Raised Bed Gardening, Rain Gardens, and Rain Storage Information
Wooden Raised Bed Garden being constructed at 2006 Raised Bed Gardening Training.
Photos taken at The Arboretum, State Botanical Garden of Kentucky.
Wooden Raised Bed Garden constructed at 2006 Raised Bed Gardening Training.
Photos taken at The Arboretum, State Botanical Garden of Kentucky.
Raised Bed Gardens can be made from many different materials including tires, wood, concrete blocks, and rocks, and can also be designed to be handicap accessible (please see Photo 4). For more information read Gardening in Small Spaces: UK Cooperative Extension Publication (PDF) or visit the sites listed in the additional resources section of this web page.
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Photos taken at The Arboretum, State Botanical Garden of Kentucky
Tire Tower Raised Bed Garden constructed at 2005 Raised Bed Gardening Training
Photo taken at the Clark County Extension Office.
Tire Tower Raised Bed Gardens
Materials Needed: old, used tires; crushed milk cartons and other plastics; mulch; soil mixture (33% coarse vermiculite, 33% compost, & 33% peat moss)
To make a tire tower raised bed garden 1) place one tire on a level surface (permeable or nonpermeable) 2) fill the tire with crushed milk cartons or other plastics 3) place another tire on top of the first tire 4) fill the second tire with mulch (make sure mulch is tight in the rim of the tire) 5) place a third tire on top of the second tire 6) fill the third tire with partially with mulch (place mulch tight in the tire's rim) 7) leave a depression in the center of the third tire 8) fill the depression with the soil mixture 8) plant seeds or garden plants. Great! You now have a raised bed tire tower!!
Presentations
Raised Bed Gardens Presentation
Additional Resources
The sites provided have information that may be of interest to you. This list is by no means complete and is frequently updated. Some web sites to which these materials provide links are not managed by the University of Kentucky. The University does not review, control or take responsibility for the content of those sites.
Gardening:
Raised Bed Gardening:
Gardening in Small Spaces: UK CES Pub (PDF)
Home Vegetable Gardening in Kentucky: UK CES Pub (PDF)
Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening Web Site
University of Kentucky Agricultural Weather Center - County by County Weather
Rain Gardens:
Millcreek Watershed Council Rain Garden Information
Millcreek Watershed Council's Rain Gardens: A How-To Guide (PDF)
Mt. Airy Rain Catchers Web Site
Radio Script for Rain Gardens (UK CES)
Rain Barrel:
Bluegrass PRIDE: Information on Rain Barrels
ENRI: How to Build a Rain Barrel Inexpensively
HGTV Steps to Making a Rain Barrel
This page is maintained by Ashley Osborne.
Email questions or comments to ashley.osborne@uky.edu.
Last updated: 02/01/2008