In Arkansas, we grow rocks. Lots of rocks – and that can make gardening a little less pleasurable. Our “Downhill” farm is in a valley, and all the dirt from uphill washes down and collects there, and we have a reasonable amount of topsoil. But our “Middlehill” farm, halfway up the hill, is an entirely different story. The topsoil just won’t stick to the rocks. So we started building raised bed garden boxes. Initially, I wanted substantial boxes that could be assembled without any tools or hardware. This is our first attempt. It’s fairly respectable, and still sits at the entrance to the Downhill farm. It’s roughly 2 feet wide, 4 feet long and 12 inches deep.
Of course, we both work in manufacturing, and know better than to think that the first design is the best design. So several “Engineering Change Orders” later, we have stepped away from the dove-tailed design, and opted for a version that requires using long screws in the assembly stage. The upside to this is that eliminating the dove-tail also eliminates several steps in the production process, and the new design is much faster to produce.
This is our blueberry box version – 3 feet square and 16
inches tall, each designed to hold one highbush blueberry. Eventually we will have a line of these all the way across the back yard to form an edible hedge.
And then we built this version for raspberries.
And, because you can’t take the Texan out, ever, no matter how hard you try, we built a couple of these for Prickly Pear. Because I like Huevos & Nopales for breakfast.
