Planning a Vegetable Garden

Posts Tagged ‘Home Vegetable Gardening’

A raised bed vegetable garden is a good option for vegetable gardening in cooler climate zones, or any zone where you have a thin or rocky soil type.   The soil in raised beds warms up quicker, as well as provides more depth for rocky garden soil.

Raised beds are also good if your soil drains poorly.  Even an extra 6 or more inches of drainage in a raised bed can be the difference of your vegetables’ roots breathing or drowning.

Raised Bed Benefits

Do you want to grow bigger, healthier vegetables?  Would you like to be able to utilize better the space for the land you have (especially if you are doing small space vegetable gardening)?  If your answer is “Yes!”, then you should consider incorporating a raised bed design into your garden plot.

With a raised bed, the plant roots have extra room to grow and are more likely to produce a good harvest than vegetables grown in a crowded, shallow space.

Making a Raised Bed

To construct a raised bed vegetable garden you need the following:

• A raised frame (wood, rock or brick) to hold in the extra soil.
• Extra soil, which needs to be nice and loamy (check out the types of soil post for more information on loamy soil).

The width of the raised bed depends on how large you desire the garden to be.  A common height is between 12 to 21 inches, but it can be more or less (but no less than 6 inches).  For instance, some people like it knee height, others like it almost hip height, so they don’t have to bend over as much.

You can use regular garden dirt that has been mixed with amendments such as compost, peat moss, and manure for your raised bed soil.  If you have the money to do so, you can buy a combination of top soil and compost and fill the entire bed with it.  Unless you have a very small raised bed, though, that might get expensive.

FYI, your raised bed soil preparation involves raking the soil level.  This prevents low spots or places where the water can pool around the plant and thus hold excessive moisture. If after you water the first time you see depressed areas, you know you need to rake or even add more soil to those areas.

If you’re interested in making a raised bed, here are some raised bed kits you might find interesting.

Alternative Ideas for a Raised Bed Vegetable Garden

What are some other possible ideas for raised beds?  Glad you asked!

Here’s one — you can try using old tires as containers.  The morning sun heats the rubber, giving your plants warmth all day and night long; especially nice in cooler climates.  Similar to a raised bed vegetable garden, the tires will also shed water more quickly, preventing your plants from sitting in water all day.  Naturally, tires for a large truck will give you more raised space than tires for a sub-compact. 

Another idea is using an EarthBox, which is basically a huge container that also will water your vegetables automatically.  While I’ve never tried one, I have some friends who have and they swear by them.

Any way you create them, raised beds make good gardening sense.  Although it’s a little bit of work to set up at first, you’ll reap the benefits come harvest time!

I’ve been considering an upside down tomato garden planter, so I thought I’d share some information with you. If you’re interested in using vertical space for your vegetable garden, read on!

The Upside Down Tomato Garden

Also called the Topsy Turvy Upside Down Tomato Planter, it’s a neat idea for using vertical space. Instead of digging a hole in the garden, fill the hanging planter with soil and a tomato plant and voila — a hanging tomato garden. Great if you are challenged for floor space on your patio or terrace!

Another advantage is that because the tomatoes aren’t in the garden soil, they aren’t quite as vulnerable to pests like cutworms and horn worms.  Not to mention nematodes (a scourge here in South Florida).

Also, since the tomato plants aren’t in contact with garden soil, the chances for a bacterial infection of the plant is lessened.

Definitely some benefits worth considering!

Is It For You?

The upside down tomato garden isn’t for everyone.  If you live in a very dry climate, you’ll be having to water your plants a lot – at least once a day.  And unless you have an easy way to lower your Topsy Turvey container, that means you’ll have to reach up with your watering can.  Water can be heavy!

And along those lines, you’ll need somewhere sturdy to hang your upside down tomato garden.  The combination of soil, water, plant and tomatoes can get quite weighty.

Interestingly, it was my husband David that brought the upside down tomato garden to my attention.  You see, I love growing tomatoes, and I actually grow quite a few in containers.  But I’m always looking for new ideas, and this one definitely intrigues me.

I’ll leave you to check out the link for the Topsy Turvey while I go and see where I can hang one on my patio…and one more thought. This sounds like it would also be great for growing those space-saving bush cucumber plants! Hey, I’ve got the makings of a salad!