Raised Beds at the Organic Farm

Strawberry Beds

July 28, 2010

Imagine my delight when we pulled onto the organic farm to see 2 raised beds planted using the square foot gardening method and larger raised beds for the everbearing and June bearing strawberries.  Pictured are 3 of the raised beds for strawberries.  I didn't get a picture of the smaller (4' x 4' ) square foot raised beds.  I will be sure to get a picture the next time as they do use the hard grid something I'm not quite fond of.  The raised strawberry beds are constructed much the same way as I make mine.  I noticed there were no corner or side supports and while some use the additional supports, I've never had a problem not using them. 

Two things differ from my raised beds.  I noticed they butted the beds fairly tight to the barn.  In larger beds and even the smaller square foot garden beds this reduces accessibility defeating one of the purposed for the raised bed.  Ideally with a square foot garden bed you should not have to reach more than 2 - feet in to be able to plant, tend or harvest.  While the 4' x 4' raised bed is the traditional size any length as long as the bed is 4' wide will work nicely.  A 2' x any length will work nicely as well.  Pathways between each raised garden bed originally were designed to give good access all the way around the beds.  When done properly the entire garden will be wheelchair accessible.  The second thing I noticed is the beds are wider than 4 -feet again presenting accessibility issues.  Other than that the beds all looked happy, healthy and well maintained!

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
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