If you visited during the last sale, you may have noticed the odd looking square cages plonked in the middle of the nursery with no apparent purpose. So what's the story?



The cages were the first step in the process of building raised beds for our edibles demonstration garden.

The process is simple enough but why choose raised beds and not just dig about in the dirt like they did in the olden days? Well, the majority of us have soil that is solid clay (or sandstone) and striking it with a shovel at this time of year will bounce the teeth right out of your head. Purists will argue that good soil takes years of digging in compost and encouraging worms to eat and poop in equal quantities. Others swear by the double digging method which is quicker - but lets be honest, the only time we have to do something twice is because we didn't get it right the first time.



So back to our raised garden beds. With the help of the good folks at Chevron (during the 'Week of Caring') and our dedicated group of Tuesday volunteers we spent a few hours building five 4'x4' raised beds. The beds are filled with a nice light soil (perfect for root crops and others) and are only 30" high so you don't have to bend over to harvest. The sides are galvanized steel panels which are lined with black felt to keep the roots warm. Being a cube we now have 5 sides to grow on as opposed to 1 in the ground. To do this we'll simply cut some slips (pockets) into the felt on the sides and poke in some plants.



This method is also a great option for those with limited space or if there's any concern about the quality of the soil in the ground due to past owners or uses.