building raised beds, and choosing crabapples

AS PROMISED: On the public-radio show (available anytime as a podcast), I answered some of your recent Urgent Garden Questions. The topics ranged from how deep to build a raised bed for vegetables, to a whole range of crabapple inquiries: What’s the best crabapple variety for jelly, the crabapple with longest-lasting fruit, and more. My sister Marion Roach Smith provided the assist with the Q&A, and even brought along some challenges of her own.

Q. Everybody’s getting their vegetable gardens going, and there were multiple questions about raised beds in particular—such as this one from Tracey, who was building new ones at her garden:

How deep should a raised bed be, and what is best to make them out of?

A. I recently did a story about hugelkultur, building raised beds out of fallen wood debris such as logs and branches, but I suspect Tracey wants the more conventional solution, which is what I have used to grow vegetables in my garden the last 20-plus years.

I like 10-inch-deep raised beds, but 8 inches is also absolutely fine, and of course saves on lumber. You want a 2-by board thickness, so we’re talking 2-by-8’s or 2-by-10’s.

I recommend choosing a naturally rot-proof wood that is available locally. Here in the Northeast for me that means locust, for instance, or Eastern red cedar. If you can track down a local mill you can get boards that aren’t as finished as lumber used for more formal carpentry projects—meaning not all perfectly planed on both sides, but slightly more “rough-cut.” These boards tends to be thicker than other lumber (closer to true 2 inches thick) and also less expensive.

If not, ask at your lumber yard or building center or big-box store which material they stock that has natural rot-resistance, and

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