Build Permanent Beds & Paths

Image Gallery This lush and productive garden was created by Jutta and Peter Graf on Deer Isle, Maine. LYNN KARLIN

Gardening is easier and soils are healthier when you make permanent beds and paths, rather than digging new beds or rows each year in areas that were walked on the year before. Using the same layout of beds and paths each year protects the soil in the growing beds from compaction and lets you make efficient use of soil amendments and fertilizers.

The beds can be any lengths you want, and as wide across as you can easily reach to tend, or even a single row wide if that's what you prefer. Edging is strictly optional; unedged beds will work just fine and look terrific. If you opt for no edging, just put in some corner stakes to help you keep track of the paths and growing areas. You can frame the beds with hoards or stones if you like the way they look. Or try using logs for edging if you can get them for free on your property or from tree trimmers. (If you plan to use your tiller in the beds, just use logs on the long edges and leave the ends unframed; then you can easily run the tiller down the length of the beds and turn it around on the paths)

There's no need to bring in lots of topsoil to raise the beds above the surrounding soil, unless you have a poorly drained site or want the bed to warm up extra early in the spring. Raised hods do warm up faster, but if you raise the hods more than a couple inches, they will require more water during day spells. Once you stake out permanent beds and paths, the uncompacted soil in the beds will naturally be slightly higher than the paths. You can easily raise the beds a little more by tilling the path areas and then raking the loosened soil from the paths up onto the beds. In dry, windy climates, you may want to reverse the process and make sunken hods, so that your growing areas stay moister and seedlings have a little wind protection.

But raised or sunken, framed or not, designating permanent bed areas and paths will preserve the loose soil that is a key aspect of fertile garden soils.

ADD COMPOST ANNUALLY

In addition to not walking on the soil in the planting beds, the other most important step to creating fertile soil is to add plenty of organic matter each year. For new beds, "plenty" can be as much as 4 or even 6 inches of mature compost, tilled in. But in subsequent years, just one-fourth to one-half inch of compost per year usually will provide all the nutrients your crops will need. If you don't have enough compost, a few inches of grass clippings used as a mulch will provide the same benefits. With permanent hods, you will need less compost and mulch and you'll apply it directly to the growing areas each year, while the less-rich and more-compacted soil in the paths makes it harder for weeds to thrive.