised beds:

1) Use the same style throughout the garden. My cousin Todd of Combs Landscape Design advised that if all the fencing is the same, it disappears visually. I prefer vinyl coated wire fencing because it is less apt to poke fingers during installation and removal.

2) Install the fencing 2-3 inches above ground level. With this clearance, you can use an edger or scissors to cut grass missed by the lawn mower.

3) Staple every 12-15 inches. If you pull the fencing taught between staples, this is sufficient to hold. Every staple you put in during the spring must be removed in the fall. Don't be like my husband, who put a staple every inch last spring and then had his wife remove the fencing in the fall. She will not enjoy removing hundreds of staples when a dozen would have done the job.

4) Fold corners into right angles. This defines the space visually and also adds stability.

5) Remove and re-roll the fencing in the fall. This will allow the chickens to do their dirt turning business and saves the fence from excess wear and tear. I use pliers to remove the staples and store the fencing in the loft of our garage.

How do you fence?

Added to Simple Lives Thursday 45.

Five Signs of Spring

This week has been the essence of spring. Ohio has felt downpours of rain, blustery days so chilly Alex lit the wood stove, and sunshine that made me weak in the knees. Best of all, it is the growing season! In the spirit of Friday Five, here are spring scenes from the homestead this week:

1) Backyard hens soaked to the core during Monday's rainstorms. It isn't true that a chickens are so dim that they will drown in rain, but they do not seem inclined to take shelter.

2) The painted lady caterpillar I purchased from Franklin Park Conservatory is a delight to watch as it grows visibly every day. It will form a chrysalis soon and then emerge as a butterfly!

3) Intern Keara and I moved garden beds and made new ones on Thursday. We added 42 square feet of planting space!

4) When asked to spread soil in a bed, Lil responded by occupying herself for almost an hour creating 'Dirtville'. She says the people who live there are very clean and tidy, but they make their homes out of dirt. In 'Houndsville', springtime requires more frequent baths. ;)

5) Alex worked his tail off splitting ash this week. Look at this amazing wood pile!

Added to Fight Back Friday April 8.

Easter Weekend Workout

We weren't in a gym, but Alex, Lil and I exercised our bodies this weekend!  We were outside almost all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  We're exhausted and exhilarated.  Here's what happened:

The deck was torn down.  Lucky for us, the builders were poor at concrete setting and posts came out fairly easily.  They also used subpar techniques for covering the crawl space and we got to replace wood on the sides of the house; not so lucky.

Alex built new stairs.

I built a raised bed from some reclaimed deck wood.  And I took a crummy picture. The sun was setting and I was TIRED.

Our hens gave us three eggs yesterday. It's fascinating to me that each breed has a different egg shape and color. From top to bottom, these eggs are from the Sussex, Australorp, and Orpington breeds.

Lil played in a post hole.  Why not?

Lil and the dogs hunted for Easter eggs this morning.

We planted one potato tower, two potato buckets, and one straw bale potato bed.  We have even more seed potatoes to plant in our rented plot.

I dug furrows and planted three asparagus crowns in the new raised bed.  I also tucked three crowns into the strawberry bed.  I'll write more about asparagus later because it's a fascinating plant.

We hiked, slowly and with many stops, around Highbanks Park today, studying wildflowers, birds, and the sound rocks make when thrown in streams.

We shared dinner with my parents and sisters, Alex's parents and brother, and two of my grandparents.  Lil was showered with more gifts including the bunny above, hand sewn by my grandmother.

Our faces are sun kissed and the floor inside is muddy.  Dirt and seeds have new homes as we have new stairs to walk upon.  It was a great weekend.  How was yours?

Building Garden Beds

Now that you've decided what to plant and where to plant, it's time to build your beds! The most basic technique for creating a garden bed is double digging.  As the name implies, double dug beds are carefully turned with a garden shovel once over the whole surface.  Some peat moss and/or compost can be sprinkled on top and then the whole bed is dug again.  Each round of shoveling should be at least four inches deep.

Our strawberries, garlic, and kale are all relegated to double dug beds.  It takes me approximately 1 hour to double dig a 4 foot square bed.  My body is achy for a few days after because double digging is hard work!!  We line the beds with rocks or bricks if we have them to provide a visual reminder to little feet that plants are growing there.

A tiller will do the same job as a double digging in far less time with less effort.  Most of us backyard gardeners do not have a gas powered tiller easy accessible, but they can be rented.  We have never chosen a tiller to avoid the rental fee or the hassle of transporting it.

The next common bed style is the raised bed.  Here, sides are built from lumber and dirt is filled in the top.  The Pioneer Woman has a great tutorial for building your own raised bed.  We follow a similar procedure except we use 2x8 or 2x10s instead of using two layers of 2x4s for the sides.

Sides may be built from treated or untreated lumber, recycled plastic lumber, or cement blocks. Cedar is a naturally occurring wood that resists rot.  Plastic lumber will last for a very long time, though it is heavy and costly to transport initially.  Cement blocks are a popular choice at community gardens because they can be easily reconfigured or moved.

Some publications will tell you to avoid treated lumber at all costs. I was skeptical so I asked Alex, a material scientist by education and profession, to review research about the safety of treated lumber in the garden.  He concludes that vegetables grown in treated lumber beds do not uptake the chemicals in treated lumber.  While I still have hesitations about the worker safety of those who make treated lumber, we do use it for our raised beds because it is the cheapest long lasting material.

To anchor or not to anchor?  Many plans recommend digging 6 to 12 inch holes and setting posts in them to anchor the sides of the raised bed.  Others use stakes.  We subscribed to this philosophy for the first few beds we made.  It's not that hard, but we questioned why it was necessary.

In our second round of bed building, we skipped the anchors.  In our experience, the raised beds sides do not bow or move.  The weight of the soil holds everything in place just fine.  If you are looking to save some labor and cost, skipping the corner anchors might be a good choice.

Soil for raised beds can be purchased from a plant nursery, the city, or a dirt and mulch company.  If you have a hearty compost bin you can use that too.  Last year we filled our beds with soil 'thrown' from the Jones topsoil Slinger truck.  We mixed in our homegrown compost and some peat moss too.  This year we will purchase some compost from Denise at 2Silos farm.

If double dug and raised beds aren't your style, there are alternative beds.  You might plant in a bucket, straw bale, or potato tower.  The most recent edition of Mother Earth News details a simple soil bag plan.  Several companies make raised bed corners or corners and sides that gardeners need to simply assemble.

Are you building new beds this year?  How are your existing beds made?