Should I line my raised bed with landscape fabric?
If your garden bed is placed over concrete, say on your driveway, you’ll want to make sure to line your bed so that the soil doesn’t get washed away on the hard surface. Landscape fabric is usually the best option for this scenario, as this type of liner will hold the soil and place, but still allow for drainage. If your soil compresses down below the top your bed, you’re basically reducing the amount of environment that your plant’s can grow in. So when you have your garden bed and you’re filling it up, make sure you’re filling it up about an inch or two up above the top your garden bed boards.To put it simply, you should put a layer of organic material at the bottom of your garden bed, which will break down and enrich the soil. This can include compost, or woody material such as logs, dry wood, branches, and leaves.Bottom Layer: Gravel Your first line of defense against soil erosion is filling the bottom of the raised bed with about six inches of gravel. This helps with drainage and prevents the soil from washing away in a heavy rain. It also reduces the chance of garden crops coming into contact with the pavement.You can also add and mix in topsoil from your pathways to increase the soil depth (see below). Over time the quality of the native soil below the raised bed will be improved through the addition of organic matter and root growth of crop plants.
Should I cover my raised beds with plastic in winter?
A lot of customers ask us, “should i cover my raised beds with plastic in winter? We’re happy to report that plastic covering is totally unnecessary! Instead of wasting plastic, there are much more eco-friendly alternatives to getting your raised garden beds ready for winter. Covering raised beds for winter protects against soil loss from erosion, compaction caused by freezing, and nutrient loss from leaching. Taking a few extra steps before the cold sets in means you’ll be ready and set to go as soon as the weather breaks next spring.