Raised Bed Vegetable Garden

I’m running way behind on Garden Tribe’s 21-Day Veggie Garden Boot Camp, so I’ll try to catch up the next few days.

Day 8 topic is Raised Beds–a subject dear to my heart, because I think you can make a garden look really stunning by adding different levels.

Of course, beauty is not necessarily the point for Garden Tribe. Let’s just stick to the basics, “Just the facts ma’am, just the facts”.

The GT lesson has an excellent summary, so I’ll let them tell it, and I’ll just add my two-bits: and here’s a great little site for raised beds:

1. Why do you want a raised bed?
   1. You have no ground space or your only available ground space is inappropriate for vegetables.
   2. Your need the physical convenience of raised bed.
   3. You want to control the soil better
   4. You like the look.
2. What is underneath?
   1. Impervious concrete/asphalt/other. Walls of raised bed need to be taller than if located over soil; needs to have a bottom with landscape cloth and good drainage.
   2. Grass/turf/weeds that you’re going to cover and smother. In my experience it took at least a year for the plant material to decompose, and in the meantime was full of wireworm that got into the potatoes. 
   3. Soil that’s difficult to till/grow in/doesn’t drain well. Covering that over with lots of inches of largely organic mixture will begin the process of amending that soil, so it’s a very good thing.
   4. Reasonably good growing soil, just not high enough. So you’re going to make it higher.
3. How high to the raised beds need to be? If you look at the link above to Easrtheasy.com you’ll see how deep the roots grow for various vegetables.
   1. You’re growing plants with shallow roots, (most greens and cabbage/broccoli veg)
   2. You’re growing plants with deep roots (everything else)
   3. Even tho’ the roots prefer to grow that deep, doesn’t mean the have to grow that deep. Just remember that, depending on what’s underneath the raised bed, you may be responsible for the entire reservoir of nutrients, water and growing medium (see container growing Day 7).

      

      These 5 gallon containers (allegedly a tomato plant needs to be in at least 5 gal pot) are only about 12″ tall. I did get tomatoes last year, but not as many as I should have.

   4. So taller is better. Besides that, you’re going to be growing different things in different place in years to come (I’m sure more of that to come in future GT days), so you may not need too much depth this year for lettuce, but next year you may be growing squash or parsnips or carrots in that spot.

      

Stay tuned for next lesson–SOIL. (Don’t call it “dirt” in the presence of garden lovers!)