In article ,
Cipher wrote:

I've asked a similar question back a ways but I thought I'd ask again
with a twist.

The coming year we're looking at starting vegetable gardening, however
the soil is all dense-pack clay. We're looking at raised beds - by which
I mean building boxes and raising them about three feet off the ground
because neither of us can bend over for regular weeding easily.

My back-of-the-envelope calculations show a 1m x 2.5m x .5m box, when
full of wet soil, weighs in at just over 1400kg!

Has anyone here raised growing beds this high? What sizes of beds would
you recommend?

Thanks!
My raised bed is 16' X 4' X 24". There is a 4" X 4" redwood post at each
corner, and mid way on the long sides. Attached to the posts are 2" X
12" redwood planks. Never had any trouble from it. Occasionally I've had
to replace a post and a couple of planks (once each), which isn't bad
for 25 yr. of service.

You may want to investigate keyhole gardens. They take less space for
paths and leave more space for gardens. They are particularly good for
difficult to reach corners of the yard. Whether inside the garden or
out, the useable portion of the garden shouldn't be more than .6m from
the path. Using this reasoning, a raised rectangle with access from the
perimeter, should be no more than 1.2m across. The length depends on how
much garden you need.

If your garden is a meter tall, only the top .5m need be garden soil
(30% - 40% sand, 30% - 40% silt, 20% - 30% sand, and 5% - 10% organic
material)
http://www.raw-food-health.net/Raise...bleGarden.html
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyE5wjc4XOw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_vN0--mHug