Raised bed veggie garden

[Egon]

That is looking good. You'll have some nice results.

Forget the bottom fabric. Baler twine works well for fencing wire. If you do want wire your local hardware or farm supply store will have what you need. ( page wire works well ) pass that past SWMBO THOUGH as it may not meet the looks nice standard.

And do consider a few Brandywine heritage tomatoe plants.

 

[NS Gearhead]

Forget the bottom fabric. [/ATTACH]

...but then I'll have mud seep out on my driveway!

 

[OldMcDonald]

NSG, No reason why you should not plant potatoes in 18" of growing medium. Plenty deep enough IF as I said you keep them well fed and watered. I just like all plants to be able to make full use of the depth of soil available - more depth, more available nutrients, and the less they need to be fed.

 

[charlz]

I agree you should be able to plant/grow potatoes in there as well. Now, with only a few plants you won't get a winters storage of potatoes but 'new' potatoes early in the season are always a welcome addition to the dinner plate.

 

[NS Gearhead]

vermiculite increases the moisture capacity of the medium. its commonly used in seed starting mixes.

So if I have an irrigation system, would it still be worth putting in?

 

[NS Gearhead]

Glad to hear about the potatoes guys! I don't think they'll make the list for next spring, but nice to know for future beds/ expansion!

 

[randy41]

So if I have an irrigation system, would it still be worth putting in?

for sure. unless you get reliable rain.

 

[Egon]

...but then I'll have mud seep out on my driveway!

Don't think so.

 

[Dutch445]

we have used the mix with peat moss and compost, along with vermiculite.
the vermiculite was hard to find a few years ago, but this year it was in several
local garden supply stores.
every spring we'll add a little more compost and peat, and if we don't get rain
for a few days we water with a hose, this year was a very good growing year for us,
had many cukes, yellow squash and zucchini more than we could eat (2 plants each), tomatoes did well (6 plants
of pink ladies),
although we don't support the plants like we should. we also had carrots, which did well,
hot cherry peppers (6 plants),, will definitely do more plants next year! lettuce grew faster than we
could eat (3x3' box), and green beans were good also. we had 2 plants of butternut squash, and
we may get 5-6 squash, not to great there but better than none.

 

[Jstpssng]

Nice looking setup. It should give you a lot of good eating. :thumbsup:
With good planning, you should be able to get 2 or more crops out of some areas per year. I don't plant my storage crops such as carrots and potatoes until the first weekend in July. I don't dig them until late either, they keep best right in the ground.

Remeber your ph though and don't put peat moss where your potatoes will go. (Unless you like scabby 'taters.)

You can also plant late crops and extend your season using pvc or metal conduit arches with plastic over them. That works best with cole products , spinach, or carrots.

 

[forgeblast]

A very good book too is "gardening when it counts" it talks about making your own fert, using blood, bone and a seed meal mixed with lime. It works very nice.

 

[NS Gearhead]

Looked this up wanting to show some friends, and it seems I didn't update it!

Had a heck of a time with soil. First load was 50% topsoil, 50% organic. So, I assumed it was manure. Nope, it was green bin compost. As in, eveything organic people throw away. Could be anything. Medication, cats, etc. I first noticed lots of shredded plasic bags in it, then plastic utensils... but I had my boxes filled.... so I contacted them, and they gave me another load of topsoil only for cheap. I used the first load to fill low spots on the lawn. The worst part was digging the boxes back out.

Lined with landscape fabric


Load #2


27 bags of manure, 4 of peatmoss


Filled for the 2nd time


Timer












Some things did well, like the tomatoes, peas, and beans... some things did poorly like onions, garlic and carrots, and some things did nothing at all like the lettuce and brocolli. Strawberries didn't do very well either. One I pinched off the flowers to promote root growth for this year, the other I let it go. The one that I did let go didn't produce much and what did grow looked all cracked. I showed my local seed store and they said I had mites of something. Gave me some sticky tape to put around the bottom to try and stop them this year. I guess commercial growers spray for them.

 

[NS Gearhead]

Got a little carried away expanding the garden this year;

Built a small greenhouse




Two new strawberry barrels


25 plants each


Last year I started a new row on the far corner of my lot with topsoil. It flattened out much more then I thought it would, so I built it up with 330lbs of manure, 50lbs or peatmoss, and a bunch more topsoil (got another tandem load in)


Around 1,500lbs of manure total. LOL


Bed #1 with Raspberries




2nd bed with blackberries


4 early variety high bush bluberries. More to come later, but they were a little pricey, so only 4 this year.


Two weeks later;

Raspberry


Blackberry


Both rows are 30' long and will be getting trellis'.

Near to far; mint in the pots, white onion, garlic, and green onion


kale near, and peas far.


silantro and rosemary top right, two maple transplants bottom right, and three tomatoes bottom left & middle.


I'm experimenting with tomatoes; two in the hot house, two in 5 gal pails all drilled out with 2" holes and lined with landscape fabric, couple singles, one double, one triple and one quadruple all in same size pots. Let's see what does best! All sun sugar cherry tomatoes, and all in the same topsoil/ compost/ peat moss mix. The idea behind the holey buckets is that the roots need oxygen.... so more oxygen= more root growth = healthier plants and more production. The multiple plants/ pot; well, I'm thinking that if they do just as well as singles, it would be a more efficient use of space. I also wonder if they would support themselves instead of needing a trellis. At under $1/ plant, I though what the ****. May as well experiment. I had 6 tomatoes last year and none made it inside. I just ate them as I picked. This year I've got 16.

 

[NS Gearhead]

I think I'll be renting a gas powered jack hammer next weekend to bust up the rock outcrops at the berry patch. (that's what I call it) Make room for future beds, and make it easier on the atv to manuver around.

 

[dan ny escarpment]

Very nice setup, what variety of blackberries and raspberries did you choose? How long is your growing season up in NS? Thanks for sharing

 

[JRobyn]

I finally got one of the wife's new "flower pots" finished.

 

[TnAndy]

You can get a lot more strawberry plants in your barrels....our have 48 'pockets' + 4 in the top.

 

[NS Gearhead]

Very nice setup, what variety of blackberries and raspberries did you choose? How long is your growing season up in NS? Thanks for sharing

Raspberries are Heritage, and the blackberries are Tripple Crown.

The grow season... well I think we're considered zone 5. We usually stop getting frost at the end of may... but this year I planted mid-may. With a smaller garden it's easy to just throw a tarp over if we get a frost warning.

 

[NS Gearhead]

You can get a lot more strawberry plants in your barrels....our have 48 'pockets' + 4 in the top.

Wow that's alot of strawberry! I actually did go from 15 with last year's barrels (which are now flowering) to 25 in these. I did lose some plants in last years'... so I'm not 100% sure these are the way to go. Either the sun doesn't get to some enough, or I over watered them. Do you pinch the flowers off the first year?

 

[EddieWalker]

I like the raised log beds!!! It looks like you are expanding your garden to every spot you can find!!!