Our vegetable garden is a collection of 4 by 8 pine boxes. In this climate, regular seasoned wood will last about ten years, so there isn't any reason to get into questions about treated wood. We use raised beds because the sunny area we picked for the garden is very wet, and raised beds heat up sooner in the spring. Accumulating as much heat as possible is an important part of growing plants such as tomatoes here. It isn't bad looking, but aesthetics were not the reason it is what it is. In a warmer climate, where the wood is going to decay much faster, finding suitable building materials may be a real problem. Do you really need raised beds?

Lettuce is a cool season crop. It goes to seed when the temperatures get above 80°F. Peppers are very pretty plants, if you will use the fruit. Basil is also very attractive, as is Swiss chard. Garlic is very easy, but somewhat odd looking. Nasturiums are quite tasty. Sunflowers can be worth growing strictly as bird food.

There is a lot out there in plants that are both ornamental and edible. A lot will depend on what you are willing to eat :-)

You might want to look for Rosalind Creasy's books on edible landscaping. One is even based on edible flowers.

Rosefolly

asparagus and onions are perennials here, and i think some herbs will reseed themselves. for that i would just plant in the ground. I believe some of the lettuces you can grow all year in the house or put in one of those terrarium windows.

i am not sure what you are asking so sorry if i miss the mark here.
Sammy why do you want 'soilless soil'? You can fill your beds with something called 'Mel's Mix' (1/3 peat, 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 compost) but it sounds expensive to me. i've been putting in a small veg. garden that includes some raised beds. Planned to lasagne them in but got impatient with the first one and hauled in some organic compost. Not a bad idea-i've planted in pure compost before with amazing results-but make sure you know what you're getting-mine turned out to have a pH of 8.0 so it continues to need quite a bit of amending. After the first one was in i had more patience and just finished layering manure, yard waste, kitchen scraps, fish heads, etc in the second bed which i will plant in a another few weeks. we constructed the beds out of galvanized sheet metal and leftover trex 2x2's, got the idea from a Southern Living article. i really like the way the material looks and it was relatively inexpensive but you might choose something else. Cedar maybe, with copper caps on the post corners. Lots of options depending on your budget. So here is my idea for you:

Construct 4 raised beds in a grid with 4' pathways. Mulch the pathways in and put a nice pillar rose in the center, or a bird bath maybe. Enclose the area with a short vinyl picket fence and train a climbing rose over the arched entryway. Wrap a narrow border of herbs and flowers around the outside of the fence, maybe include an apothecary rose if that grows for you.

Rosalind Creasy is a good suggestion, also look for a book called 'The Art of the Kitchen Garden' for some more beautiful planting ideas. Since you are no-spray some herbs can be planted right in with your roses as well.

Well, i will include a picture of my first raised bed-about 8x4- but be forewarned that it is just plopped down in the backyard-no pretty fence or pathways. Also, i never could stay inside the lines ; )

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I personally think Okra are pretty plants, especially their blooms, as are the eggplants and peppers. Also, the purple ruffles basil and that one that makes a little mound of tiny leaves is great. Also, you might try the Arp rosemary, as that one may be hardy enough for your area, but that would be a permanent subshrub. You might also do well with some of the Thymes, they're cold hardy and should do fine in your area, I think.

During the very early fall, you can grow broccoli and other cabbage relatives. If you like cardoon, they grow quickly and are very striking, but probably wouldn't survive the winter (maybe they would, artichokes probably wouldn't).

Scarlet runner beans are great, too, and do well all summer.

--Ron

Mad Gallica, thank you for your suggestions. since I am starting from scratch, I want raised beds for my convenience. Using soil in the ground that has years of spray residue is out of the question. since I want to grow the crops in containers, I think I will at least put them on concrete blocks so they will be easier to tend. Also some of the products may need to be moved because of bad weather, and if I use smaller containers, I can move them easier -- maybe.

Rosefolly, I will look for that book. Thank you.

Lens, thank you. We cannot grow foods for long in the house since we are allergic to molds. I hope to start some products inside, but will need to get them out before they are too large, or before the soil begins to affect us.

Mauirose, I have read that the soiless soil is the best. I am not sure why, but since I am starting something new, I thought I would try it. A picket fence! That is my solution. I can raise the area with concrete blocks, and encircle it with a picket fence. We just built a fence for the dogs, and we have some left over lumber. The fence will hide the ugly concrete blocks. I love your area, but see that you are in a warmer zone than I am. I need the rebar arches in case we need to cover the pots because of weather. Thank you so much for your response, and your picture. I really wish I lived in California.

Ron, I am making a list, and have added yours. Thank you.

Sammy

Artichoke looks pretty cool. There is a variety that is supposed to produce in 1 season. I also like fennel, although need to watch the seedlings. There are lots of ornamental peppers in just about any color. I also think herbs like Sage can provide garden interest.

Sammy,
We added new front beds and included a herb/veggie garden as well, but instead of a picket fence we used a wall of shrubs, not only to enclose the herb garden but also to provide some evergreen interest for the roses and other flowers. They're evergreen viburnums, white spring blooms and 5-6' tall. We have no privacy in our yard so this is an attempt at a 'secret garden.' A rose arch of some kind is going at the end of the bed to provide an entrance along the street. Two Quietness are planted there now and the arch will probably just be for clematis or other vines.

I haven't decided whether to use raised beds or not for the herbs/veggies. That's a big pile of horse manure, sawdust and shredded leaves in the middle waiting for me.

I've been looking at herb garden plans, trying to figure out how to lay the interior out. I love Ron's idea of okra; it is a beautiful plant, even if inedible, imho! Someone (I think Pam in Mendocino) mentioned on another thread a border of spicy globe basil and lemon gem marigold; those colors would be beautiful together, I think. For me that would work because I'm using this secret area also as a place for yellow roses. Germander is another good sub-shrub border plant; or so I read, I'm planning to try it this spring also.

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Soil-less soil, which is the same thing as potting soil, has a two real advantages. The first is that it drains extremely well. The second is that it is very light. Both of these are real advantages in a nursery or in container planting. However, I personally think that these are of no value in raised bed vegetable growing. The raised nature of the bed gives you all the drainage you are likely to need, and since you are not likely to pick up your raised bed and move it from place to place, you don't need the light weight. Artificial soils lack the wonderful complex biology of real soil, and that biological activity is part of the fertility of soil.

I speak from experience. My DH and I built some raised beds in a part of the yard that had poor soil so we purchased soil to put in there. We wanted topsoil but were talked into a planting mix that turned out to be a glorified potting soil -- mostly sand and peat with some compost. It has been a disaster. Even with a heavy mulch we have trouble keeping it watered, and anytime you are watering constantly you are also washing the fertility away.

If you are not happy with the soil that is present on your property, you might consider purchasing some topsoil and mixing it with a generous amount of compost.

Our raised beds are filled with local mushroom compost. It's heavy, and holds water well. We were told these are both big plusses with raised vegetable beds.

With potting mix, you'll need to be continually adding both water and fertilizer.

Given that our beds are only about six inches high, I don't think they are any easier to work than normal ground. That's not why they are there. Two or three feet seems to be where raised beds become easier to work, particularly if the sides are wide enough to comfortably sit on.

Be very, very, very, very careful with purchased topsoil. Unless you know where it came from, it might be full of worse chemicals than your own soil.

You can do interesting things with shapes of the garden. I created a geometric design potager for my veggie garden. In the front, I use lettuces, spinach, and chard as decorated and edible edging. Tomatoes in the center of each quadrant with a cone structure holding them up. I have basil and thyme planted now, they are beautiful and easy. For flowers, lemon gem mariagold and roses are edible :).

I don't have a recent picture, but here is a poor one :(fence is falling over and has since been replaced)
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Edible is fun! I'm very much for mixing in herbs and fruit alongside flowers, it reminds me of reading Adam Bede. Maybe plant a fig tree somewhere? You seem to have a lot of room...need some bones for the garden!

but for rose companions, any type of perennial sage, oregano and thyme are BEAUTIFUL in the garden, I had a small patch for my dad at our attempt at a carry-out and it was gorgeous all together. There is a type of sage in particular which quite ornamental, very large leaves, not sure how their taste is but we sell it at the nursery in the summer and it looks GREAT in the border. Cultivar starts with a "B" I think....look into it it's FANTASTIC foliage plant, just as good as any lamb's ears.

Also, Rosemary! Everyone that is in a warm zone should grow Rosemary. Lavender, winter savory, santolina catnip can be fun too...not neccesarily edible but pretty.

Look into some native herbs like bee-balm, there are some petite cultivars that are very well mannered and would make nice socks for some roses. Also evergreen wintergreen!

As for other edible companions...maybe violets/violas? They can be eaten, and in the summer seed some nasturtiums. There are some vegetables that are actually quite attractive. "Fairytale" eggplant is pretty and rather small with attractive flowers as are some type of pepper plants. I'll try to think of some others, you could intersperse heirloom tomatoes with their zaggy stripes in between the roses....but that might be getting to vegetable/herb heavy.....

Sammy, I just picked up a book titled "All New Square Foot Gardening", written by Mel Bartholomew. I had two friends suggest that I try this for growing vegetables, as they have had wonderful success with it. I would pair that book with (perhaps) one written by your cooperative extension, on when to plant differing vegetables and herbs in your area.

Basically, it is using constructed boxes (or frames) with a good soil mix in it, and planting in such a way as to maximize space and yield, without weeding chores. These 4 ft. by 4 ft. "boxes" can be made as utilitarian or as fancy as you want, and can even be set up for vining vegetables. It sounds very inexpensive to do, (or possibly free from discarded lumber from builders). Just don't use anything pressure treated. The author even mentions fiberglass "lumber" that can be attractive and hold up for a long time.

I have grown my own herbs and vegetables in the past, and there sure is nothing else that can come close to the taste!

Sandy

Sammy,
I tried raised beds because that's what P. Allen Smith does. He has a really beautiful vegetable garden - you can see it in some of his books - and your library should be able to get some of those books for you to look at.
They weren't too hard to build, but after the first season they were so full of weeds that I really couldn't weed it properly. I really needed something that I could get a tiller in to. But since the structure was already there, I tried to "solarize" the weeds. Then I put in soaker hoses, laid down black plastic, and tried to plant in holes in the plastic. (I mulched the plastic to make it look pretty). This didn't work very well, either.
After a few years of trying with the "less work" raised beds, I took them out. I'm now starting over and am tilling an area to be the new veggie garden. I plan to plant sweet olives around the veggie garden so that you can't see the mess of a vegetable garden. I've got a short picket fence that I can use in the mean time until the sweet olives get big enough to provide coverage.
In addition to the garden itself, there are a lot of things you can plant in with your roses that look good and thrive in the same environment as roses, as long as you aren't spraying. I've seen someone use strawberries, and it was both wonderful and delicious. I plan to do the same, as soon as I can get my hands on some strawberries. Blueberry shrubs don't look bad as background "filler" type shrubs in the garden. I've got a couple in mine, and plan to add more.

I love working in raised beds. However we have to re-do the ones here in the Jr. Gardening area at the arboretum because they were built with railroad ties were. Ties used to be widely recommended, but coal tar creosote leaches into the soil. This can be a problem with many treated wood products. Concrete blocks may be ugly but at least they aren't poisonous!