[Annie26]

veggiegardener

Basics of Growing Tomatoes

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[abeeson20]

Google square foot gardening...buy the book, it's a simple read and terrific reference material for raised bed gardening.

 

[Errol]

abeeson20 is right about the squarefoot garden book. I got one myself and tried it. The only drawback I had with squarefoot gardening is you just about have to water most every day and like now with really dry weather you would need to water twice a day sometimes. So I kind of combined 3 types of gardening this year and so far it is working great..I use raised beds (just like square foot except mine are 10-14 inches deep) then I bought the book , Lasagna gardening, So I made my raised beds longer but kept 4 ft wide. , I already had **** Raymonds book, The joy of Gardening from long ago, he teaches "wide row " gardening...So I have the pleasure of all 3 types. I built 4 beds 4ft x 50ft, 3 beds 4ftx12ft and 3 beds 4ft x 20ft, I am now in the process of building a bed 38 ftx 36inches wide. So all beds are raised beds like squarefoot , except mine are deeper and built the lasagna style. then the beds being 4ft wide I can do the wide row gardening. Maybe I can post pictures later. But I had to build raise beds for my soil is so hard and poor.
Errol

 

[stephanie]

I do square foot gardening as it works great for me since my soil is all rocks and it breaks tillers and augers. so I build raised beds this works great in western washington for several reasons, it rains allot so you don't have to water them as much,the soil gets warmer earlier so you can plant sooner in the spring and they are easy to cover for winter growing for things like lettuce,spinach and other types.

 

[stephanie]

I used wood boards and built them the size and shape I wanted. I also put a copper strip around each bed to discourage slugs and snails. try to avoid treated wood as it can leach the chemicals into your food. I have added horse poo to mine and also purchased soils to mix with the horse poo. I have noticed that the beds to settle each yr just a bit but that is fine with me as then it gives me room to top dress them over winter with more poo or dirt before planting in the spring.

 

[isadorah]

I built my raised beds out of 1' wide cedar planks and then filled with dirt. I added 3' tall pine beams and chicken wire/gates to keep the critters out. If I could do it again, I would have lined the bottom with chicken wire before adding the dirt/compost mixture to prevent critters from tunneling in. I would also add in at least 2' of mulch around the raised beds for ease of yard care...then again, I am not a fan of weedeaters and cutting the grass around the raised beds is a bit of a challenge. It is taking me forever to remedy this flaw to my raised beds.

 

[Errol]

raised tomato bed

this is my raised tomato bed built last fall. as you see there are no boards around this bed showing that you dont really need boards when building lasagna raised beds. this one was 24 inches high when built but has settle to about 12 inches and very rich. just remember to alweays add a little lime. this one is 38 inches wide x 50 ft long and has 22 tomato plants spaced 24 inches apart

 

[nukeday]

I do square foot gardening as it works great for me since my soil is all rocks and it breaks tillers and augers. so I build raised beds this works great in western washington for several reasons, it rains allot so you don't have to water them as much,the soil gets warmer earlier so you can plant sooner in the spring and they are easy to cover for winter growing for things like lettuce,spinach and other types.

Pretty much ditto here, but I've never heard of this square foot gardening thing. I just used SPF 2x8's deck screwed together, set them where I wanted them, put some pea gravel in the bottom and called a local nursery for a 1/2 trailer load of their planting mix. Lots of compost, clean topsoil and goat manure. I've learned that goat manure and chicken manure are really easy to come by, even more so than steer here where I live. This year, I got a partial load of manure from the local dairy farm and since they'd settled, I just topped them off.

As a bonus, I have my beds about a foot away from an 8ft fence, works really well for warmer climate veggies. Fence runs North/South, so the beds are on the east side. No buildings to the east of the beds (for many acres). I get really nice sun most of the day and then some shade by early evening. Only drawback so far is that the broccoli and cabbage like to bolt.

 

[cynthia]

I'm gardening in grow bags and they work wonders. I place them in pails,
to water from the bottom and things are growing like crazy

 

[Rocksterr]

I'm gardening in grow bags and they work wonders. I place them in pails,
to water from the bottom and things are growing like crazy

Brilliant! Did you make your own grow bags? Please post pictures.

 

[Gene4a]

Any pictures yet Errol?
Would love to see what you have and also what soil do you use inyour beds?
Gene4a

 

[veggiewhisperer]

Living in the inner city, finding good soil is hard to come by. My backyard is full of clay that has washed down from our neighbors' yard. So, I pretty much had no choice but to have a raised bed, with the exception of a very small part way in the back of my yard. I actually have tomatoes in the ground there. Anyway, I usually get untreated cedar wood from Lowe's. Cedar is rot resistant, making it more ideal for outdoor use. Make sure the wood is not treated and pressured because of the toxins in it. I get the guys at Lowe's to cut the wood to the size I want it and get the screws and nails that are good for outdoor use. You don't want the screws rusting on you. If I'm lucky, they would put the entire bed together for me for little to nothing.

You may want to look on this site for a tutorial. I thought I saw a video about raised garden beds.