Yes, the length of the beds are going down the slope. I also have one long 16ft bed that is in the opposite direction. Three beds are 4x12ft and one is 20ft all going East to West on the down slope with one more bed gong North to South that is 16ft long at the top of the slope.

Not sure what you mean by 'shaving the high side'. Do you mean with a plane to the actual top rim of the bed?

The twine line, sounds like that will work fine. Thanks.

My raise bed garden is on a slope also. I did level them. Raising the low end and adding more boards where needed. There is almost a 10" difference on one of the beds, so the low end needed 3 more 2x4's, on the sides the bottom boards were cut at a diagonal.

I built the beds even, but nailed longish 2x2's (cut like stakes at the bottom) on the inside corners, sort of like table legs. Then when I placed them I knocked the high end down into the ground, until I had the whole thing level, and pieced in the bottom parts that were gapping.

I second Mandolls method, and the corner stake idea to aid in leveling sounds like a great idea. When you have a single bed by itself, it looks just fine if it's a little out of level. But in my opinion, as soon as you start placing several beds together, it starts to look a little sloppy if they're all at different heights and degrees of level... simply because your eye can easily compare one bed to the next. Along those lines... it's all about what pleases your eye, and just "eyeballing the degree of level is fine. If level is very important, it's easy enough to use a level to aid you. Start by laying the beds in the location they're going to live. Once you've kicked them around into an arrangement that suits you, start at the highest point of your slope and level out from that point. You'll basically be lifting the down slope edges of the beds until the level looks right. Eyeball across adjacent beds to align them and put some sort of shim under them to hold them at the appropriate height. (Or utilize Mandolls stake technique) Once you've tweaked everything to a point that it pleases your eye, you should have created a series of wedge shaped gaps under your bed walls. Measure the height of the gaps at each end, transfer them to a board, draw a straight line between them, and cut the "wedges" preferably with a circular saw. Nail/screw these tapered pieces to the underside of your beds and you'll have a neat, organized looking arrangement of level beds for years to come. Having said all of that... If the gaps are only a couple of inches, you could simply shim them up with a brick or a small rock rather than taking time to do some carpentry! I apologize if I oversimplified the instructions not knowing your skill level. Best of luck!

Great, thank you all for the detailed explanations and the photos to go with them. Very nice looking beds you both have, Creativeguy and Mandolls!

Mandolls, you have more of a slope than I do. I think we probably had a 2 or 3 inch gap when we raised the low end. You ended up with some nice deep beds. Your vegetable beds remind me of terraced beds which I always love the look of.

Creativeguy, your description of the 'wedge shaped gap' gave me a good visual of what is going to happen. Are those supports for tomatoes on your beds?

Okay, we'll wait to finish all the beds, have them half done with three more to go and it's raining here today and maybe tomorrow. This shouldn't be too hard. :-)

Thank you!!

Ours is on a crazy hill! We put in corner supports first and built the beds into the hill.

The back bed, on the greatest slope, has 1 board on the back 2 sides and 2 boards on the other 2 sides (we dug them into the hill, except where too much would be buried, we used a skill saw to cut the boards with the slope of the hill and then dug them in just a little to secure them without having the risk of rot if that makes sense). The front bed has a similar set up only with 2 boards all the way around (again cut and buried a little so that the top is level).

It was a LOT of work to build them in place, but it would have been much harder to try to build them first and then attempt to dig them in and level them - although that might be easier with smaller beds. I hope that makes sense - I wish I took pictures of the process (it took 2 full days, not including planning or painting!)

Ignore the lack of grass - that is next! :)

This post was edited by kcg1231 on Tue, Apr 15, 14 at 13:27

It is a lot of work to build the beds and get them worked into the landscape the way you want them. And you've added painting to the process. Nice decorative corners! Thanks for the photo. :-)

Those are indeed my tomato stakes. I like to grow 'em high. Practical? No, not really. But fun.

Creativeguy - looks like you could easily put up plastic and turn that structure into a green house to extend your growing season - very nice.

I made some low tunnels out of pvc that I can pop over the tops of mine, but I haven't made much use of them. I simply don't have the time to get much started in April, and usually by mid-May when I do have the time, I don't need them.

Not sure what you mean by 'shaving the high side'
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It means removing the soil from high/hilly side and transferring it to the low side, thus making a near level foundation, slightly wider than the bed. Making a bed frame with varied depth is also another option. It just needs some extra lumber and carpentry work. It can be done by a circular saw.

Creativeguy, I was thinking the same thing about being able to turn your tomato support system into a greenhouse. :-)

Thanks Seysonn, yes, that is another way I could do it. Working on this with my son so I'll pass along all these suggestions and see what he wants to do. He does have a circular saw and some experience with wood, too.

I would definitely level them. Water will have less tendency to run off that way.

--McKenzie