That is precisely how I garden. It's basic info, and I have no criticism of it. I garden in Meridian, MS about two hundred miles north of you. Here, we garden on red clay, so I tilled the soil under my beds before I built and filled them. I used compost, native soil, LOTS of horse manure, and any other organic material I could get to fill the beds. It settles, so each spring I add a few inches of compost and/or composted manure. I also add organic nitrogen, since my soil test shows that my soil is deficient. I mulch the beds with pinestraw. Ditto the paths.

Last year, I dug in a bail of peat moss to each (8'x3.5') bed. That helped with moisture issues, but you will still need to keep a close eye on moisture levels in the dead of summer.

I agree that it's a great help for the senior back, but there is still a certain amount of bending. The good news is the exercise will strengthen your back muscles if you are careful to stretch and not over do early in the season. I built my beds of the decorative concrete blocks that can be stacked without mortar. Their wide tops make a very comfortable seat as I weed or harvest.

The article is no gag. Follow Ms. Basket's lead and you'll do fine. I have numerous such beds in Memphis that produce bountiful harvests. My ground is so bad that I just plop the garden on top without any tilling or digging. And I don't go to the expense or trouble of putting up sideboards or sideblocks. Everything will stay in place, even on a steep hill. Constantly replenish with gin trash, grass clippings, sawdust, manure, soil, shredded leaves, etc. Good luck. Misterbaby.

I made one bed like that and it did just fine. If I can offer one suggestion though, if you can manage to find boards that are 12" wide, you will have a bit better yield for your work.

Thank you so much all! This is very encouraging and I love all the advice.

This is a serious relief. You've no idea! :)

@donnabaskets: I just noticed that you said, "I also add organic nitrogen, since my soil test shows that my soil is deficient"

So I still need to do a soil test to improve it, even if I am not really using that soil? Or am I?

Sorry, not to sound too dumb here, but for some reason I had the impression that a soil test isn't needed for this method. Don't know why though.

Two thoughts from my experience,

1. Are you on clay or sand? The fact that you said your soil was "terrible" made me think you might be on sand since clay, despite its drainage issues, is usually quite fertile. If you're on sand you'll need to consider the fact that raised beds can use insane amounts of water. The southeast is in the midst of a years-long drought so watering could become a serious issue.

2. The couple times I've tried these "lasagna" beds that are filled with uncomposted organic material rather than some kind of soil have failed badly. The "handful of potting soil" that the article references simply doesn't allow adequate root development. My experience is that the soil acts like a pot and that the roots remain in that tiny area rather than expanding throughout the bed.

On rocky or badly-drained soil a raised bed filled with good soil is a garden marvel. But some things just don't work so well in practice as they do in theory if your conditions vary from the optimum. :-)

I agree with iam3killerbs -- define "terrible." Unless you are very close to the Gulf or the Bay (which is an impoverished poorly draining muck), you should be in either flood plain or coastal plain, which is quite good soil. Provided, of course, you have the original soil at your house.

If you can specify what's bad about it, perhaps folks can offer more specific advice. I do recommend having ACES do a soil test for you. It's only $7 plus the postage for mailing the sample to Auburn University, and it could save you a lot of money in the long run.

Okay, my soil type. I have no soil as far as I can tell. lol! It's full of weeds (bought the house this way) and it's very fine. I wouldn't call it sandy, but sandy is probably exactly what it is. There is absolutely zero clay in my so-called soil. Whatever it is, it washes away easily with the rain. I am south of I-95, so it's pretty yuck.

I could certainly do a soil test, but I was asking because if I'm filling it in to a 12" depth (per ezzirah011's advice) with what I believe to be good organic material, it seems pointless. Of course, I'm very garden challenged so if you think I should, I will. No question about it.

I've done some reading on what to add as a fill in. Like what was said here, I didn't think the small amount of soil was sufficient either. We are trying to balance things out with some of the following (any ratios or dos and don'ts are surely welcome):

Compost from several sources: manure compost, a wood compost with "organic materials" (sounds suspect but why not?), humus (I get confused there but decided I'd grab some since my curiosity was peaked) and mushroom compost (I read about this somewhere today but now cannot find the link).
Peat (per donnabaskets)
Pine straw for mulching (also per donnabaskets)
Finally (everyone gasp) top soil, yep, the enemy.

Now, I don't dare just throw it all in there because I know there are ratios to be had. I was going to look into that tonight. My husband built the frame today and though Misterbaby said it wasn't necessary, it will help my neck I think. Hopefully?

In case anyone was afraid to ask and wondered, I have 3 cervical vertebrae which protrude into my spinal cord and surgery is not an option. That's too bad. I was a nurse for over 20 years! *sigh* Oh well, such is life I suppose. It means I can hardly turn my head and bending can be quite painful. Once this is done, I think I can just sit out to the side and work in it... Again, I hope. Tilling is impossible as is digging. Spreading should be okay.

So..... any further advice? I can take in a soil test on Monday, if need be. Do I need a special container or will an envelope do?

Oh and finally if it matters, our box is 8'x4'x12".

Happy Saturday to you all! :)

I knew I'd forget something. While it is very expensive, I could do this if I have to. I understand vermiculite is a good medium for keeping moisture. Maybe this is an option? There is one store which sells it here, and is quite pricey, but if it is necessary to get this to work I can make that one sacrifice.

I'm just really trying to cut costs as much as possible. With my loss of a job we are just about living paycheck to paycheck now.

Again, thanks!

Maggie, I think you are making this too hard. :) If you put the stuff on your list into your beds and mix it all together, in two to four weeks, you're going to have some outstanding grow mix. Don't worry over much about ratios. Don't worry about whether you have clay or sand. Either way, the answer is organic material and that's what's on your list. Does your soil drain too fast? (meaning it's sandy) Add peat moss and compost that is rich in chopped leaves. Is it too heavy and doesn't drain well? Add compost, manure, and peat moss and all the rest. These materials will bind to the clay and open up air pores in the soil so that water can move through. See? Either way, organic matter is the answer. (Vermiculite works fine, but it's very expensive. I don't think it adds anything that you can't get from the other stuff. That's my opinion only, but I have used it. It's great for seed starting, by the way.)

To clarify, when I built my beds, I did not fill them with exclusively "amendment" material. I dug down about a foot below the base of my beds and pulled that native soil up into my mix. My soil is clay, and I felt it would have some good things to add to the other stuff I was adding, including some moisture holding properties. Plus, by incorporating the native soil, I didn't need to buy so much other stuff. On the other hand, the beds that got the most additives did the best in the first season. On the other hand, again, as I pulled out one crop and planted another, I would spade over the soil in the bed and dig in a couple or three bags of composted manure. This continued to add organic matter and to break up the native clay that was in it. By year two, my soil was a black (not red), loamy soil.

I had a soil test done at the end of my second season. If I had it to do again, I would have done it about a month after I filled the beds. I tested the soil MIX that was in the beds. Just because you have added good stuff doesn't mean you will have everything your plants need, in the amounts that they need. Thus, the need for a test. Call your county Ag agent. I can get a soil test done through them (MS State University does the testing) for $6.00. Just a thought: it can be just as bad to have too much, say, nitrogen as it can be to not have enough. Without going into details, a soil test takes the guess work out. It's well worth the trouble.

Just for your information, there is the word "tilth", which refers to how well a soil drains, how crumbly it is, how conducive the structure of the soil is to providing a happy home for the roots of the plants. Then there is the word "fertility", which refers to whether the soil contains the "food" the plants need: Nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, iron, magnesium, etc. The organic material you add to your soil will help primarily with tilth, though it will contribute some fertility, as well as the soil organisms that are needed to make food available to your plants. But fertility comes from fertilizer. This is oh so simplistic, and I am bound to be corrected by half a dozen who know way more than me. But, since you are beginning, this will get you started.

Let us know how your first year goes! WE're rooting for you.

Here's a handy overview of various simple tests to determine what sort of soil you've got.

Here is a link that might be useful: Home Tests for Soil Composition

I agree with Donna, I think you are making this harder than it needs to be.

Here's how to get a soil test:
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0006-A/

There are many free sources of garden material. Personally, I would avoid cotton gin and mushroom compost because of the high amounts of pesticides, etc. in it, but you may feel differently. Almost any local stable will have a huge pile of horse manure free for the taking and may load it for you for a nominal fee. You can mulch with spoiled haw and straw, which are also usually free. Pine straw has the advantage of not having weed seeds in it, but it's really expensive to buy here.

Use the Mobile Botanical Garden as a resource:
http://www.mobilebotanicalgardens.org/
They may be able to point you to a municipal compost facility which has free compost. Usually this is mostly decomposed leaves. Great stuff for holding moisture.

The things you may want to spend money may be a load of decent top soil and any necessary amendments like lime or
bonemeal -- your soil test will help here, and you may want to also test the top soil order. (Or just wait and mix it all up together.)

The first year is the hardest, and then after that a little work each year will improve your plot. Start with just one bed this year if that's all you can manage, and add another when you are ready. You can garden year-round in Mobile, so don't feel like you have to make a huge effort in the spring. It spreads the work out through the year.

Wow, Magnolia, you've gotten a mountain of good advice above. Here are a couple of thoughts that may help, in addition:

Use trellises. You can significantly increase your harvest from the 4x8 box by running climbers up the north and west edges (so as not to shade the garden). Good crops for this include cukes, tomatoes, pole beans, and small melons.

24x7x365. As Nicole said, you can grow year round. For example, a given area might go from onions (Feb-June) to eggplant (June-Sept) to mustard (Sept to Jan).

Cottage gardening. I grow sweet potatoes, leeks, peppers, and other attractive plants in my flower beds. No square foot goes unused.

Container gardening: herbs, lettuce, and many other crops do very well in shallow containers you can keep near the kitchen door. This is very easy.

Don't overthink the whole thing. Some inexpensive seeds, like Ferry-Morse available at big box, plus a small bag of fertilizer and adequate water should lead to good results.

Have a ball! Misterbaby.

I might also suggest that you look into just simply straw bale gardening? Google straw bale gardening, and I am sure that you may find lots of results that might prove useful? The heights of the bales don't require a whole lot of stooping, and weeding, and may prove useful for someone in your condition where mobility is limited.. Just a suggestion off the top of my head. I have not tried this method as of yet, but I have always wanted too! If all else fails it would be a great addition to the garden as far as soil conditioner anyways...
Just my 2 cents worth ~

Happy Gardening,
bgrow_gardens

I'm sorry, after I posted the above reference I realized that I had become caught up in the moment with reading all the opinions, and various posts.
I indeed deviated from the original question of lasagna and square foot gardening... I was merely offering a suggestion that might be possible for one with gardening handicaps... Sorry to get off topic ~ apologies to all -
bgrow_gardens

@misterbaby: Thank you so much!

@bgrow gardens: I can't believe you apologized for that. You're right, I was asking about a different topic and then things kind of went on from there, but that doesn't mean I'm closed to any thoughts about different things. :) You're thoughtful opinion was greatly appreciated. I thank you.

You can make your beds higher to make them easier to work with -- straw bales or a double row cement blocks. Mine are about 30" high. I use the bottom for new compost, and put a layer (~6") of finished compost/garden soil on top to plant in. I'm only in the third year, but I can dig out most of the bed to top dress the garden, fill pots, and provide the planting layer.

Your question isn't an either/or.

There are so many great ideas here.
I garden with people who have disabilities. We four great raised bed systems we built with 10x2 yellow pine (we stack them two high for 20" of depth). They need replacing approx. every 5 years (so we use screws). Cement blocks and brick are permanent of course. I also use stacked, broken cement. In a year or two it looks like fancy stone.
We made some beds here with simple sort of lagsana method but it was all composted to start with. That way we could begin the first year. Slowly that year I began with the stacked concrete all the way around the garden edges and layered in leaves and 1" chopped pieces of plant material in the fall, rotten straw from mulching during the spring and summer, layers of corrugated cardboard (which aerates better than paper)...then I drenched this all with alfalfa tea to heat it up...and mulched it all in with a final layer of cardboard and leaves. Left it for the winter and in the spring it was DELICIOUS! The best garden soil I had and it held moisture all summer while we were in a drought!
Unfortunately a tornado came and took it all away the next year, but I had learned well and am working on a better design with the same materials.

There is an "Accessible Gardening" area that has all sorts of advise for gardening with bad backs etc..
A few things I do...I have long handled hand sized tools. I bought a bulb planter that digs a hole just the right size for starts. I use a steamer to tackle the weeds. For larger seeds such as green beans, I just dig a little hole either with my long handled trowel or with a piece of PVC pipe and roll the seed down the pipe, cover it and tap it down with my foot. HTH Nancy

Hi Magnoliasouth,

I just wanted to say that last summer I built my new garden based on that exact idea and got lots of tips from that website. You can make it very simple- we made one box- 8 feet by 3 feet. The sides were 2 pieces of wood, held together by a bracket and some screws, that were 2x6, so it was 12 inches tall. I did not dig or til and there is no need to. I put down a layer of cardboard first, layer of alfalfa hay (found someone close by who sold it for like $4 bale), layer compost, layer wheat straw, layer compost. Everytime I plant, I add a few scoops of compost. Mulched with wood chips. After starting the garden, we started a very simple compost area. Four metal posts with chicken wire wrapped around the edges. The compost has been minimal effort and at first I was worried about all the 'greens and browns' and percentages... we just put stuff in, watered every now and then and the compost is almost done :) The garden did great, I had watermelon (it grew out of the box and over the yard), tons of cukes, tomatoes, basil, marigolds, lettuce. The point of my long story is to advise you not to worry too much about exact things- just follow the basic idea with whatever supplies you can get easily and cheap :) The lasagna gardening idea mixed with the square foot gardening idea works great and makes gardening alot less stressful in my opinion, especially for a new gardener. You can plant one square at a time. Last weekend I wanted to plant something, so I planted radishes. You can plant like 12 per square and they are ready in 30 days! By then I can plant another spring/summer crop. All I did was add some compost to the top of the box in a square foot area. Added seeds and covered with more compost. Another great part of this gardening method is NO digging!