I have two 4'6" x 35'. I know that is long but I wanted growing space not walk space. So, I plant herbs in the middle and if I have to step thru them-they don't care. Tips for growing LOTS: 1. Incredible soil w/ lots of organic matter. Soil tested and ammended to be in balance (or close to it). With that kind of soil, your plants will be big and prolific and one bed will be enough for a short time. 2. Two beds are much better so you can plan overlap between seasons, rotate around to grow organically, try experimental plants. 3. Use trellis and poles to grow as much as you can upright. You can get a lot that way. 4. Grow Suyo Long cukes. 4 plants on a 3'x 7'trellis will feed my family, everyone in the office and some for the compost pile. 5. More space allows for continuous harvest. I know you said your season was short, but it would probably still apply. I plant pole beans, for instance, March 1. By May, they are spent (disease and age). But, if I have another set of poles (away from these), then I can plant April 15 to extend my harvest further. 6. Try a bed for corn. Minimum 3'x 3' or double that for 2 crops. Corn is GOOD eating!! Corn does not need to be rotated so it is the same every year. I grown fall crops like lettuce, beets, carrots there.

My husband just made my first raised bed three days ago using cement bricks we already had. It looks really good and though it was backbreaking work to carry the bricks, husband said it was very easy. Lacking easy access to many of the materials in the sq foot book, we used black silage plastic for the bottom and covered it first with straw seeped in horse manure then a layer of garden grit followed by four bags of compost mixed with grit. The depth is about 12 inches which should let us grow almost anything if it works. My family is very found of American veggies that take up a great deal of space and or grow vertically. So I'm working out ways to get our Three foot by Nine food bed with as many things going up as possible. I'm only 4'8" so the child sized width works perfect for me, but we made the bed longer to conserve bricks. I used old rusted steel beams for the horizontal makers and bamboo stuck under to mark the vertical squares. No link yet as we are just starting - good luck with your bed! Disaster Cat - ex-patriot Californian living in rural Ireland with husband, dogs, new garden plot and many, many cats...

Agree, 12'' is not enough, unless you have nice soil below your bed. 18'' is min, 24'' is better. I use 8'' wide boards, and 3 boards work fine. The trick is, you do not have to fill whole bed with planting soil, that could be pretty expensive. You can place a 6-8 inches layer of of any dry compostable materials on the bottom(straw, shredded leaves, pine needles, even fine wood chips). They will work as moister reservoir, and will prevent soil to dry out too fast. As you fertilize your bed, excess water with fertilizer will be setting up in the bottom layer also providing the roots nutrients if they overgrow soil level. In one or two season the bottom layer will decompose, lowering the soil level. This will allow you to add more organics like compost to the soil. Good luck!

Most of my beds are Huglekultur type that settle a few inches each year. As a disease precaution plants and fruit are removed to compost for later use in landscape beds. Native soil and partly finished compost is dug in to refill beds. Some are seeded with Hairy Vetch and weeds are allowed to grow in others. Growing weeds are turned under 2-3 weeks before planting. Weeds that flower before time to prep bed for planting are mowed or turned under to prevent going to seed. Landscape beds are topped year round as needed with wood chip mulch.