A 'U' Shaped Raised Bed Garden Layout

Last year I was visiting a friend's garden who designed her family's raised beds in the shape of a 'U'.I found the design to be very functional with a good deal of space for growing compacted into a small area. The big advantage was the soil depth. Since the soil was at least 2 feet deep in each bed it had plenty of nutrients for intensive planting. If you have more room you could build additional beds on each side to make a sideways 'E' shape. Having three raised beds also allows for some crop rotation although a fourth or fifth bed would aid that technique greatly.

This vegetable garden layout could be constructed from many different materials but cedar, redwood, or composite materials might work the easiest. Each bed is designed to be 3 feet wide. The two smaller beds are 6 feet long and the large bed is 10 feet long. 12'x12' paving stones make the pathway easily accessible for handicapped gardeners.

Basil and Annual Knot Garden

This little herb and annual garden layout is a variation on the traditional knot garden. It's not as complex to put together and doesn't have many twists but with multicolored basils, annual flower displays, and as a focal point a potted plant in the middle this garden can be put together easily and very inexpensively!


The Basil and Annual Knot Garden Plan:

This plan consists of 20 purple leaved basil plants ('Purple Ruffles' or 'Dark Opal'), 14 green basil plants (Italian basil will work but 'Spicy Globe' basil has a nice form that would be perfect), annuals (zinnias and marigolds are moth easy to grow from seed), and a potted plant in the center. Alternately you could put more herbs, a birdbath, flowers, or even vegetables in the center.

All the annuals and basil can be grown from seed very cheaply or you can buy a couple basil plants of each kind and propagate the rest of the basil through cuttings.