DATE: Sunday, September 7, 1997             TAG: 9709060134

SECTION: HOME & GARDEN           PAGE: G1   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: Gardening 

SOURCE: Robert Stiffler 

                                            LENGTH:   90 lines

RAISE YOUR LEVEL OF PRODUCTIVITY

HEADLINES IN garden publications from Long Island to Texas tout the advantages of raised-bed gardening. They proclaim: ``Raised Beds Raise Better Vegetables,'' ``Wise Gardeners Use Raised Beds,'' ``Raised Beds are Problem-Solvers,'' ``Build Raised Beds for Trouble-Free Gardening.''

Raised beds can work for you too, especially this time of year when fall gardens are planted.

``Talk to most any gardener who has built frames to enclose raised beds for vegetables and flowers, and you'll get an enthusiastic recommendation,'' reports the Long Island extension service. ``Raised beds are so effective that you'll kick yourself for not building them sooner.''

Ohio State University says the average home garden yields about .6 pound of vegetables per square foot. In contrast, raised beds produce 1.24 pounds of vegetables per square foot.

Here are some other advantages of raised beds:

Soil drains faster and warms up quicker in spring.

Labor in weeding, watering and harvesting is reduced.

Water soaks in rather than running off.

Beneficial earthworms thrive in the moist environment.

Gardens look neater.

Soil compaction is eliminated, because you rarely step into the beds.

Pest control is easier, because it's easier to attach a fence around the bed to keep rabbits and other critters out. Bird netting can be easily suspended over the bed.

Raised beds need not be expensive. Frames can be built of used or rough lumber, painted or dipped in copper napthenate, a wood preservative that is not toxic to plants. Do not use creosote, such as old railroad ties, or copper sulphate, because those chemicals can kill plants.

Treated wood can be used, including that which is CCA pressure-treated. One brand suitable brand is ``Wolmanized,'' appropriate for raised flower or vegetable beds as well as landscaping applications.

Look-alike landscape timbers made from plastic are now available in some home centers, or you can buy them by mail. A firm called Improvements sells a border of 2x6s or 2x8s, made from tan plastic that looks like wood and is hinged in the corners.

Costs range from $20 to $30 for four. They are available in several sizes and can be stacked to create a bed of any depth you want.

Frames for raised beds should be at least 6 inches deep and not more than 4 to 5 feet wide so that vegetables can be picked without stepping into the bed and compacting the soil. Use only galvanized nails in construction.

Anchor the frames with stakes driven every 4 feet. Drive them outside the frame, or you'll be tangling with them when you spade the soil.

Leave walkways or aisles between adjacent beds wide enough for kneeling and to accommodate wheelbarrows or garden carts. It's recommended that walkways be at least 2 feet wide. Line your walkway with a landscape fabric and cover with mulch such as wood chips or shredded bark. Then you have a clean and mud-free walkway that requires no mowing.

Do not fill your raised bed with ordinary soil, because it tends to crust and shrink away from the frames, making thorough watering difficult. Remove the sod in the bed or kill it with Roundup or Finale.

Some gardeners dig out at least 6 inches of soil to provide a deeper growing area when the outside frame is only 6 inches high. This provides a bed 12 inches deep for superb root development. An alternate method is to build the frame 12 inches high and fill it to the top.

To fill your frame, mix sand, soil and compost. One formula is 2 inches of soil and 3 inches of organic matter such as peat moss, ground up leaves, compost or old sawdust. Almost every weekend, potting soil is on sale, and it makes an excellent base for raised beds.

Like plants grown in containers, vegetables grown in raised beds need frequent applications of fertilizer, particularly nitrogen. Fertilize before planting and then every two to three weeks, at the rates on the fertilizer package. Or use a slow-release fertilizer at planting time.

Another advocate of raised beds is Virginia Beach Master Gardener Happy Anderson. In a letter written in 1987, Anderson says: ``My secret to growing spinach may be my raised beds, built like cold frames from 2-by-12 pressure-treated lumber.

``In August, I begin by laying a wide board or piece of plywood across the top of the bed and leaving it there for several days to cool the soil, which has been prepared by digging in compost, blood meal and lime as needed. When I'm ready to plant, I broadcast the seeds, cover them with soil and replace the board with an old window screen topped with burlap.

``I water right through the burlap and screen, figuring that the bed stays cooler that way. We have spinach all winter because the raised beds also have plastic covers on hoops to set up as cold frames.'' MEMO: To order man-made landscape ``timbers,'' call Improvements at

(800) 757-9997. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

ROBERT STIFFLER

Ann Matika, son Alex and saughter Jennifer prepare their raised beds

for a fall garden in Virginia Beach

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