<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">In a message dated 6/29/2003 11:19:42 PM Eastern Standard Time, StefanliRous@austin.rr.com writes:<BR>
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<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">So, what is the advantage of having the beds raised? And how high do <BR>
you mean when you say "raised"? Do you mean a single landscaping timber <BR>
or enough stacked up to put the bed a foot or more above the natural <BR>
ground level?<BR>
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Raised beds are nice for a couple of reasons - they are easier to harvest and weed, as you don't have to get down to the ground, and the ground never gets compacted from being walked on. They should be made no more than 3 or 4 feet wide so you can reach into the center easily (a fact I knew but ignored when we designed the 6 foot sqaure beds we set up in an area of the backyard, so I now have a stepping stone in the middle of each bed so I can reach things). You can also put a strip of copper sheeting around the outside to keep slugs from crawling in.<BR>
As far as how high, that's up to you, Ours are on a sloped part of the ground, and we're using the beds to level it, so one end is about 8 inches high and the other about 18. I put the high-growing plants on the uphill side and the low plants on the downhill side; that way they are easier to reach.<BR>
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Brangwayna</FONT></HTML>