Raised bed gardens

The new house I am still in the middle of buying... Has a couple raised beds for gardening...

I have never used raised beds before. Should I plant anything specific in them? Not that I actually think I will be in the house soon enough to plant anything thanks to the bank taking their dandy time. But I will save that thread for hell.

Kristy

Congrats on the pending homeownership.
Your question is pretty broad, maybe you can narrow it down. Are you asking about food crops? What size are the beds? Certain crops like melons need more room than others.
Are you asking what you can plant once you move in that will yield before winter?
One thing to do would be to evaluate your soil in the beds prior to planting.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you get your house soon.

Originally Posted by lucille

Kristy

Congrats on the pending homeownership.
Your question is pretty broad, maybe you can narrow it down. Are you asking about food crops? What size are the beds? Certain crops like melons need more room than others.
Are you asking what you can plant once you move in that will yield before winter?
One thing to do would be to evaluate your soil in the beds prior to planting.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you get your house soon.

Now that I read back my question was very broad let me try again

The beds are about 10-12 ft long and about 4-5 foot wide. I have always used a regular old garden and did not know if other than soil testing there was anything special I needed to do with raised beds to be able to plant. I was un sure if people used them for specific types of veggies. Or if there was anything veggie like that grows better in them.

It does also have a place where the regular garden will be going next year as well.

Is there anything I could potentially plant by mid June that would be ok with a short season?

Did I do any better explaining my self this time

http://anr.ext.wvu.edu/r/download/82064

Awesome.

Thank you. That is just what I needed.

I've considered putting in raised beds for some of the things like strawberries that need to be harvested and have the runners pulled every couple days. It doesn't take long bent over the strawberry bed for my back to start screaming about how much easier a raised bed would be. Same with tomatoes. I think I'd save the raised beds for those crops you have to mess with more so you don't have to bend down so far to mess with them. Put things like the corn, squash, watermelon in the lower gardens so they can spread out (plant the squash under then corn a few weeks after the corn sprouts and you won't have as much trouble with weeds under the corn competing for the water.)

Here is my raised beds.



You can pretty much plant anything in a raised bed you would a regular 'in ground' garden. The raised beds have alot of advantages over 'in ground'.

Here is just a few....

Check out anything on 'square foot gardening'. You can get higher yields from your garden vs an 'in ground'.

Your soil will always be better in a raised bed because you're not compacting it by walking on it or running a tiller on it.

The soil warms up quicker in the early spring so you can plant eariler... and if you build it right.. it's easy to add a hoop and plastic sheet for a mini greenhouse for early spring or late fall... thus increasing your growing period.

All soil admendments will be used by the plants not wasted by the foot paths.

Being stuck (very unwillingly) in suburgatory, I'm an avid raised bed gardener.

I started last year with two 4'x4' beds and two 3'x3' beds. This year, I added a 9'x4' for herbs and melons (which trellis themselves on the fence behind the bed), one more 4'x4', and a 4'x6' for corn.

Raised beds are awesome because you never, ever have to weed, they are easier to work in and around, you can grow tons more in a much smaller space, crop rotation is simple and insect pests minimal, etc. etc. I make my own soil mix out of 1/3 each of peat, compost, and vermiculite. My garden last year (and this, thus far) went absolutely nuts and was the marvel of the neighborhood. My corn was several feet taller than my neighbor's and fruited earlier and more heavily. Same with everything else I grew. I'm a nut about growing everything organically and preferring heirlooms to other varietals. I had an amazing season.

Great info on maximizing yield, etc.: http://www.squarefootgardening.com/


Enjoy!!