Any ideas for lovely raised bed sides that are a little more finished or artistic than the standard cedar boards? Yes. Think outside the box. Also be conscience of good architectural bones for your garden. A vegetable garden is primarily a garden planted with annuals. Annuals are fleeting. Bye Bye summer, hello empty winter garden. Plan on planting some defining shrubs that will 'hold down' your space when your annual vegetables are in between their planting cycles. For inspiration look at the beautiful Medieval vegetable gardens laid out at The Cloisters in New York City. Simple raised dirt beds lined with lovely little willow wattles. Or google Rosemary Verey's veggie garden in England. Or even closer to your home is the veggie gardens of Copia ( unfortunately they are in bankruptcy and are temp. closed ) but here is a link that has some photos of their gardens along with some other Edible front yard Landscapes. http://deviantdeziner.blogspot.com/2008/07/edible-landscapes.html

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

Iowi, How did your galvanized water troughs work out? I'm a Seattle resident who would like to try the same but am utterly new to gardening (this is the first year I've owned a house with a substantial area in which to give it a try). We'd like to have one area with raised beds and another with galvanized tanks as beds. Not sure how to proceed with either but the tanks really have me stymied. Are small holes drilled in the bottom adequate drainage given our PNW rains? Or would it almost be better to cut out the bottoms of the tanks? Is it safe to grow food in galvanized metal? I know some zinc consumption is safe but I think the cadmium is a greater concern. Nila, Could you elaborate on your soil instructions? Are you recommending mixing these 2 components are layering them in some manner? Would you recommend this same mixture for other types of raised beds as well? Thanks guys! Hoping the GW community will take me under their collective wing and help grow a new gardener!

Thanks Ian, You got it in the second one.the drainage pipe however is another aspect I was hoping to use as a self water, especially if we are gone and the drip system gets knocked out again,hence only holes in the top and caps on each end. The french drain was a debate as we were looking at the possibility of placing it under the walkways to collect excess water which would run off through the stone wall to water fruit trees. At table height the grandson can actually roll his chair up with his legs under the beds far enough to be able to acess similarly to the dinner table.He has enough mobility to reach out and grab. I have tried one run with the vertical beds at 2 feet high but he cannot get close enough to them, unless he parallel parks his chair.Problem with that so far means when he tries to reach out for the cherry tomatoes the whole plant gets hooked on his arm and the strawberries he cannot reach at all. Another aspect to the height is for my mother who if it is at table height can hang onto the edge much like a handrail allowing her to acess the garden goodies with out her walker or chair. We do concrete,construction,and landscaping.Gotta a kid whos an engineer so no biggy there.I figured we would use a number 4 rebar, we have alot of scraps from our masonry work in short lengths.Right now concrete is at an all time low in our area. gads, I know the verticals are so much easier to put in.Trex is such a great product for them as well. Thanks you have me thinking a few other options now as well Mary