A Circular Raised Bed Garden Plan

Recently I converted a couple of my small raised beds into a circular raised bed garden. It's about 7 feet in diameter, any larger than that and it would be hard to reach the center. It's made from decorative concrete retaining wall blocks that are about 12 inches long, 8 inches wide, and 4 inches high. The advantage to concrete blocks over other raised bed materials is that they will last a very long time! Also if I decide to raise the depth of the soil in the future I just need to add another layer of blocks.

The Planting Plan:
For this garden I've planted my spring greens. Three kinds of lettuce and two types of spinach. The red lettuce is called Rouge D'Hiver and is one of the best tasting lettuces I've had. I've also planted Tom Thumb Thumb and Little Gem lettuces. One of the spinach varieties is Bloomsdale Long Standing and the other is a hybrid salad spinach. How to plant the garden above and in what arrangement is up to the gardener. To divide the sections I took three straight sticks and laid them to separate the bed into six pie shaped sections then planted seed in between them.  Easy as pie!

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.