Hello from Land of Umpqua, Oregon Zone 8b

Hello:
Been a gardner for about 30 years.  I am still learning, always .  I am somewhat disabled so a new adventure in my gardening.  I have vinyl raised beds I am putting in my 25' x 50' front yard that is now rototilled and mud . I will be posting for advice.

Welcome to the Square Foot Gardening forum, Skye!

It sounds like you have lots of prior experience. Are you using the Square Foot Garden method?

This forum follows the original Square Foot Gardening technique developed by Mel Bartholomew. If you're not familiar with this method,  the approach is described in the easy-to-read book, All New Square Foot Gardening (3rd ed.) or the  4th edition, which is coming out in January. The 3rd (and earlier) editions are often available at better libraries.

One of the advantages of Square Foot Gardening is that it uses a special soil-like mixture called "Mel's Mix" (MM). Because MM is so light, and because you only need 6 inches of it, some people have built table-level gardens, which is reportedly more convenient for various types of disability. Maybe sanderson or some of our other members will wade in with thoughts on table-top beds or the best approaches for the disabled gardener.

Happy Gardening!

Hi, Skye.  Welcome to the Forum from California.

I am a senior gardener and have 2' tall table top beds filled with 6-7" of Mel's Mix.  Other folks that need height, buy tall beds and fill the lower part with washed sand or good top soil, then top with 6-7" of Mel's Mix.  Why fill the lower half with inert sand or soil?  It's so that you are only putting out the money for 6-7" of Mel's Mix, AND the inert sand or topsoil will not settle nor decompose, making the whole bed sink.

My table top beds:


Yolos' 16" tall beds with the concrete corner blocks.  With rebar through the holes, the blocks can be stacked for height.


Someone else's desert beds with shade cloth.


Desert.


Nikko's fancy raised beds.


As you can see, there are may ways to have taller beds.

Hügelkultur is all the rage but it does NOT work for SFG.

Try to read the 1st, 2nd or 3rd Edition of ALL NEW SFG.  I bought my first ANSFG book, 2nd Edition, used off eBay in 2013.  I found it to be easy reading, like in 2 evenings.  The 4th Edition is being released in January. Once you have read through the book, you will probably have more questions to ask (even just checking that you got it!).

Since we don't use fertilizer, start searching for real composts (no fillers like wood fines, sand, topsoil, perlite, coir, peat moss, etc.)  Limit manure-based to 20% of the total compost if you can.  Here's a link to peruse for ideas and comments. https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t21089-recommended-store-bought-compost-photos-of-composts?highlight=compost

Coarse or Super Coarse Vermiculite is generally ordered online, now.  Farm Tek, Uline, A M Leonard.  Do not buy medium or fine.

Bales of compressed peat moss can be found at most big box stores and nurseries.  Since it will be fluffed up for measuring and mixing, buy 66% by volume compared to the volume of composts and vermiculite.  Ex:  A 2 cu. ft. compressed bale of peat moss will fluff to ~3 cu. ft.

The good news is that once made, you only mix in enough new blended composts to bring the height back up to where it started each time you plant.

The 2005 "1st" Edition, without the word 1st on it because they didn't know there would be other editions.


The 2nd Edition


The 3rd Edition (has a couple of errors).