I built raised beds with cedar once & made them 4' wide. I realized that is pretty deep and it's possible to create a thicket of tomato plants that are impenetrable. I really strongly suggest 3' wide beds. Especially if you are a female of average height (men have longer arms & tend to be taller, I think some dude came up with that 4' width on raised beds). As for soil, this is a GREAT time to get some leaves in lovely paper bags. Keep them moist all winter & in spring of 2013 you will have great material to work with. If you have a lawnmower with a bag on the back, mow up your leaves (and grass) and you might be lucky enough to have decent texture material for the bottom 6" of your beds in the spring of 2012. You'll still have weed seeds in there, but it will help fill the bed and with 10" of dirt on top the weed seeds are unlikely to make any progress. Are there any farms/barns nearby? Do you have space to dedicate to aging a pile of manure over the winter? When I made beds I didn't do it the "right" way but it still worked well enough. We had clay soil (I was living in the south then) and I bought bales of peat moss at the local big-box store. I had a pile of clay soil & would mix the clay with the peat moss & a little bagged composted cow manure. The ratio was about 1 part clay soil, 2 parts peat, 1/2 part cow manure. I went heavy on the peat b/c the clay was red, heavy, dense stuff that needed a lot of lightening up. Again, it wasn't the ideal set up but it did grow veggies really well that first year. After that we had to move (job relocation) so we dismantled the beds & spread the soil/peat mix to plant it out as lawn so we could sell the house. So I can't speak to the long term validity of that kind of soil mix. Good luck whatever you do, though!

I had part of my backyard landscaped for a "kitchen garden" by a professional landscape contractor. I opted for the expense because it was a steep slope and required terracing (very hard work!). In addition to the raised planters for a row of dwarf citrus and a row of vegetable beds, I requested fruit trees to be espaliered against an open framework wrought iron fence in full sun at the bottom of the slope. He suggested apples, pears, peaches, apricots(I think). I told him I was thinking semi dwarf Asian pears alternated with semi dwarf sweet cherries. He said the Asian pears were a good choice, but that the cherries would be more difficult to train as they have a strongly upright growth habit. But he agreed to plant them as requested because I had my heart set on sweet cherries. It's been a year and a half since then. The landscape contractor was right--I should have listened. The two Asian pears (Hosui and Twentieth Century) are so easy to train with their easily bendable young branches, and they are both fruiting nicely. The cherries, however, are proving more challenging. If I don't train the young branches quick enough while they're still pliable, they quickly stiffen up and threaten to break if I start bending them sideways. It's do-able, but takes more work and attention. In retrospect, I should have gone with Asian pears and apples. Semi dwarf peaches should be easy to train to espalier.

My raised bed garden is about 13 feet square and surrounded by stacked bricks... can not remember the name now but they have plastic tabs in the back holding them together with a 14x10 inch cap. They work great and I can walk on them when I am working. I live in Chandler and have never had a problem with the heat but I keep the garden pretty wet. the price of brick is higher on the front end but they will last forever and look very nice. I took about 10 inches of dirt out from the bottom and put in all new soil. It was a long time ago but I know it was a lot. I add steer manure every year but need to add another 5 bags of soil, do not know where it is going. Every time I turn the garden over with the shovel the level gets back up near the top of the bricks. The soil is amazing... if I step in where I have worked my foot sinks about 6 inches.

Hi all I am planning on buying an Alphonso Mango tree. I wanted to know if it is better to keep the tree in a pot or plant it in the ground? I live in Katy. I know the trees planted in the ground are going to need winter protection. I know most of you have had past experiences with growing mangoes in Houston so just wanted to get your advice.