I love this raised bed but how would you do the grid?

Any ideas?
http://www.chigiy.com/.a/6a00d83452d18969e201543315e2e9970c-pi

kurango wrote:Any ideas?
http://www.chigiy.com/.a/6a00d83452d18969e201543315e2e9970c-pi

What about zigzagging across it, cutting it into triangles (half-squares)?

GG

I like the triangle idea. With a garden like this, I would probably not put a permanent grid on (as in my eye it would detract from the beauty of the spiral) but prep the soil, draw lines in the dirt and plant.

Or plant a zigzag grid of radishes or something !

What I would do is measure tha narrowest width that you can lay a grid in. If it is 4 ft minimum width then make a grid like you would for a 4 x 4 box, then start at one end and lay it in the bed, then use stakes(small ones just inside the rock wall) to mark the grid and use twine or weedwacker string or garden tape to make the actual grid. Then move the original grid to the next area. You will end up with some odd sizes and probably some triangular shapes between but most of it would have a grid.

Personally I would use a small removable grid to plant, then leave some sort of markers for the future and not leave an actual grid on the bed.

How about grids that would give it sort of a nautilus look.

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!! Eyeball it is how I would do it, LOL!

Lindacol wrote:Personally I would use a small removable grid to plant, then leave some sort of markers for the future and not leave an actual grid on the bed.

+1 It is surprisingly ineffective to plant without a grid. But once planted, the grid's job is done; store it away.

LOVE the spiral! Did you design it?

That's a nice looking bed. I mark out sections with small pebbles.

I'm guessing it's at least two foot wide. I'd use stones to mark out the "squares".

Lay out a centerline down the spiral. Every foot I'd lay out a perpendicular to the centerline.

If it's three foot wide, lay out two spirals a foot apart. Etc.

BTW: Nice design. I saw this post earlier, but overlooked the pots built into the wall. Please post a photo when it is flourishing in green life.

That is beautiful! I love the nautilus suggestion and the idea to use pebbles for the lines

I'm thinking this would maybe work better with low-growing herbs and crops- large crops like tomatoes or brussels sprouts would detract from the spiral.

I built a garden with a stone wall like this one, but mine is a French design, so all geometric, no curves. However, they are huge. I have 4 beds that are L shaped and each is at least 20 feet long in one direction and 6 feet the other direction, plus all the smaller diamond shaped beds in the center. I built it last summer. I made one 4x4 grid with lath, but by the time I had moved 10,000 pounds of small boulders (3 times bc I wanted it just right), I was not making all those grids. So I planted, moved the grid, and so on. I really want my grids in place. It was kind of annoying to move it around that way, and it made it harder to tell which things were weeds or where I should be looking for things I planted. I've been looking around for something besides lath to make the grid bc with the size of my garden, it would take me FOREVER to make them. I can't do the string bc I can't nail it into my rocks, and I'd have to redo the string each year. I like the suggestion to use the small rocks to make the grids. And I actually have a pile of them that needs to be disposed of. My littles would get a kick out of helping me with that. HOWEVER, I know it would make. me. crazy. if those rocks were always crooked or getting knocked out of place. CRAZY. I can probably convince my kids to leave them alone. But do you think they'd get knocked around a lot? Or sink into the soil? My only other reasonable option so far is to do the venetian blinds and staple them together. I'm 6 months pregnant, and I will probably be planting my summer garden the night before my c-section, so I'm looking for something reasonable to do on the scale I have to do it. Maybe I'll try it in a small section and see how it goes. One other problem I can foresee is we put wood chips on top of our soil for moisture retention and weed control (following the Back to Eden soil recommendations but the SFG planting methods), and I have to add more wood chips every few years, and I'd have to take off all those rocks to add the chips and the put them back. Anyway, I'm open to ideas!

I use wood shims and push it down on the narrow side as in this pic of my strwberries: and it's easy to snap it into any size you need -

Are those notched? How are they connected? What lengths do the come in? My beds are actually 5 feet wide (oh the shame!). I know nothing of woodworking, Seriously. Babystep me through the process.

aprilgrow wrote:Are those notched? How are they connected? What lengths do the come in? My beds are actually 5 feet wide (oh the shame!). I know nothing of woodworking, Seriously. Babystep me through the process.

They are not notched. They are not connected. Probably best to see how they look at Home Depot or Lowes for example. They sell wood shims bagged up in bundles and each piece is about 16 inches long and 1-1/4 inch wide. The part you see in the picture is the super skinny edge (or the height or thickness whatever you want to call it) with the rest of it pushed down into the soil. The length is too long at 16 inches but the beauty of it is the entire wood thickness tapers from a 1/4" to a 32". So it's easy to snap off the length you need which of course I snapped them off to make 12 inch squares. It's kinda latethis evening for me -- hope this made sense.

kurango wrote:Any ideas?
http://www.chigiy.com/.a/6a00d83452d18969e201543315e2e9970c-pi

Golly this is becoming popular. Ray and I want to incorporate the design (not the bed) into our expansion to the front yard. For me it has become the logo for eating local while having access to exotics like coffee and chocolate BUT about the question. While I agree with (was it boffer?) those who say SFG is inefficient without grids, I still would not go with grids in this garden. It would become strictly an herb garden in my hands, kitchen, tea, medicinal, any low-growing, spreading herb. It is such a primal design that I would hate to submit it to straight lines or lose the vision of it to tall growing things. I would want to keep it as a discussion piece. If I absolutely could not live without grids (and I’ve never been one to just color in the lines) then a trip to the river-bank for stones and pebbles would be my choice for grid markers….but not is straight lines.

Debs.... $0.02

Edited to add: do you see the 2nd-ary hoses in the irrigation system? Circles on the line? That is the design I would probably follow for grids.

I doubt the SFG police will come confiscate your veggies and/or flowers if you do not include a grid in your nautilus. I may have a minority opinion, but I prefer not using grids in any of my squares. I am growing for maximum harvest, and I can sneak extra plants by not having 3 grids in both directions. To me, it's all about the soil medium, and Mel has it down pat. 90% of growing is your soil.

If you wanted to differentiate square feet in that beauty, I would simply plant contrasting things in adjacent spots. For instance, in one foot, plant leaf lettuce. In the adjacent feet, plant cucumbers, onions, and marigolds. When they grow, your plants will become their own grids.

If you must use a grid of some form, why not add a soaker hose, which will curve with the nautilus design and keep in theme? It would supply a dividing line down the length and provide a purpose as well.

Thanks for posting this picture. Now, my wife is telling me to go into our woods and start bringing down lots of rocks so she can replicate it. Yeah, thanks a lot.

Nope. No Square Foot Gardening police here, but just remember, the sfg method has three elements that must be in place to be considered a Square Foot Garden.
A box. A grid. And Mel's Mix. Without those three, it's not Square Foot Gardening.

+1.

Personally, I love the shape of this bed but would not attempt to pretend it's a square foot garden. Instead, I'd plant herbs, bulbs, flowers, etc. and enjoy the view.

I went to Home depot to investigate options. I finally found what I want! It is in the wood trim department. It's called screen mould. It's 1/4" thick x 3/4 inch wide. It comes in 16' lengths for $0.44. You can even get it oak stained for a little more. My L-shaped beds are 32 ft long and stick out 7 feet more on the short side, so I will just lay them end to end. I just calculated how many I need, and just to do my 4 L-shaped beds I need 100 of those 16' lengths. That doesn't include the 2 rectangular beds (17 more pieces) or the 6 diamond shaped beds (haven't calculated those yet). The circle bed is two tiered and is going to be like a wedding cake of flowers, so no grid on that one, thank goodness. And now you know why I don't want to do all those screws and short pieces. I'm just going to lay them out in my beds and leave them. I might screw them into the end pieces so they don't move around, but I won't be taking them in and out each season. They are smooth pieces of wood bc they are finished for molding, and cheaper than lath. And less work for my situation. I know most people don't have the length of beds that I do and don't have to worry about it, but just in case someone else is as crazy as I am, I thought I'd share. Thanks for sharing ideas!

Glad you got over to the store and found something that works. Love to see pics !

aprilgrow wrote:I went to Home depot to investigate options. I finally found what I want! It is in the wood trim department. It's called screen mould. It's 1/4" thick x 3/4 inch wide. It comes in 16' lengths for $0.44.

I think I looked at those before. If I am not mistaken they are $0.44 per foot, not per piece.

I had an idea that I think would look nice for grids for the nautilus bed. How bout using lath, cover like a paste with cement and add the rocks to that,like tiles? Would go with the theme, might be a little wider than you want, you could tweek that.