compost always settles or compost further so you need to top off the beds after every harvest OR keep adding enough mulch to break down further to maintain volume adding coffee grounds or dried grass clippings (herbicide free) as mulch will help retain moisture once the soil warms when tulip petals fall in western WA we don't have your heat, but we do have dry summers. your raised beds will warm more quickly than clay soil, so congrates for the mixture over time it just gets better & better if you keep adding compost we have to add lime yearly because of acidic soils & rain that leaches it out ask around what other raised bed gardeners do in your immediate area - that is most helpful to you What works here for us with small raised beds 1. check soil temps affects what germinates now more than soil mix later planted seeds catchup with early, so no rush until soil is at least 40 degrees (it's hard to wait when you want a garden now!) 2. grow what you love to eat or want to try to disguise in family meals because it's good for us (kale & swiss chard are grown here for those reasons) 3. plan for succession of crops & 3 season or almost year round growing spring planted: peas, lettuces, green onions from sets followed by summer warm weather vegs (trellis to save space & improve fruit quality or picking ease) save some space for midsummer plantings of fall & winter harvested crops 4. protect from pests such as: slugs, rabbits, deer?, dogs, cats, balls/frisbees... great ideas on SFG forum for cages (doesn't have to cover entire bed, just what you need to protect netting propped up with sticks covered by upturned water bottles/jugs upturned clear totes 2 windows as a tent or wire covered frames lots of creative options out there & something to keep you busy when you can't yet plant the garden Enjoy a productive gardening season! Corrine

regaldozer, The situation may not be all that bad. What you propose might well work. But the things that will determine the stability you have not related to us. The wall details linked to by Dave are some good general construction ideas. If you have marginal soils that may sometimes become saturated and you are doing a 3 to 5 ft wall you better get close to what those details show. Keep in mind that engineers that do generic plans count on a worst case scenerio. Then they throw in a 50% safety factor. For a 1 ft high wall the details are way overblown. There is a world of difference in the force behind a 2 ft wall compared to a 1 ft wall. Taken all by itself a 1ft wood wall can stand with rebar through the wood and 18 to 20 inches in hard undesturbed subsoil where the rebar is used on 16" centers. But in your case you are doing multiple beds up the slope. So you must take into consideration the overall stability of the slope itself. Since your plan calls for 1 ft high then 3 ft horizonal, I assume you have a basic 3 to 1 slope. A compacted 3 to 1 slope of most soils is stable. But it is close to the point where there can be an instability. As the length of the slope increases so does the chance of a slide. Saturation of the soil in a slope robs the ground of its strength. If the total weight of the saturated soil exceeds the soil friction, then the whole slope breaks loose and slides. The slip point will be at the depth of the soil saturation. And dead men or rebar anchors won't help unless they extend into the slope to a depth well past where the soil will become saturated. For this reason it is important to know the geology of the slope. Take a posthole digger out there and see what you have. Does the slope level off just above your top bed or does it continue on upward?

Approx. 10.7 cubic feet of fill total. Using Mel's recipe that would be about 3.6 cubic feet each of vermiculite, peat moss and compost. You already have all the peat and vermiculite you need. Now you just need to figure out a weight to volume conversion for the compost you already have. That's the tricky part - I would just suggest eyeballing or measuring the bag dimensions.

Yes, the leaves will sink down, so you should really heap up the first load; dampen them as they put down and walk across them to pack down, as the leaves are spread. Afterwards, you add more leaves as a mulch every year, so it will pretty much maintain depth. I found about 15-25% shrinkage which is considerably less than for lasagna-style, maybe because of being packed down?? Sure, broken pavers (2"-3") will do for drainage, but if some are in good shape, think about setting them at the top edge every few feet to have a place to sit. You may need to get some gravel as well, it takes a surprising amount to fill 4"x48". Consider laying soaker hose as part of the finish work. Attached to a repeating timer, it can do the watering for you. You should find that a bed with organic compost is better at managing water than plain dirt. That is actually a reasonable amount of light, a good many annuals and soft perennials would be happy with it, as well as many of the 'shade' lovers. With that light, I'd be tempted to get involved with fibrous begonias. No, no I mustn't think about that, it's YOUR bed. Thisle ~ you'd be better off posting a separate thread. Just which plants are in the bed will matter (along with how much time and energy you have). Most shrubby types will do fine if you pile the leaves to about 4", but those perennials with soft crowns will be happier to be lifted and re-planted this fall so that their crown can stay near ground level. I practice a mild form of lasagna around my perennials, giving them a couple inches of shredded leaves in the fall, then in the spring I top that with a layer of paper and another inch or two of the leaves. By doing this every year, the bottom consistently gradually turns into compost while the top [fresh layer] acts as a weed barrier.