If you’re looking for a rock-solid solution to gardening in clay and chert, leave the tiller in the garage and build a bed.
Raised beds — gardening in sheets or boxes of soil raised above the existing soil line — have long been touted by small-space and specialist ornamental gardeners as an ideal way to solve soil problems.
“It’s easy to contain, you can keep the weeds out of it, and you can have a nice soil mixture that produces well,” said Joy Love-Bonner. She and her husband, Bill Bonner, created a raised-bed vegetable garden for the first time last year.
Raised beds save time and money, according to the Rodale Institute’s Organic Gardening Web site. You only need to dig, fertilize and water soil in the beds, not the paths. Growing crops close together in a super-fertilized, properly aerated, moisture-holding bed that’s loaded with organic matter also keeps down weeds. Elevating the beds in tall planters allows gardeners in wheelchairs a chance to sow as well.
“Raised beds are easy on you, and they get you out of bad soil,” agreed Mike Payne, a Hamilton County Master Gardener.
One word of caution: Never walk on a raised bed. Compaction destroys the essential balance between air, water, minerals and organic matter, setting back a plant’s ability to take up nutrients.
Many area gardeners tackle a yard founded on rock or clay by trucking in high-quality soil and piling it up or containing it in large planters.
Some like fancy planters; others prefer simple untreated boards. A container isn’t necessary, but such beds require regular reshaping.
Another quick, cheap way to form a raised bed is to add organic matter, such as composted leaves or manure, plus any necessary soil amendments, such as lime, rock phosphate or greensand (for potassium), to your existing soil. Mound the dirt up into planting strips of a convenient size.
Typically, raised beds are 3 feet to 5 feet wide, allowing the gardener access to the middle from both sides but being wide enough to conserve moisture in the interior of the bed.
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