Re: raised bed via cinder blocks .. small problem

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
Are you trying to make one huge bed out of the 6 dozen-some cinderblocks?  I imagine it *would* be hard getting that large a plot level.   What we are doing is making a series of smaller beds in kind of a terraced setup, which may be easier for you, too.
 
We just made a bed 9 cinderblocks long by 2 cinderblocks wide.  The back, long side is higher on our little slope than the front, long side.  What we did was remove the sod in the shape we wanted, then drew up the dirt into the middle.  As we set the cinderblocks around, we made each of the 2 side cinderblocks stepped down a little lower each time and the front long side a little lower still.  I just checked and there is about a 2 inch difference from front to back.  The soil within the bed is level, but there is about 3 inches from the soil to the top edge of the back cinderblocks, and only about 1 inch of cinderblock showing at the front edge.  Each cinderblock is level on it's own, not tilted, it's just that they are stepped down from each other.
 
As we make new beds in that area, we will continue to step the cinderblocks up and down as needed to make a series of beds with level soil in them.  If we'd tried to make one big bed, there would be too much incline to accommodate.  We'd have to get into stacking cinderblocks on one side, reinforcing them with rebar, etc.  Too complicated!
 
Good luck,
Erica
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