Raised Bed Construction - Raised Bed Gardening - page 106

Section 6: S, U, E and W-Design Raised Beds
The S, U, E and W-shaped raised bed designs are good examples of beds that maximize
garden bed space, but still allow access to all areas of the raised beds without stepping into
the beds. The extra pathways make it possible to reach all parts of the raised bed without
stepping onto the soil.
While looking at the S, E and W designs, notice that no area within the bed is wider than
fourfeet.Thesedesignscantakeadvantageorrelativelylargeareas,butaddaccesspointsin
the form of short pathways or alcoves that allow the gardener to reach all points of the bed
without stepping into it. Also, the "fingers" of each of these designs can be extended, just
remember to keep all widths to four feet.
"S" Design -Ipresenttwodesignsforthe"S"shapedraisedbed;oneforconcreteblockand
one for lumber ( Figure 61 ).
The Concrete Block Version oftheSDesigncovers9feet4inchx21feet4incharea(198
sq ft) with 114.7 sq ft of bed area. That means 57.9% of the area is inside the bed. The con-
crete blocks take up 49.8 square feet which is 25% of the total area. The block make nice
wide and heavy supports for the raised bed, but unless you add soil and plant in the holes of
the concrete block, much space is wasted when compared to lumber.
Remember that one row of block can level only 4-8 inches of drop.
Concrete Block S Design materials list:
• 56 8x8x16 inch blocks per row - each row 8 inches high
• 56 4x8x16 inch blocks per row - each row 4 inches high
The simple S-Design could also be easily modified to a U-Design for a smaller areas or ex-
panded to a "W" ( Figure 64 ) or a double-S for longer areas.