Setting up a square foot bed ???

13 years ago

Pictured here is 1 of my raised beds I am going to convert to a square foot design.
It measure 4 X 12 X 1 with great soil
Some consider treated lumber a problem which may or may not be accurate, my lumber was purchased after changes were made to the products that are used in treatment.
I am considering increasing height 6 inches, that will give me the height Mels Mix suggests., will do this with 6 inch pine.
If this was your garden project, would you remove the lower treated lumber ?
Should a weed barrier still be below the Mel's Mix ?

The soil under neath is very nice, should that be removed ?
If I do that then I probably will just replace the treated lumber
Making Mel's Mix 12 inches hi
. It may be nice elevating the bed anyway.
I have time yet, just taking all info into consideration

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Comments (4)

lgteacher
13 years ago
I don't think there's a need to raised the sides. I had a similar situation and added Mel's mix on top of what was there. Unless you have problems with bermuda grass coming up in the bed in the past, the weed barrier isn't really necessary. The photo above is a 4X7 garden with pine sides.

Here is a link that might be useful: My raised bed garden
yukkuri_kame
13 years ago
No weed barrier. Double dig the soil underneath the bed before adding whatever soil or planting mix you are going to add. Plant roots will easily grow 3 feet deep in cultivated soil.
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japus
Original Author
13 years ago
Yukkuri
I understand what you saying about deep, last year I removed all soil in 1 bed and tilled it deep.
I could not believe how deep the kale roots were, at least 18 inches deep, and a young plant at that.
However...Mels Mix instructs one to place a weed barrier just 6 inches below...surface, what are your thoughts on this ?
snibb
13 years ago
I think LG is right-no need to pull up old soil-just add Mel's mix-6 inches-to your existing beds. Don't worry about the weed cloth, and I wouldn't worry about the wood either. Like you said, all the arsenic and other dangerous types of paint were done away with many years ago. You should be set to have a great looking garden this year