• If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.

raised-bed raised bed depth?

reverser

reverser

This question came up in my glog post --
 
I'm putting in raised beds in my yard to grow peppers (2 5x5 foot beds, 1 3x6 foot bed).  I'm making the beds using 7-inch redwood fencepost material, so I currently have 2 boards per side (14 inches tall).
 
I was planning on filling the beds to about 10 inches, but is that enough?  Should I nail a third board up (21 inches) and then add more soil -- how much?
 
The beds will be sitting directly over bare soil, but the native soil is very poor (full of rocks and clay, and I don't have a tiller).  I'm trying to avoid digging down into the soil (because it's difficult to do so), even if that means I need to build up the bed higher. 
 
Here's a photo of the two 5x5 beds:
AVfm3KZ.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: SL3
Is it actually going to be sitting on the concrete like that?  If so then I would say you need more like 2 feet of soil... if it is going to set on top of the ground then around 10 inches of soil will be fine.  Did you bust up the concrete that was there?  What is the deal?
 
Noah Yates said:
Is it actually going to be sitting on the concrete like that?  If so then I would say you need more like 2 feet of soil... if it is going to set on top of the ground then around 10 inches of soil will be fine.  Did you bust up the concrete that was there?  What is the deal?
Click to expand...
If you look closely, it's actually sitting in the gaps between concrete slabs. A previous owner had some bushes in these two spots, with a gravel mulch. The trees were gone before we moved in, and the gravel mixed in with the soil that was underneath it (this is one reason I consider the soil to be poor).
 
If the gravel was added as mulch,I'm guessing it is fairly dense but probably only a few inches thick. If that is the case, I'd want to remove them completely getting down to at least a less rocky clay. Then start filling in with a better soil / compost mix . It should help with water regulation if nothing else.
 
Plenty of people have great grows in 5 gallon buckets so if its as tall as one of those it should be even better than the bucket. BUT if money isn't an issue I would go one board higher simply for my sake, not the plants. Bending over sucks!
 
Terravexti said:
I have an eight inch bed overtop hard, untilled Virginia clay. It grows 6 1/2ft super hots loaded with fruit.
Click to expand...
In the case of heavy clay soil, having it over hard top and at shallow depth could actually help to dry it out quicker... which is the main problem with clay... that it tends to retian water too well on the bottom, and dry out too quickly on the top.  So i could see that dynamic working if you watered properly.
 
Noah Yates said:
In the case of heavy clay soil, having it over hard top and at shallow depth could actually help to dry it out quicker... which is the main problem with clay... that it tends to retian water too well on the bottom, and dry out too quickly on the top.  So i could see that dynamic working if you watered properly.
Click to expand...
To be fair, the bed is in partial shad.
 
Noah Yates said:
Then you have some hardy plants XD Or less clay and more loam than you think
Click to expand...
Trust me, my soil is ALL of clay. I think peppers of more are very vigorous and take less maintenance than people think. That's why they have been grown for 1000's of years.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top