A Comprehensive Guide to Raised Bed Gardening

[Alasgun]

Plenty of experience based opinions on this subject showing up here. That’s good; we learn from experience, our own or others; experience is experience.
Around here 95% of my “cultivated areas” are 3x12 raised beds 3ft deep and watered with drip. I’ll not go all in detailing my reasoning for this arrangement but i will say “for me” this works extremely well and with a dozen beds rotation has not been an issue. These beds are a lot less work and once planted virtually maintenance free. They keep everything at a good working level which is a blessing all the way thru harvest.
The only thing id change is to widen my 3ft walk ways to give better access when it gets jungly!
no mater the growing method; if your new to this and reading looking for ideas; explore drip irrigation. It may seem intimidating at first but you’ll quickly see the benefit in watering efficiency, time savings and crop uniformity!

And now you can all wish me happy birthday!At 72 i now believe i’ve beat the odd’s And don’t see any strides toward “growing up” overtaking me!

 

[Branching Out]

I for one think that using a level is a brilliant idea Heirloomgal, and what a great idea to sink empty pots in the soil next to the tomato plants. They would work well even on sloped ground. Last spring I made a raised bed with a watering 'trough' down the centre but I failed to take slope into consideration-- so when I watered most of it ran downhill. While it is not very evident in this photo, our entire yard is sloped. The photo shows the tomato bed all prepped with Bio360 black film, which is a compostable product made from cornstarch that is extremely thin, like dry cleaners plastic. It was my first time using it, and I was very pleased with the results. No weeds, and it seemed to keep the plants well-hydrated as evaporation was limited. This is important for me, as I only water tomatoes once or twice per month (it rains for much of the year here, so I figure there is a lot of moisture down deep in the soil-- the tomato roots just have to work for it). I did mulch the black surface a bit once the plants filled in, mostly because we had no rain for months and it became important to retain every little bit of moisture possible.

 

[Branching Out]

Congratulations Alasgun! Happy birthday!

 

[flowerbug]

...
And now you can all wish me happy birthday!At 72 i now believe i’ve beat the odd’s And don’t see any strides toward “growing up” overtaking me!

we don't have to live with you. so, not, our, problem! just kidding! hope you have a great day. if you milk it long enough sometimes you can get a whole week out of it. any special plans?

 

[heirloomgal]

GREAT suggestions, here!
I was struck by the visuals--your beds remind me of soil blocks.
i Really like your ideas for water retention, too.
Where do you get your poles? Do you prune and save them up?

We have thousands of birch trees growing in the back of the yard, so there's an abundance of young trees. The only thing about using them is it's not a real good idea to use them for more than one year. They dry out quickly and the weight of the beans has broken them nearly every time I tried to get 2 years out of them.

 

[heirloomgal]

Plenty of experience based opinions on this subject showing up here. That’s good; we learn from experience, our own or others; experience is experience.
Around here 95% of my “cultivated areas” are 3x12 raised beds 3ft deep and watered with drip. I’ll not go all in detailing my reasoning for this arrangement but i will say “for me” this works extremely well and with a dozen beds rotation has not been an issue. These beds are a lot less work and once planted virtually maintenance free. They keep everything at a good working level which is a blessing all the way thru harvest.
The only thing id change is to widen my 3ft walk ways to give better access when it gets jungly!
no mater the growing method; if your new to this and reading looking for ideas; explore drip irrigation. It may seem intimidating at first but you’ll quickly see the benefit in watering efficiency, time savings and crop uniformity!

And now you can all wish me happy birthday!At 72 i now believe i’ve beat the odd’s And don’t see any strides toward “growing up” overtaking me!

Happy Birthday @Alasgun!

 

[heirloomgal]

I for one think that using a level is a brilliant idea Heirloomgal, and what a great idea to sink empty pots in the soil next to the tomato plants. They would work well even on sloped ground. Last spring I made a raised bed with a watering 'trough' down the centre but I failed to take slope into consideration-- so when I watered most of it ran downhill. While it is not very evident in this photo, our entire yard is sloped. The photo shows the tomato bed all prepped with Bio360 black film, which is a compostable product made from cornstarch that is extremely thin, like dry cleaners plastic. It was my first time using it, and I was very pleased with the results. No weeds, and it seemed to keep the plants well-hydrated as evaporation was limited. This is important for me, as I only water tomatoes once or twice per month (it rains for much of the year here, so I figure there is a lot of moisture down deep in the soil-- the tomato roots just have to work for it). I did mulch the black surface a bit once the plants filled in, mostly because we had no rain for months and it became important to retain every little bit of moisture possible.

Ooooh! I love how you edged those tomatoes! That looks both beautiful and very practical. The first time I saw the wonder of this technique was in Martha Stewart's original gardening book - she edged the outside of her enormous rose allee with purple salvias, both sides. Looked fabulous just like your tomato row. What are the little plants?

 

[Branching Out]

Along the front of the tomato patch is sweet alyssum; it had recently been sheared, and was getting ready to bloom again. The part that I sheared off became the dry straw-coloured mulch around the base of the tomatoes. Our area is prone to late blight, so they recommend completely covering the soil to avoid water spashing up on the leaves of the plant. Turns out we had no rain last summer- so no blight, which was a nice change. There was also a Scabiosa plant in between each tomato plant, and next year I hope to have 3 Scabiosas in between each one. I absolutely loved them. Gorgeous flowers, super low-maintenance, and they bloomed until November.

 

[ducks4you]

Thanks, @Branching Out !
I go OUT ON A LIMB and post my jankety old raised bed and YOU post magazine ready pictures of YOUR raised beds.
The best I can say about Mine is that it looks..."rustic."