Double-Dug VS Raised Garden Beds
Standing in the dirt with bare feet looking at the beds I just recessed thinking: “how did all of the people in all of the world come to understand all of these things?”
Was knowledge much more valued by the people of the times and knowing and understanding it’s immense value, took insurances that they’d pass it down- teach it to children to teach to their children?
A large part of me feels this is true.
Matthew and I chose to do double dug garden beds or, partially raised beds in order to cut the cost of compost and soil (didn’t have time to create compost / moved here right in the middle of growing season). The methods I’m going to talk about in this article are a form of gardening called “Bio-Intensive” mini farming. If you are wondering if you can grow for your families needs in smaller amount of space, even a suburban backyard, the answer is YES!
WHAT IS DOUBLE-DUG GARDEN BEDS
This form of intensive agriculture originated from France and was cultivated to be able to harvest maximum yield in the smaller yards of that country. It emphasizes the technique “double digging” to create the beds and depends of a considerable amount of existing soil (granted its ideal soil to work with), organic matter and manure as fertilizer.
This is a more labor intensive method if it will be your only method, but it is a great way to cut cost.
R A I S E D B E D VS R E C E S S E D B E D aka D O U B L E - D U G
What Is Right For You?
A RAISED BED -is simply a completed garden bed, constructed of desired material that sits above the current soil. This method of gardening, like any other method of any other thing, has its pros and its cons. The most common reason one may prefer to use raised beds is because the soil type in your region is too difficult or expensive to amend and use for in ground or recessed beds. Soils like Clay and sandy soils. Now don’t misunderstand me- Most soils can be tamed and utilized, the answer to weather or not you want to spend the time and effort doing this depends mainly on if you are attempting to stay cost effective and have more control over your yield.
The pro to raised bed style of gardening is that it gives you total control over soil conditions and leads to nutrient dense foods.
The con is that it costs quite a bit more to fill than other methods.
A RECESSED BED- is a completed garden bed, primarily constructed of wood or treated wood partially dug down into the existing soil. The existing soil is then dug out of the center of the box and “double-dug”- meaning to dig deeper in the center of the box that the existing level of soil. You then can mix together your native soil along with your compost and organic matter. If you wish, you can then top with top soil.
This method is good for those who have a region with good planting soil.
The pro to this method is that it allows for roots to take hold deeper into the earth where better draining subsoil make it less likely to mold or waterlog and where oxygen is plentiful.
It keeps the soil aerated and keeps from getting compacted.
It’s deeper depths allow for you to then add organic matter such as decomposing sticks + logs + leaves and compost, along with a topping off with top soil. You can theoretically do this with raised beds but, wont have enough space to add the amount required and still have room for root space.
Kentucky, unlike our previous home in California, has very agreeable soil to plant in. So here was our list to deciding on recessed double dug method.
Potentially agreeable soil already exists
Kentucky throughout the year has on again off again rains. This wetter climate leads to easy access of decomposing leave, logs and other organic matter. This means that it would cost us less to fill our beds than it would with raised bed method. Double dug would also benefit with better drainage than a raised bed.
With the understanding of reason two above, this also means that we could build larger boxes with the finances saved on filling
Just like with all matters, it takes a level of consciousness and intentional decision making. Think about your land, the location of your garden (north, east, west or south facing), the amount of maximum yield you look to get out of your gardening, the type of produce that you are looking to plant, the type of soil your region has etc. All of these things will help in pointing you to the right choices when it comes to methods of gardening/farming.
After we took notes on the sun exposure for a few days in the garden, we marked out where we wanted the beds to be. I of course am also trying to hold space in my mind of a garden expansion (because we are only using the small space that was left behind by previous owners) and landscaping. We built the boxes in a loose state in their places and with a spade, dug a shallow mote traced around them. Moved the boxes out of the way and dug down (way down) enough to recess them. Placing the boxes back, we then began to remove soil from the center and dig down an additional 12”. Our first layer was adding some of the existing soil back in (credits of Kentucky soil) second layer of organic matter was all sorts of decomposing and wet logs + sticks. We then threw several inches of wet old leaves and organic kitchen scraps such as vegetable trimmings fruit cores etc. After that it was time to purchase the compost and soil to fill in the rest of the way. Now, if you have time and you are lucky enough to already be in a established residence, I would recommend having a compost system set up in your garden so that reduces cost for gardening ever further! At that point you would only need to pay for top soil as the final layer in your beds.
Adding a center brace to avoid bowing when bed is filled
