Direction of raised bed

[Lilion]

I've lived in shade for years but finally have a large sunny yard. I'm going to start small with a long, raised bed, say 8x3. Should I run it east-west or north south? That is to say, what directions should the short ends point?

 

[Perris]

short ends point N - S if you want all plants in the bed to get the same amount of sun or shade.

 

[Lilion]

Thank you! If I do a trellis, put it on the north end? So as to not shade the rest?

 

[RubelliteRose]

Thank you! If I do a trellis, put it on the north end? So as to not shade the rest?

Yes You want your tallest plants on the north side of the garden and the shortest on the south end.

 

[Lilion]

Exactly what I needed to hear! This warm February is making me anxious to get out and plant something!!!

 

[Acre4Me]

We have 11 raised beds. All are 4’ wide. They vary in length from 8’ to 16’. They all are oriented with short sides on North/South ends. This works well for us.

Additionally we have 10’ tall towers we use for pole beans. We move these around to different beds each year. We just need to be careful to plant things that tolerate some shade on their N side. For example, we had both towers on one bed this past year and mid-summer we planted spinach in the 4’ between the towers - the spinach did well there bc it got enough sun and tolerated the mid-day shade ( which kept it s but cooler). However, the carrots we planted on the N end of the bed didn’t do very well bc it was too much shade for them from the bean towers.

 

[Sally PB]

I have 9 raised beds, all running east to west. Where I plant rows, I orient them the same way.

The raised beds are about 3-4 feet wide. Plants like carrots and onions run along the south side; taller plants like tomatoes are on the north side.

I'll be putting a grape arbor on the north side of one of my gardens this spring, so it won't shade other plants.

 

[Chris2018]

My beds/rows run north and south for maximum sun light and I don't have to worry about taller plants shading other plants.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

I have a 1x24ft and 2 recently built 4x8 raised beds. The short ends run East to West. My 1x24ft bed is for corn, quinoa, cucumbers, and purple hull peas, this bed is up against a fence and on the North side of the two new beds. I will do the same as @Sally PB said in the two new beds, I already got all my frost hardy greens and herbs that I started inside put into one of the new 4x8 beds last weekend, in rows, taller on the north side, shorter on the south. All my herbs are in between the vegetables to help repel and prevent pests. This pic is before the second bed was built, the 1x24ft bed is in the back with the white lattice in front of it.

 

[Lilion]

I have a 1x24ft and 2 recently built 4x8 raised beds. The short ends run East to West. My 1x24ft bed is for corn, quinoa, cucumbers, and purple hull peas, this bed is up against a fence and on the North side of the two new beds.

Tall things to the north of the other beds make sense, but everyone else is saying the short sides of the rectangle should be north/south.

My plan was a bed with a trellis on the north, 3 foot, side.