Thinking Outside the Box
As a long-time fanatic of growing food anywhere I possibly can, I have to say I’m thrilled by the recent explosion of the urban food movement and the speed with which raised beds are popping up all over the land. For a while it seemed that every time I was out walking or driving my usual route, I would notice a new raised bed. Not that it’s surprising, considering the combination of events and education on local organic produce in the last few years.
What is surprising is how much produce one can grow in a basic 4’ x 8’ raised bed, given the right crops, sowing times, spacing, and care. Further, I frequently see them in trios, so that makes for a lot of fresh veggies that have no further to travel than the few steps to the front door. I recently harvested 105 pounds of Sibley squash from my garden beds, all from plants that were just tucked in here and there amongst the main crops and allowed to spew their vines into and back out of the walking aisles.
But every trend has its drawbacks. I am disappointed by the lack of some considerations for building a 4’ x 8’ raised bed—let’s just call it “The Box” from now on. Sometimes there seems to have been no site planning for things like sun exposure and access. Or perhaps there was no site preparation done beforehand, so they’re uneven, maybe soil runs out the bottom, grass and other weeds grow through from below, and the depth afforded by the standard 2”x6” construction boards are shallower than I think most veggies need.
But most disappointing of all is the unlovely aesthetics of three big rectangular wooden boxes just lying out in the middle of the grass. I know I’m not alone when I say that productivity is my main aim, but it can be done with style.
I’ve seen some slight variations on The Box. One of my neighbors built hers as squares in the planting strip (between the street and sidewalk). Another neighbor has the same size and shape but rotated 45-degrees so they feel more active and alive.
There are some really dynamic designs in magazines and in other cities—even a few in Olympia—and I’m grateful to have had the opportunities to design and install several interesting vegetable gardens myself.
One is in a private back yard in Portland, and although it is build from the traditional 2”x6” boards, the design is a unique central 2-tier hexagon with the surrounding beds echoing the hexagon edges and corners. Another wooden one (full disclosure: my own) is in the planting strip and is a series of beds in mirroring trapezoids and angled L-shapes that helps direct the flow of energy to the front door.
But we are not restricted to wood. I have used boulders to build a raised herb garden at an organic farm in Rainier, and I designed the edible demonstration gardens at the Outdoors by Design show-gardens in Shelton, which are constructed from paver stones in a series of arcs facing a central point. The paver stones are particularly great because the edges are wide enough to sit on, either for gardening or relaxing in the summer sun, plus they hold radiant heat that really helps the hot-weather crops like tomatoes, beans, peppers, eggplants, and squash.
One thing that all these gardens have in common is they are surrounded by mulch so that grass, creeping buttercup, and other approaching opportunists can be intercepted before infecting the garden. I am barely a fan of grass when it is at its best in a lush lawn, so when it starts escaping those bounds, it loses any standing in this gardener’s heart—hardened from years of repetitive hand-edging the dynamic zone of lawn-meets-garden.
A thoughtful design can save you from some headaches or heartbreaks in the future. Here are a few questions to consider before building your garden—or before you expand it—that could help guide your approach:
Does the site have full sun for nearly the whole day? How close is access to water and what will you do for irrigation? What materials will help visually match the veggie garden to the larger landscape and the house? What shapes of beds fit your site and style? Does the site need leveling or other preparation before building? What weeds are around and how can you prevent them from creeping into the beds or growing through the soil from the bottom?
Perhaps you will find that The Box really is the best fit for you, your site, or your money and time budget. I am fully supportive of gardening under any conditions. But maybe you can or want to do more, in which case I applaud you for thinking outside The Box.
About The Author
Rob Thoms is an Olympia resident and co-owner of The Artful Gardeners, where they design and build nourishing gardens for the body and spirit (www.theartfulgardener.net). He can be reached at robbethoms@gmail.com for edible garden and urban farm coaching and consultations.
