Raised Bed Gardening

Homesteading on Marginal Land

We have lived on our homestead for 16 years. It was rough when we bought it. 500 acres of abandoned strip mine land, covered with invasive multiflora rose and autumn olive bushes. There was good forest land, too. Bob has been managing the timber since the 1970’s when his parents were the owners. Over the years the property had been used as a camping/hunting site for friends and family but we purchased it in 2004 to make this land our home.

The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 regulated the mining practices and reclamation of land. However, our property was strip mined in the 1950’s and 1960’s. No reclamation work was done, there is no top soil on the property, except on the steep hillsides of the southeast Ohio land. We are in the Appalachian foothills, where the topography undergoes a sudden and dramatic transition from gently rolling hills to steep, rocky peaks. Some of these hillsides were too steep to strip mine so the forested areas are intact.

Bob, my son, and a son-in-law spent a long summer clearing 20 acres for our homestead. They used tractors, bulldozers, and other heavy equipment to remove the brush and scrub trees. Our home, designed by us and built by them is a beautiful, open lodge overlooking one of our 14 lakes.

There is no topsoil. None. If you try to pound a steel post into the ground, the post will bend on the layers of shale and rock only 6” below the surface. All postholes are dug with either a machine or using a spud-bar and posthole diggers. And a LOT of muscle.

This soil problem requires a comprehensive management plan for us. It impacts our ability to keep animals on pasture, to grow food, to plant fruit trees, to build fences and buildings.

1. We limit the number of animals we keep on pasture because the quality and amount of forage (grass) we can grow is limited. The animals over-graze and damage the pasture paddocks. We have used rotational grazing but the pastures don’t support an intensive rotation. We decided to reduce our cattle herd significantly this past fall.

2. We practice multi-species grazing, running sheep and cattle in the same pasture for improvement of the foraging material. Our fencing doesn’t contain goats so they are not part of our grazing plan even though they would be helpful in some of the scrubby areas.

3. Bob cleared an additional 4-5 acres last summer/fall to provide more grazing area.

4. We feed hay throughout the winter and spring, until new growth is able to keep up with the grazing.

5. We use a ‘chicken tractor’ to move our laying hens through the orchard in the summer and early fall. This provides fresh greens and bugs to the chickens, helps to rebuild soil in the orchard and eliminates some of the undesirable insects that live on the ground and in the fruit that falls from the tree.

6. We built raised beds for all of our vegetable gardens.

Solving a Problem

One of the best things about moving to undeveloped land was that we could decide where to put the buildings, the layout of the pasture, garden plots, even the driveway. It was fun moving little paper models of barns and houses around on graft paper to get just the right set up. We spent time watching the tract of the sun throughout the summer we were building and picked the perfect garden spot. It was sunny, flat, close to the water spigots, near the chicken house (to throw weeds over the fence), accessible to the house. It was perfect.

But it wasn’t. No matter what we did to the amend the soil, our plants struggled to survive. Vegetable production was low and the weeds were awful. Potatoes were covered with small black pits and were inedible. Using a hoe was backbreaking and a good rain storm washed plants out of the ground. Bob decided he had enough and designed an amazing layout of raised beds.

Our foundational premise for all the improvements on the farm is “We aren’t going to get any younger” and we wanted to keep that in mind. (We were in our 40’s and 50’s when we built the farm.) I don’t know about you, but I HATE crawling around on my knees to weed and pick beans. Bob designed the beds to be 24 – 32” high, 48” across to make it easy to plant, pick, and weed, and 30 feet long. There are 5 beds in the garden with 3 smaller 12” high beds for herbs, asparagus, and berries.

He used pressure-treated lumber to construct them and then lined the beds with old, rubberized mine belting so the soil wouldn’t be in contact with the leaching boards.

Bob placed 4x4" posts into the ground and then used wood screws to secure the treated lumber. He also used support braces every 8 feet to prevent the weight of the soil from pushing the boards out.

Once the beds were built, he lined them with old mine belting. This was available free to us from a coal mine site nearby. Then he filled the beds with soil from the woods behind the bed. He used a tractor and loader to fill them. You can see the smaller beds in the background of the first picture. .

He finished filling the beds with 6 - 8 " of composted manure. Here are the beds built and producing lots of fresh vegetables. The only thing we are not able to grow is sweet corn. We can place cold frames as needed to get a head start on the growing season. We also use intensive planting, placing plants closer together since they are in a high nutrient soil. This cuts back on weeds. We pinch back plants that are getting too much foliage and not enough fruit.

Left picture: Vegetables are planted on a rotational basis in the beds to decrease insect infestation. There is room to mow between the beds. Center picture: To water the beds we use a rotating sprinkler elevated in a metal pole. This reaches most of the bed surfaces. Right picture: A simple support structure for peas. Onions are planted under the peas on the inside of the frame. The peas will be picked and removed early in the growing season. This structure can easily be moved to another area in the garden.

I love our raised beds. On summer evenings, we will walk along the beds, weeding and harvesting our food. It gives us a chance to talk and catch up on our day. We can create microclimates for specific plant needs using cold frames or even shades to prevent bolting.

Raised beds can be made wheelchair accessible with hard paths between them, some designs are in the shape of a 'U', too.

There are many variations in raised bed gardening. There are fiber bags which can often reused for 2 or more seasons, there are small beds made from plastic lumber, larger beds from corrugated metal, cement blocks, stacked stones, large plastic buckets. Essentially, container gardens are micro-raised beds. They can be used on back decks, apartment balconies, at camp sites. Check out Pinterest for more ideas.

Here are some links to Extension Service info sheets about raised beds.

http://www.therockpile.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Raised-Bed-Gardening-HYG-1641-92.pdf

https://extension.umn.edu/planting-and-growing-guides/raised-bed-gardens

The beds will settle and more compost will need added before planting in the spring. In another post I'll discuss a gardening technique which works very well in a raised bed, Lasagna Gardening.

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Comfrey

Symphytum officinale

Comfrey's traditional name is knitbone because of its powerful healing action on broken bones. In fact, it is recommended that the healer does not use comfrey on a broken bone until the break is aligned properly. The bones will start to heal that quickly!

Comfrey deserves a place in every medicinal garden. With both healing and anti-inflammatory properties it is used for bone fractures, arthritis, inflamed joints (think sprains and strains), cuts, wounds, and other injuries. It's healing effects are partly explained by its allantoin content. This chemical stimulate cell proliferation, which speeds up the healing process. Bot h the roots and leaves are used.

It can be applied to varicose veins as a poultice, crushing the fresh leaves and applying directly to the tender vein, cover with gauze to secure it in place. If the leaves are not comfortable (there are small hairs on the leaves that can be irritating), boil the leaves briefly to soften, remove from the water, cool slightly, and apply directly without crushing.

Comfrey is wonderful in a salve to heal wounds and rashes. Do not use on deep wounds which should heal from the 'inside out' and not close over too quickly. I make a healing salve that includes comfrey, calendula, and goldenseal. The healing, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties of these herbs work synergistically to make a powerhouse salve.

I picked the comfrey on the waxing of the moon when the energy of the plant was pulled into the leaves and not in the roots. I used an electric dehydrator to throughly dry the leaves, then crushed them in a small food processor. They are stored in a cool, dark cupboard.

Comfrey can be grown anywhere, there are varieties for both wet and dry environments, however beware that it can become invasive and once you plant it, you have it forever. Best propagated by root cutting, it will spread so be careful where you plant it. I have my plants on the side of the woodshed and have not had a problem with it taking over the yard. Comfrey has been planted for animal fodder, in fact Extension Services encouraged farmers to plant it in the 1970's. We have given it to our cattle, sheep, and chickens.

Grab a good plant identification book specific for your area before you pick and use any plant. There ARE look-alikes that can make you ill. This information is for educational purposes only and not designed to diagnosis, treat, or prevent any disease process. See your HCP when you are ill.

Stay safe and enjoy the warming weather,

Polly

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