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Post by laureljean on Mar 6, 2016 0:55:10 GMT
My thoughts are turning to Spring and I'm thinking about trying raised bed gardening. I'd like to start small: some herbs, tomatoes, easy to grow vegetables.
Of course I thought: the Peas know everything. Anybody have any hints or tips for a beginner who is starting from ground zero?
Thanks!
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Post by Merge on Mar 6, 2016 1:02:18 GMT
I tried it for two seasons. I live in zone 9, and I found it difficult to keep the plants watered well enough in our heat to avoid them drying out with such good drainage. I also found that raised bed plants are not impervious to pests, and they are many and varied here.
My herbs generally did well, but my peppers and tomatoes were a total bust both years.
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breetheflea
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,895
Location: PNW
Jul 20, 2014 21:57:23 GMT
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Post by breetheflea on Mar 6, 2016 1:17:11 GMT
Snap peas and zucchini are pretty easy. The peas need something to grow on like a trellis. You might want scissors to cut the zucchini off the plant when it's ready to pick, and the plants have some kind of fuzz on them that is scratchy when you touch it. I get itchy from picking tomatoes (something on the plant when it touches my arms), it took me a while to figure out and remember to wash my arms right after messing around in the tomato plants. Make sure you don't put your garden box too close to the house and then have to move it when it's full of dirt, not that I did that or anything... Also don't put your garden box farther than your hose can stretch or it will be annoying to water Hope something in this is helpful.
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Post by Karmady on Mar 6, 2016 1:55:42 GMT
I've had really good success with raised bed gardening. I'm in Zone 5 (American) or 6B (Canadian). They are classified differently in each country
Some ideas:
-don't paint or treat the wood because the chemicals may leach into the soil when watered -don't use soil from your garden. Buy bags or order from a gardening centre. You want the soil to be a mixture of black loam, peat, vermiculite and well composted manure. The soil should be light to allow the roots to move freely. The loam and peat help retain soil moisture -I've never used fertilizer. I add well composted materials, egg shells or coffee grinds and rotate my "crops" each year. -Always water at the roots so the leaves aren't susceptible to disease. -take notes or pictures so you learn from your mistakes.
It sounds complex but it really isn't. Gardening is done by trial and error.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 7, 2024 1:06:17 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2016 2:07:27 GMT
I have 2 raised beds (in zone 5)
It was a necessity as our lawn is too rocky to plant in.
Use very good weed blocker and make sure it covers the sides too or you will have grass growing up all around it.
You will have to add soil each year (at least I end up adding about 2 bags each)
I've had the best luck with cherry tomatoes, basil, radishes. Those cherry tomatoes grew like crazy the last couple years.
I am not able to grow cucumbers no matter what I try.
I've tried peppers with ok results.
Strawberries grew well, but I didn't have a fence around mine and the yard bunnies got them.
I'm getting better at learning when to plant. The first year I put seeds in the ground and have since learned I either need to buy the plants or grow the seeds in starters indoors first.
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Post by janet100 on Mar 6, 2016 2:13:03 GMT
I garden a lot. I tend to do raised beds for some veggies, and in the ground for others. I'm in zone 7 USA.
Load your soil in. Either buy it, or use half manure/peat mixed in with your own soil. If you have a lot of sand, mix in more manure/peat.
Lay mulch down. It helps keep the weeds down and conserves on watering.
Since you have not put the boxes together yet, think about putting soaker hoses right into the box so you water the roots instead of watering the plant by spraying it with the hose. Uses less water.
Water your plants at dusk. Soak well so the plant can drink all night long. Be careful of watering plant at mid day when it's hot. Plant will go into shock.
Stake your tomatoes, cucs, peas, beans. Herbs will grow any where, and most bugs won't bother them. Bugs will eat Basil, so I plant that in a pot and bring it up on the deck.
You only need one Zucc plant! Unless you need to feed an army.
Tomatoe roots go down deep - I usually grow those in the ground. Cherry tomatoes are more compact plants and would fit better in a container garden. Squash roots stay at the surface, they are great for container gardening.
Have fun.
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Post by laureljean on Mar 6, 2016 2:20:01 GMT
Wow, thanks for the tips! I'm getting excited about this new "venture"!
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Post by anniefb on Mar 6, 2016 2:26:04 GMT
I have two raised beds and grow things like lettuce, tomatoes, beans, peas, sugar snap peas and some herbs in the summer. In the winter I mostly do winter lettuce (it doesn't get very cold here) and spinach and swiss chard. I did broccoli for a few years but it needs too much work here to keep the pests at bay. It's just a bit of trial and error to see what grows best in your area. You've had some good advice. When I put a watering system in a few years ago, I also had it added to the veggie garden so that saves having to water. I water in the morning - that works best in our climate as watering late in the day encourages fungi to form (it's very humid). Also if you water in the morning you won't get so many slugs and snails at night
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teddyw
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,829
Jun 29, 2014 1:56:04 GMT
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Post by teddyw on Mar 6, 2016 2:28:26 GMT
It's me but I never had raised beds until 2 years ago and I have not been successful. Last year the weather was horrible. But st my old house I was more successful.
I have already started saving coffee grounds & egg shells to add to the soil. I also didn't have to worry about deer at my last house.
I do enjoy what I get though.
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Julie W
Drama Llama
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Jun 27, 2014 22:11:06 GMT
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Post by Julie W on Mar 6, 2016 3:16:58 GMT
This is great advice. The house we bought last November came with a raised bed, DD10 wants to do a salsa garden.
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GiantsFan
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,291
Site Supporter
Jun 27, 2014 14:44:56 GMT
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Post by GiantsFan on Mar 6, 2016 3:45:05 GMT
The only thing I can grow is tomatoes. Luckily too, because we love home grown tomatoes!
My tips are 1. Make sure your beds are deep enough so the roots have plenty of growing room. My beds are two feet below ground and 1 foot above. 2. Make sure the beds have good drainage. You don't want the roots drowning. 3. Get a drip system for watering. A basic system is fairly cheap and reusable. I also have mine on a timer.
ETA: I've done tomatoes with and without cages. I prefer cages because it keeps the vines off the ground and they are easier to pick. I usually plant Early Girl, Yellow Pear, Beefsteaks and a random variety of heirlooms that the garden center has. I always buy small plants, not seeds.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Mar 6, 2016 4:40:25 GMT
We've always just planted everything in the ground, but some neighbors of ours made raised beds out of bales of straw. I know they had tomatoes planted in there but I'm not sure what else. She said it works great for keeping the weeds down and for good drainage.
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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Mar 6, 2016 6:11:30 GMT
I changed to container gardening--love that I can move things around. I do cherry tomatoes (which the chipmunks steal) tons of basil, oregano. Going to try asparagus this year!
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Post by sues on Mar 6, 2016 17:03:15 GMT
We started raised bed gardening a few years ago and now I'd never do it any other way. After we put it in and filled it up (too late for us), my pediatrician said it's a good idea to lay chicken wire down across the bottom, before the soil. It will deter critters that might burrow underneath and come up inside the bed to eat your vegetables and plants.
We add a few bags of soil every year, mixed with manure. We throw mulch on top, to help keep down weeds and retain moisture. I've seen something online about cutting the bottom off of two-liter bottles turning them into large funnels. You drill a bunch of holes into the cap. Dig holes spaced around your garden and put the bottles in, cap side down. You fill up the bottles with the hose (or rain collects in them), and they slow water the plants, deep in the soil. I'm definitely going to try that this year.
The things I have learned- some of which were "Duh!" but I had to learn the hard way nonetheless... tomato plants get tall and take over. Watch how the light comes over the area where your garden bed will be and plant the tomatoes toward the back. Peppers and herbs will be shorter and not as full- they should be in front where they can get the sun no matter how big the other stuff gets.
Be careful not to plant too many tomatoes. I followed the spacing guidelines on the plant stake and planted two rows of tomatoes in the garden bed. I could easily get to the ones on the 'outside'- but there was one plant on the 'inside' that was difficult to keep up with. Now I skip that spot. The rest get big and full enough that I don't miss it.
I've had great luck with basil in front of the peppers- but cilantro always falters after the first clipping and then dies. Either I'm doing it wrong or I'm better off with this one in a big pot on its own.
I stake everything to start and use cages for the tomatoes when they get a little bigger. I need to pay more attention to pinching off the runners- when you let them get out of hand, the plants get uncontrollable. I'm going to paint some large, flat river rocks with the names of my plants, to ID them. Easier and better than the little plastic things they come with. I save those in a garden note book though- with the tags from anything else we planted that year.
Last year we added an Epsom salt/water mixture to the soil in the beginning to boost magnesium. We had a terrific harvest. I also throw coffee grounds around the base of the plant throughout the summer. We use miracle grow at watering, every so often.
I had no plans to fence in the garden bed in any way- until I saw a rabbit do an Olympic worthy leap right into the middle of my plants the first year. (Disclaimer- I love the rabbits in my yard. I feed them carrots and watch out for their babies when I know they're around. The garden bed probably looks like my gift to them.) We started putting chicken wire around the perimeter- using bamboo stakes every few feet, to attach the chicken wire with cable ties. It has kept out everything but chipmunks, who steal the low growing tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes that drop to the ground.
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sweetandsour
Full Member
Posts: 227
Jun 30, 2014 17:43:52 GMT
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Post by sweetandsour on Mar 6, 2016 17:58:20 GMT
We are in zone 3b and have been raised bed gardening for 16 years. DH just built the sides out of untreated wood, it's about 2.5 feet tall. It does require more watering when it is dry but unfortunately our summers have been getting colder and wetter (we used to roll our eyes at the term "global warming" because it wasn't happening here! LOL) so we need the drainage. We grow only indeterminate tomato types to save room. (FYI indeterminate can be staked and pruned, versus determinate that should be caged only). We also grow pole beans and peas. Yes, I require a step stool to harvest those but oh well, LOL. We also rotate plants and we use mainly our own compost (we also buy bagged manure from the gardening centre) to pump up our beds every year but we also get a special gardening soil mix delivered by a soil company about every 5 years when our soil levels get a bit low. We also grow lots of other veggies and herbs too. Our summers here are so short so gardening is very enjoyable to me
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Post by crazy4scraps on Mar 7, 2016 3:58:22 GMT
I had no plans to fence in the garden bed in any way- until I saw a rabbit do an Olympic worthy leap right into the middle of my plants the first year. (Disclaimer- I love the rabbits in my yard. I feed them carrots and watch out for their babies when I know they're around. The garden bed probably looks like my gift to them.) We started putting chicken wire around the perimeter- using bamboo stakes every few feet, to attach the chicken wire with cable ties. It has kept out everything but chipmunks, who steal the low growing tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes that drop to the ground. We have a lot of deer that come through our yard. We had to put up a 6' fence all around our back yard garden to keep them out! Not only that, but they regularly eat our hostas and other landscaping right to the ground too.
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