I have been wanting to plant a small garden, mostly just something for the kids to do. Instead of messing up the yard, I thought about trying a raised bed. Nothing too fancy, I have already thought about using a pallet for the bottom and just building up the sides. Anyone try one of these and if so, any thoughts or advice?
That's what we did this year. Hubby got some landscaping timbers and made a rectangle on top of a weeded, dirt only area. Filled it with potting soil and then planted my veggies....
2x12's 4 feet long. (buy them in 16 foot sections at Lowes and ask them to cut them into 4 foot sections.) Using corner braces, attach to each corner, voila - a 4x4 box. Staple weed prevention fabric to the bottom. Turn box over with fabric on bottom. fill with mixture of compost, topsoil and mix well. plant. Easy Peezy. made 3 of those for C6 in an hour.
The websites I have read mostly say 8" to 12". I wanted to do corn but I don't think that will be deep enough to hold up the stalk. I'm going to do tomatoes, okra, maybe bell pepper and squash.
SFG I've been wanting to do square foot gardening for years. I read Mel Bartholomew's first book about it in the 1980's. This year I have three SFG boxes. You can "Google" square foot gardening to find lots of info. Here is an excellent site: http://www.squarefootgardening.com/whatissfg Happy Gardening!
My neighbor did the raised bed thing. It's looking great! They have peppers, tomatoes & even corn. Wish we'd thought of that. We did a real in the ground good sized garden last year but after all that work, between the deer, squirrels & fire ants (the ants kept stealing our seeds) there was very little to show for it. This year I did a few things in containers on the deck so we'll have at least that.
last year, we did straw bale gardening. Easy to do, and ground type veggies did great. Stalk stuff like corn,..not so much. Tomatoes out the wazoo, zucchini and squash, even sugar baby melons. Darned corn just didn't want to grow. In this clay, no way would I even think about digging into it.
Raised Beds - Square Foot Gardening I am an advocate of SFG and I used to teach it to my employees, setting up beds, sharing seeds, etc. I have 4 beds; 4' x 10' with a trellis running lengthwise for tomatoes, cukes, watermelons, beans, pickles and cantaloupes. Each square is in business for itself and as soon as a crop is done producing, you plant something else. You do not fertilize, water or weed where you walk. It is recommended to plant closely (16 radishes per square, 9 beets, 1 tomato, 9 soybeans, etc.) to discourage weeds and utilize the total space. This year, we have harvested asparagus, head and leaf lettuce, radishes, broccoli, cabbage, kale, broccoli raab and spinach and replanted with heat tolerant varieties of spinach and lettuce. You can even put pipe straps on the sides and use 3/4" plastic pipe to make a 'covered wagon'; put plastic sheeting over it and garden all year round. I have also hooked up a soaker hose system to my rain barrels. Just flip a faucet and the garden is watered. If you wish, PM your email address and you can come and take a look at it.
I remember watching Mel Bartholomew's on PBS back in the 80's doing the square foot gardening and have always wanted to do one myself. I have his first book. Not sure if there where any others between then and now. But I did see his latest book at Lowes. I wish they would bring that show back on.
