Raised Bed Vegetable Garden

By | February 4, 2014

Creating a raised bed vegetable garden is a great option for the home vegetable garden as it allows you to create compost rich soil beds to grow vegetables.

raised bed vegetable garden

Above: Our Raised Vegetable Garden

As you keep adding compost to your raised veggie bed, you can build up the sides and eventually you need not bend to weed and plant.

This is the option that we went for after considering the varied options for a small vegetable garden.

Our raised bed vegetable garden was planned on 5 door frame sized plots. We left enough space in between each plot for a foot path, which we eventually covered with gravel to control the weeds.

The frames were built with just one beam across the uprights but the uprights have enough space for 2 more lengths to be added as the beds start to overflow with raised organic material.

If you prefer square foot gardening, you will then plan your boxes in a very similar way but you will then demarcate your square foot sections with twine once you have built the frames.

Planting up your raised vegetable garden is best planned on a rotation system to prevent planting the same vegetable over in the same place.

I divided our 5 frames on paper into two halves each and labelled A – J. Each section that had a heavy feeder plant grown was followed by legumes (peas, beans) and each root crop was followed by a leafy crop. In this way I made sure that we rotated our vegetable planting.

vegetable rotation guide

We found that the 5 beds were enough for our family of 6 to maintain and we were limited by space. On average they took about 2 – 3 hours a week for all of us to maintain and weed.

Remember no matter what type of vegetable garden you decide to plan, ensure that you meet the basics of choosing a sunny position, adding plenty of good compost and planning what vegetables to plant carefully so that you get the most of your season.

Tips For Maintaining A Chemical-Free Organic Garden

What do you know about organic gardening? Do you have some gardening techniques? If you do, do you wish to improve upon them? Is what you’re using working with your organic garden or against it? If you cannot answer these questions confidently, look at the tips below to help grow a better organic garden:

* Make use of a ground cover, such as mulch or hay. Be sure when you are purchasing your ground cover, that it is also organic, as any chemicals contained in the mulch or hay can be absorbed by your plants. Organic ground coverings will protect the roots of your plants and help prevent water evaporation.

* Try to get a good composition of healthy soil in your garden. Healthy soil is generally more resistant to pests and other negative influences. How can you tell when a soil is “healthy?” Generally a healthy soil contains a good combination of earth worms, helpful microbes, and a good deal of mulch and compost on the surface area.

* Cut the tips off of your expensive perennials! Dip the cut ends in rooting hormone and submerge them in damp sand. In a couple of weeks the cuttings will form roots and you’ll have free start-up plants to give to all of your friends and acquaintances. Free plants are very much appreciated in today’s tough economic times!.

* Planting cover crops is important to maintain a good quality soil. By protecting the soil with cover crops, it will be immune against weeds, be more fertile, have less water and wind erosion, and have better water drainage. Clover, fava beans, and buckwheat are all fantastic for cover cropping.

* Use living matter to make the best compost. Though you may be tempted to start tossing everything into your compost pile, don’t do it. Remember your compost is not a trashcan. Put in plenty of grass clippings, fallen leaves, and kitchen garbage such as food scraps and old leftovers. This will make your compost process faster.

* Research plants before bringing them home. When you are trying to get the best plants for your organic landscape, you should take the time to get educated. Chose plants that are suited to growing conditions you already have, rather than trying to build an environment for a plant you didn’t properly plan for.

* If you have the space, building a compost bin can be a great way to save money and always have compost at the ready. When planning your bin, consider a three-sided bin rather than a four-sided bin. A three-sided bin allows you to easily access the heap for regular turning without reaching over a wall or using a gate.

* When you are digging holes in your yard in which to plant shrubs, bushes, or trees, do not make it perfect. Holes with perfect sides will actually work against you by restricting plant growth. The roots cannot penetrate the sheer face made by a shovel.

* Don’t harm your native critters. Some animals can naturally keep the bug population down; one such example of a good pest-predator is the bat. Bats are well-known for being bug consumers. Since your garden may sometimes look like a tasty treat to these tiny critters, having bats around can help reduce their population naturally, without the usage of harmful pesticides.

* Keep plastic grocery bags convenient to the nearest door to your garden. Working in your organic garden can be greatly enjoyable, but also messy. You can re-use plastic bags as impromptu shoe-covers so that you can enter your house without tracking in garden mud. This will allow you to deal with any indoor necessities quickly and get back to your gardening faster.

Are you more informed when it comes to organic gardening? Do you have a gardening technique or do you have a better gardening technique now? Can you now use things that work with your organic garden? Hopefully, the tips above should have given you advice on growing a better organic garden.

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