Raised Beds.......how to revive?

[rainsmom]

I am not a gardener........

BUT

I have several raised beds in my back yard and now that the garage is being remodeled in to a granny unit, I thought it would be nice to plant some flowers or herbs in the beds that are there.

Right now they are full of weeds. Im sure the soil is not good.

So what do I do to get them ready to plant something in them? What do I need?

and is this easy for someone who has no knowledge or experience with gardening?

thanks!

[Quirky]

Well, the hard way would be weeding all those beds by hand!

The easy way would be doing some lasagna gardening on them, which will both smother the weeds and enrich the soil.

You can google it, but basically you're sheet mulching, putting down layers of stuff like newspaper or cardboard, straw, compost if you have it. If you don't have it now is a great time to start composting with your kitchen scraps and dead leaves etc.

If you're not in a huge hurry, you can do the mulching now and by next spring you will have some lovely rich soil to plant in!

[mamadelbosque]

Are they totally overgrown with weeds/grass? I'm assuming these are boxed in with wood/bricks/etc... in which case your best bet might be to simply remove those things and till them up, then either leave them in just mounds (our whole garden is made up of 'raised beds' - but they don't have borders, and are just mounded up, which makes it easier IMO cause' you can till if you want to, or just use hand tools) or re-assemble and plant. I'd add composted manure (You can buy composted cow and/or chicken manure at most garden supply places), fertilizer, lime/ash and maybe some topsoil. Then just plant whatever you want to in them. Every year keep adding more stuff and the soil will just get better and better.

[Rachel J.]

I second the lasagna gardening method. Put down some cardboard or thick layers of newspaper (like 4+ sections), then add grass clippings, leaves, pine needles, straw with compost, aged manure, dirt, on top. If you want to plant right away then you can make sure you have about 6-8 inches of good compost/soil on top. Plant and mulch. You might need to dig out some of the dirt or add another level to walls of your raised bed to add enough organic matter and dirt to make a good garden bed. I did it this year in my garden and it so much! Way better than tilling. The soil is so easy to dig into and my plants are growing like crazy. I have loose, raised beds and with some mulch (mostly grass clippings and/or pine needles) and soaker hoses it's going to be really easy to care for this year. Limited weeding and watering, yay! Next year I just have to remember to lay out and bury the soaker hose BEFORE putting all the plants and seeds into the ground; so much easier that way.

My neighbor did something similar (lots of mulched leaves in his garden bed) but the tilled them in and with all the rain we've been getting his garden is hard as a rock. Leave the tilling to the earth worms if you can

[canadiyank]

When I had beds I needed to revive I covered them with cardboard and grass clippings and the next season they were gorgeous. If you wanted to plant that season I agree with the lasagna-style.