Hi! I am very far from a garden expert, but we had the exact same issue a couple of years ago. My hubby was kind enough to dig one large bed about 18-24 inches deep or so into our rocky soil (we're in the mountains, might not be as rough for you) using a shovel and a pick axe. We added another 10 inches frame on top with unfinished 2x10's I think. Or was it 1x10's... Anyhow, he reinforced the corners with posts that fit deep down into the hole. Then we lined the bottom with chicken wire (to deter gofers up here) and refilled it with a mixture of the limey dirt we dug up, peat, purchased sand, mulch. It is quite a fertile little plot and worked well for tomatoes, etc...You can fit quite a bit into it. It is about 4x6, like you mentioned.

For our herbs, strawberries, etc... I dug very shallowly,just a few inches, and placed some old small (2'x3'x8"deep), unfinished pine rectangular shelves on top that we had out in the shed and mixed in a few ammendments with the dirt to increase depth and quality. They worked really well and I had plenty of room to grow lots of stuff in about four of them. It took very little work since the shelves were aleady built and I just plopped them on to add a little more depth for the roots. They are small so don't need reinforcement and have held up for two years now and still look strong. If you wanted to look around for shelves at yardsales,etc... you could probably make a zillion little beds like that. It would be an easy way to add on different herb plots, etc...to the garden in stages. I included a link to show the open style shelves I'm talking about, but lots of other things would work.

Also, for a few more veggie plants (tomatoes etc...) and so as not to be restricted to the one large bed, I dug just a few "holes" into the ground and filled with ammended soil and surrounded each one with a tomato cage. Plus added a few of those plain large black plastic tubs which are big enough for just about any single plant or patio tomatoes/cukes or something. If you want everything to look nice, some gravel paths or something would dress it up, but I haven't gotten that far yet. Anything looks good full of plants of course anyway.

Hope I've given you some ideas at least. Good luck!
Heather

Here is a link that might be useful: Open Shelves

How creative, Heather. I would have never thought of the shelves in a hundred years.

I did find plain ol' grey concrete block at Home Depot for $1.08 each today. I'm thinking that is a whole lot better than $3.56 mas o minus for a smaller block. But...still pricey and labor intensive. But then, gardening is labor intensive...and yet...doesn't have to be heaving those blocks around.

You did give me ideas. We're taking down a 50 year old wood fence...2 x 8's...and I've also been eyeing those today. I just don't know how long they'll last with the moisture.

That wood fence sounds interesting! I just love old stuff for some reason. I bet that would look great.

I think I may have actually gotten the shelf idea from this forum two years ago and then remembered the ones from our shed.

I hope you post some pics later of what you come up with.
Heather

I've used recycled landscape timbers and even railroad ties for raised beds. By "recycled" I mean I hauled off junk from a friend's house. The RR ties are generally pretty toxic, and the landscape timbers probably have some less-than-ideal chemicals, but you can always line them with something if you plan to grow food in the beds. My decorative plants don't seem to mind. --Kris

These are really great suggestions for framing raised beds. Five years ago the insurance people made me put a new roof on my house, and in the process all the 60 year old skirtings got torn off, mostly long 2 x 6 and 1 x 6 planks that have lain in the backyard till this spring. Out of them I constructed six raised beds, rectangular about 36" x 80" each. I dug the hard clay down to about 12 inches, constructed the frames, and filled them to the top with compost, which I then dug into the clay along with manure and some cheap granular general garden fertilizer. After a thorough watering, the soil level sinks about an inch or so, which is perfect. I've used them for the vast array of spring greens I love as well as various kinds of kale and cultivated Taraxacums. Next winter I plan to convert all the perennial and annual beds to raised as well. I do have one problem here that perhaps others also may have: invasive tree roots, especially Siberian Elm (Ulmus pumila). It'll be interesting to see how long before I'll have to hassle with digging them out again. My aim in constructing these beds was strictly utilitarian, not artistic, but in their own way, filled out beautifully with lush plants, they've become quite artistic, and I find I like to just sit and look at them as if in a sort of gallery.

My best raised garden is scrap 3 X 3. 8' one way and 3' on the ends. They just overlap at the corners. Line the inside with landscape cloth so the dirt will not escape. Fill with whatever to 12" form the top.

What about straw bales? They will gradually rot, are tall enough when turned on their sides and cheap! Also, you can often get them cheaper by buying them from the bottom of the pile at the store...they are often already getting nasty...good composting material. Also, if you set up tall poles around the garden edge and attach birdhouses on top, you will rarely see a tomato worm!

get alfalfa hay bales and plant in the bale..2 tomato plants in one bale,keep watered well, and they go nuts

My brother-in-law has built raised beds out of used tires he has gotten from the local tire place. He packs the inside with old straw and builds a wall with them then coats everything with clay mud so the black wont soak in the heat and fry the plants. He has a bad back so he has stacked the tires about 4 high and sits on the stack while planting, or weeding etc.