Friday, March 24, 2006
Raised Bed Learning Experience
While attending the Twin Cities Gardening Resource Fair on March 18, I ended up in a discussion on the "best design" for raised beds. A group of high school students and their moderator are getting ready to install some at various locations.
Besides the obvious questions of how high they should be, a gaggle of we community gardeners offered our opinions and experiences. We discussed materials, lengths, depths to turn soil below ground, aisle widths, fasteners, etc.
I was so intrigued that over the last week I reviewed my electronic and paper resources. I also worked up a little list of "starter questions" to ask when working through bed design and layout.
- What would the gardeners like?
- Is there some certainty of longevity for the garden?
- How will the garden be used?
- Does the sponsoring agency have a preference?
- Who will be using the space and what are their abilities?
- Is water more accessible using one method compared to another?
- Maintenance issues? What does the groundskeeper think?
- How does bed layout and their sizes fit the overall landscape?
- What will be grown? Example - with lots of verticals like beans and morning glories, a long narrow box with a trellis along a long end would have a wall-like effect. ¶ 8:47 PM
While attending the Twin Cities Gardening Resource Fair on March 18, I ended up in a discussion on the "best design" for raised beds. A group of high school students and their moderator are getting ready to install some at various locations.
Besides the obvious questions of how high they should be, a gaggle of we community gardeners offered our opinions and experiences. We discussed materials, lengths, depths to turn soil below ground, aisle widths, fasteners, etc.
I was so intrigued that over the last week I reviewed my electronic and paper resources. I also worked up a little list of "starter questions" to ask when working through bed design and layout.
- What would the gardeners like?
- Is there some certainty of longevity for the garden?
- How will the garden be used?
- Does the sponsoring agency have a preference?
- Who will be using the space and what are their abilities?
- Is water more accessible using one method compared to another?
- Maintenance issues? What does the groundskeeper think?
- How does bed layout and their sizes fit the overall landscape?
- What will be grown? Example - with lots of verticals like beans and morning glories, a long narrow box with a trellis along a long end would have a wall-like effect. ¶ 8:47 PM
