Raised Bed Upgrade

Even though we build and install cedar garden beds professionally, we still applaud the DIY spirit. We’ve seen everything out there,  from inexpensive raised bed kits with pieces that snap together, to more substantial efforts that are still commendable...even if they aren’t prefectly  level. And perhaps not exactly in the ideal location for an organic garden.

And when we first visited the Laundry family’s organic garden, there was already plenty there to applaud.

A 4’-tall garden fence surrounded the area, which had decorative pea stone pathways and an admirable lakefront view. 

Two 4’x8’ and one 4’x4’ raised beds had been thoughtfully placed inside the fenced area, with plenty of space to walk between and around the raised beds. 

These garden beds were prefabricated kits that we instantly recognized - having seen ( and replaced ) them many times before. These raised bed kits are widely available at Home Improvement chain stores, and to be fair, they aren’t a bad way to try your hand at organic gardening. 

The kits are typically made with kiln-dried cedar, and come in 4’-long, modular sections with cedar connector pieces that allow the grower the option to assemble various sized and shaped planters - without the need for power tools or fasteners. At just 4’ long, these ‘big box’ raised bed kits are easy to bring home in just about any vehicle, and the price is surprisingly low.

But we’ve found that these inexpensive raised bed kits usually only last a few seasons here in the Charlotte area. Sometimes less. 

Even though they’re made with cedar, the boards and connector pieces are thin and dry, and they soon decay in a wet organic garden environment.

Ryan Londry and his son had installed three of these same raised bed kits, and had already had a couple of successful growing seasons with them. This confirmed that the existing garden area gets plenty of sunlight for growing edible varieties

An irrigation system had already been installed in the family’s organic garden, with a water supply running to each raised bed site. 

With all of this infrastructure already in place, our objectives were pared down to:

-Replace the three decayed raised bed kits with three of our 19”-tall Kitchen Garden cedar garden beds - placing the new cedar garden beds in the exact same locations as the old ones. 

-Fill the new Kitchen Garden raised beds with a premium organic soil blend.

-Install a drip irrigation grid in each planter and connect each grid to the existing irrigation tubing at each raised bed site.

Easy enough. We’re Microfarm, and that’s what we’re here for!

We built two 4’x8’ Kitchen Garden raised beds and one 4’x6’ Kitchen Garden raised bed in our Charlotte workshop, and arrived on the appointed day with all three cedar garden beds fully assembled and ready to install.  Arriving with the  cedar garden beds fully assembled makes things go smoothly at the worksite, and by late morning, we had removed all of the decayed raised bed kits, installed the new Kitchen Garden raised beds, filled them with organic soil, and installed a drip irrigation grid in each of the three new planters.

 

By now, you may be thinking, “ Okay, Microfarm. You were gentle about it, but you still kinda threw the competition’s garden bed durability ‘under the bus’. How long will your more- expensive, way-heavier, way-harder-to-build, red cedar garden beds last in the same perpetually-wet garden setting?”

To that, we would say, “Our Kitchen Garden raised bed design is made with burly pieces of rough-sawn red cedar joined with premium exterior fasteners, and waterproof glue.

The Londry family can expect ten years of dependable service from their three new Kitchen Garden raised beds.

Maybe more.

And so can you."

Now, because so much of the beauty and charm of this garden had already been delivered long before we ever set foot on the property, we won’t take too much of the credit for the way it looks now. 

We simply installed three new cedar garden beds, after all.

But the three new Kitchen garden raised beds do cut a fine figure out there in the Londry family’s organic garden. 

Perhaps it’s fair to say that we may enhanced the garden a little ; we added a touch of timely polish to an already delightful organic garden.