I built my beds right on top of the ground & I have the same type as you. I used treated lumber...10 years ago & they're still lookin' good & I ain't dead, yet. :)

My beds are built with 2x12's. I have a 12x20 bed...2 beds that are 10x16...3 beds that are 3x6...and a long narrow bed 2x20. I find with multiple sizes, I can keep my veggies rotated fairly well.

My beds are filled with 1/3 sand...1/3 clay...1/3 turkey poo from a local turkey farm. (A farmer mixes the soils.) After 10 years, I've yet to amend any of my beds & still get prolific amounts of veggies.

If you build beds that are over 4ft. wide, you will have to walk in them. It doesnt seem to be a problem for the poster above, but I prefer to stay out of my raised beds. It keeps the soil from compacting. I also have multiple beds. The two new this year are 8'x3.5', made from cedar 2x4's about 15" (4, 2x4's) deep. I have 4 others ranging from 2.5'x12' to 4'x6', some from cedar some from untreated 2x12's. I have noticed that with beds 12" high or more, the rabbits stay out of them. I dont have deer, so I can do without a fence.

My natural soil is sand, I mixed lots of composted cow manure and a little peat into it. I add another few inches of manure every year. It is fluffy enough that I dont need a trowel to plant.

I stay away from the chemically treated wood. I am a smoker and I aint dead yet either, but I know its bad for me.

I love gardening in raised beds, I just have more success with them. First off I will say that if you live in a place with lots of gophers like I do protect your beds with gopher wire and you will save yourself a lot of grief.

I have some older raised beds built out of pressure treated wood lined with construction plastic that are 10' long by 4' wide and 2' high. My new bed is made from cinder blocks and is 20' long by 2.5' wide and 3' high and I like it much more. The width and height are better for my back and the concrete heats up in the sun and warms the soil a bit which is important in my cool summer climate for crops like tomatoes and squash.

So if I were you I would do like forpityssake said and built narrow and long, multiple beds or one long bed are really up to you but the width is the important thing. If you can afford it and have someone willing to help with the hard work cinder block or some other kind of concrete block or stone is a great building material because it never rots and it helps warm your soil.

My beds are made from the decorative, stackable concrete blocks available at big box stores. I love them. They are 6 or 8 feet long, 3.5 feet wide (I wouldn't want them wider and I am tall), and about a foot high in the front. They are built on a slope. My soil is extraordinarily tight clay with several different types of clay in layers. It never would dry out, ever. When I built the beds, I dug into the bottoms down into the native soil and loosened it a spade's depth. Then I filled the boxes with composted horse manures and bedding, compost, bagged cow manure, and the native soil I had left as I levelled out the site for each brick wall.

The first two years, I would turn the soil a spade's depth each time I replanted a crop, adding more compost or manure each time. The work paid off. My soil is now perfectly drained and so friable that I no longer turn it. I just scratch with a hand fork and plant. (I add a few inches of compost each spring over the top, and of course, organic fertilizer.)

It was a ton of work to build without a doubt. But I only had to do it once. I can sit on the walls as I work, the soil warms up quickly in the spring and each bed is a great size. My only regret is I wish I had had room for a permanent strawberry bed...

Oh, and I made all the paths three feet wide. That is just perfect for moving my wheelbarrow through. And, I use bush size cucs and squash to keep things neat.

i made a couple of raised beds out of split locust. 30" wide planting area between the wood.

My hubby built ours. I'd say NO to treated wood. 4 foot by 4 foot. You don't want to walk in the garden. Not just compaction, but if the soil is wet you can spread diseases with every step! I like to go out early in the morning, of course the ground/mulch is wet then, but I'm not stepping in it. We have 3 square foot gardens. Amazing how much you can grow in one. The idea is to have it small enough to be able to reach into the middle of it. Easy picking, easy weeding and tying up!

My beds are apparently unique. They run from 7 to 14 feet wide and are not bordered. I added about 4 to 5 inches of sand, 4 to 5 inches of local sphagnum peat moss, and mixed that into the clay/loam topsoil. It doesn't hurt to walk a bit on this soil.......I love it.
This is the base ans yes, I add compost and organic matter to it.

I made mine with untreated 2x10's, which I coated thoroughly with boiled linseed oil as a preservative.

Due to the size of the area I had to work with and the fact I wanted 36" aisles for accessibility, my beds on the ends were 2'x8' wide, most on the inside were 4'x6' and one row was 3'x6'

As for how deep -- you may want to consider double digging or tilling in manure or compost before putting your beds in. Or, just be patient. Your plant roots and worms and other soil critters will improve the soil below your beds a bit each year if you feed them well from the top.

I just made 3 raised beds. I can't speak for the future, since I just made them, but I used 2x12 fir. It's very cost effective, and other posters have said they've had theirs for 5-7 yrs without too much rot. Each 3'x10' bed cost me $30, which includes 4 L brackets at $2 each. I did not want to use pressure treated, and the cost of cedar was just too high for me. They were very easy to build, I did it myself. I did have a friend help me with the heavy lifting to move them into my garden. Do some searching on past posts, there is a lot of good info on this site. Good luck!

Well, I just decided to actually dig into the ground in the area I want to make into my garden, and found out that, unlike the rest of my yard, this particular area is literally ALL good quality topsoil. I dug about 18" down, and coud not hit the clay that is located under the topsoil in other areas of my yard. This should make gardening easy in that spot, and also save me the cost of building a raised bed.

With that said, anything special I outta know for making an in-ground garden?

Joe

Do you have GOPHERS???????

Probably start small this year because it might be a bit too late to plant most crops in your climate. You can always plan it out & prepare the beds for planting in spring!

In addition to suggested 3'+ wide paths...

Create 4 areas about 4' wide & how long you want using stakes & string. Rake up the soil outside the string onto the areas inside the string. Call inside the string the beds & around them the permanent paths so you don't walk in beds.

Don't need to use a rotatiller, but you do need to smother or remove grass & weeds before planting. Lasagna gardening is the smother method ideal for starting now & planting next year, but can be planted in now, too.

Put down a thick layer of organic matter for the paths between the beds to make working in the garden more pleasant especially for quick & easy harvesting before supper if it's raining outside.

Rotate plants through them yearly, so you don't plant same plants in same ground year after year.

Prior to digging anything...

Consider fencing to prevent deer, rabbits, dogs, & cats entering the garden...mole prevention with wire barriers...weed control (mulch, hoeing, wide rows, Square foot gardening planting), proximity to water source...water feature, seating area, north-south orientation so you have maximum sunlight on all the beds, storage of tools, consideration of perennial vegetables/fruits/herbs, etc.

The potager forum has a lot of nice ideas for you to explore as they're decorative as well as productive & a very friendly group to beginners.

Then you can design it however you want & change it year to year if you'd like. I started with a whiskey barrel of lettuces, radish & onion along with some flowers 20 years ago for summer salads & now garden year round in the ground, in raised beds, & in some containers. It's not a full-time job, but it can be sometimes in the spring when you redo or expand beds.

When you create permanent paths & beds it's work, but easier from year to year.

I am definately not planting until next spring, which is why I am getting started now, so that I am ready. My plan so far goes a little something like this:

I am thinking of building a landscape timber border, to provide boundries, neatness, and most of all, a foundation to install fencing. I mainly have problems with rabbits, but also have some chipmunks, and the occasional ground squirrel, but they are rare. I usually trap the chipmunks and relocate them to the woods a couple miles away, because the tunnel in the yard too much. Anyways, I plan to set the landscape timbers a bit below grade, and go two layers. From there I will anchor posts for chicken fencing, which will remain permanent. I'll make removable fence panels for access.

Once the border is finished, I'll kill the lawn by solarizing it with clear construction plastic. I plan to build a compost bin of some sort, so I will have a batch of compost ready to work in come spring time. I'm also considering mixing in a bit of partially decomposed pine bark fines, to drop the pH a bit. I'm going to buy a bow rake too, for obvious reasons, and one of those tine tillers that you push in and twist, so I can bust up the top and work in my compost. I am pretty siked to get this garden ready for next year, because I'm sick of screwing with containers. Thanks for the tips so far, and please feel free to add any more stuff to my plan, or point out anything that is not necessary if there is a better idea.

Joe

Joe,
You could post separately about garden tools & get some good suggestions.

Skip the twisty tiller thing & spend your $ on a multi-purpose garden fork. I can't imagine gardening without it now & don't use the shovel or rake near as much. I've seen at yard sales for $10 in good shape.

-shorter D handle is easier to maneuver around
-turn compost piles or layer of soil over
-mix in soil amendments
-break up packed earth
-lift & divide plants
-remove mulch
-harvest potatoes
-aerate the lawn

Here is a link that might be useful: garden fork

Landscape timbers rot really fast and they won't last long as an anchor for fence posts, if I am understanding your plan correctly. They are certainly cheap enough to replace every few years if you want them for the aesthetics.

I think the better bet against diggers is to countersink wire mesh as well as making an "L" out about 12" on the ground. Be sure the mesh comes up a good 18" on the fence. Be forewarned that chickenwire is no match for a decent weed whacker, as I learned the hard way!

I like the removable fence panels idea, but I suggest a nice wide gate for day-to-day access.

I 2nd the recommendation for a digging fork. It's my most-used tool and I don't understand how I got along without one before.

A compost scoop and pitchfork are also very useful.

I built a 3' x 10' this spring out of douglas fir 2x10's Cost about $27 for the wood. Filling it with potting mix was the costly part but she's doing well. Tomatoes, carrots, swiss Chard, Kale in it right now. LOVE raised beds!

I officially chose to use the landscape timbers, due to the cheap cost, as well as the nice, tidy appearance, which is a major factor for not only my wife and I, but for the type of neighborhood we live in. If they rot out over time, I'll replace them. It costed me $36 for the entire 12x12 border, so the replacement cost isn't a big deal. I am digging a trench to set the first layer into, for stability. I'll be coating that first layer with construction plastic to extend the life of the wood. From there I'll anchor my next 2 rows, and come planting time, I'll build a custom fence with removable panels for easy access. The only problem now is the heat. Lord knows us Wisconsin people don't like heat, so I dig a bit, come in and cool off, dig a bit more, cool off, and so on.

Joe

Since you have the time, might want to plant one or even two cover crops to add organic matter to the soil. Field peas, favas, fenugreek, rye, clover.

Sounds like a good plan. my only suggestion is to skip the plastic. Plastic and wood with moisture added in the mix will accelerate the rotting process.The plastic up against the lumber will keep it moist ALL the time. I think your best bet is to oil the wood with linseed or some other type of foodgrade oil or just install it by itself. Good Luck, hope to see some pics on the forum when your done.

Landscape timbers last a long time. My first garden was built with them and 2x4s ... 1986 - 2008. Current garden has beds lined with brick. Not as high as the timbers, but high enough.

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Joe,
Raised beds are a great way to go and my entire garden is this way (after way to many years of row gardens). I have tried many different methods of raised beds and have learned somethings in the process. First thing is that bigger is not better. Ideally you don't want to ever have to step or walk in your beds, I make mine however long I want but don't go over 3' to 3.5' wide you want to be able to easily reach plants/produce so go with what is a comfortable reach for you. The soil here is also terrible so I know where you are coming from there, all of mine I had to bring in and build up with manure, straw, etc. I made my garden in strips. I used cinder bricks to make my beds so once I have them set up I scooped the top soil off between the beds so that the path between the beds is considerably lower. I use saw dust from a local cabinet shop to build up my paths but any type of path chips, etc. would work (or you don't have to use anything.) A good 8-10" of soil is a pretty good start, build it up with manure, etc. Once your plants are up, etc. mulch heavily with straw, etc. as raised beds will dry out quickly.

Good luck!

Always rotate your crops. I jsut found out that it's not just the plant type, it's the whole family! I didn't know that peas and beans were in the same family. This will cut down on bug problems.