I recently got what just might be (IMHO) a gosh-darn *brilliant* idea for a raised bed. (drum roll please):

How about those round vinyl pools for kids...the ones with the vinyl bottom and rigid plastic-or-whatever sides? The sides are all floppy as you lay out the bottom flat, then come up straight and strong as they are held up by the water inside. (Except for us it would be earth.)

They come in all sizes, up to quite large. I remeber getting one when one of our dogs was recuperating from Lyme disease; his shoulder muscles had atrophied some and he needed execise that would build him up and not tear him down. He was 30" tall at the shoulder and 125 pounds, so that was quite a challenge for a person w/o a pool or tons of money for physical therapy. I saw one of these pools that was, I think, 10 feet diameter X 3 feet high. I think it was only $30 too.


Nico (the dog) walked and played in the water every day, and recovered beautifully, and the other 2 dogs, and my daughter Joy and I used to get in and play ball and have a great time!

I would never do that size pool with water again, 'cause it was a tremendous amount of work to keep clean. Something that big really needs an eletric filter and cleaning stuff and chemicals. I realized.

But filled with soil! Yipee! Actually, that size would be an *awfully* bid raised bed, wouldn't it? I've never had one, but, don't you have to be able to reach at least halfway? At any rate, those pools come in all sizes, and the small ones are *very* inexpensive.

What are good sizes for raised beds? (height and width)

Donna in NY