Raised Beds : )

I just started to plant my fist raised bed and I am telling ya that is where it is at. I have never enjoyed planting like I have today. It is so easy to work in a raised bed, and I am sure it will add even greater value to the property. Just think if someone was restriced to a wheel chair they could still work there beds a far greater degree. As soon as I am finished I will take a snap shot of it. I am using 4X4 with two inch gaps between members. They are held in place by 3/8 inch rebar, which I drive through the post via a pilot hole and sledge hammer. I then cover the two inch gaps with commercial grade landscaping fabric with is glued to the post with Liquid Nails Heavy Duty.
When
stacking the post the two inch gaps really adds up. I would give metrics but Canada still uses Imperial units in construction.

I just wanted to share the joy.
J

 

I'm sort of in the same space having constructed rock walls in the past few years. It is way easier and everything looks better, and the height provides some opportunity for plants to tumble and drape.

The gaps in my dry-laid rock walls (in other places I'm using boulders) are happy homes to spiders (big ones!) and slugs though. Wonder if your gaps will be the same? Maybe not since they're bigger.

 

Oh yea a raised bed give you a great little ecosystem, especially with rock. If you can get the walls high enough you have another environment at the bottom. It could be a lot cooler down there and that means a whole new set of ideas, plants and heck that is an ideal place for a pool.
Raised beds provides your maples with the drainage they all seem to relish in, and this also allows you to plant those finicky heucheras, like Georgia Peach.

 

hi Rich wich is the name of fern? is very nice..

 

Dagnab if I know Ales, Maiden Hair maybe, I pulled this picture from Terra Nova the link to their highress photos is under Heuchera. I can not say what dagnab means but this is a link to what it means. >http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=dagnabbit

 

Hi Richard,

Please remove the attachment and replace it with a link to their site (preferably the page with the image). It's Terra Nova's copyrighted image, so can't be used on here without their permission (unless you can point me to a page where they mention they allow their photographs to be used in such a way).

 

Thank you very much, my error!!!

 

Terra Nova Nurseries, Georgia Peach
I now have permission to post high resolution pictures from Terra Nova, but maybe not all of them at once.

 

The fern looks like a Polystichum to me, but it's not fern season so I don't say my eye is at its sharpest. I will think about which one it might be.

 

De fern de fern how about that heuchera, the fern may be Dryopteris dilatata?

 

Although the odd one draws me in and this is really pretty, designer heucheras aren't my thing. Perhaps predictable, given that ferns are!

 

I understand everyones fustration in dealing with heuchera. I have found that superior drainage is the key to success. A light sandy soil in a raised bed is ideal. So if you have a raised bed in some shade with a sandy loam you can have that designer heuchera show. All of my heuchera are in rased beds the ones that are not are long gone. However, I don't think there is a prettier sight then Heuchera Snow Angle in bloom. As of today, I am still dealing with sub zero temperters C at night, yet my garden is very alive with colorful heucheras. Heuchera and maples like about the same culture, they are a match made in heaven.