If you have limited space to grow vegetables, a raised bed garden is an ideal solution. You can grow healthy and tasty vegetables with less work than with a traditional vegetable garden.
Advantages of a Raised Bed Garden
The following are some great reasons why a raised bed vegetable garden is an attractive consideration.
Limited Space If you live in a condominium with a small yard you can design a raised bed in proportion to the space available.
No Digging
Constructing a raised bed garden eliminates digging a garden patch and removes the worry of encountering an abundance of rock or poor soil. You only have to fill your raised bed garden with enriched fertilizer soil and compost.
Ease of Convenience
If you have back problems or trouble bending or stooping; sit on the edge of your raised bed garden while you work.
Locate your raised bed so you have a perimeter around all four sides. This allows you ease to reach any part of your garden when planting vegetables or removing weeds.
A perimeter also allows access to your garden if you are confined to a wheel chair or using a crutch.
Healthier Vegetable Plants
Vegetables in a raised bed garden get more sun, air circulation, and better use of water.
A raised bed garden is designed to have excellent drainage and water will not pool up around the roots causing root rot.
Because you reach in to work on your garden and not walk in your garden, soil will not become compacted when it becomes muddy from rain or when you water. Plus your boots remain clean.
Planting Earlier
Soil warms faster in a raised bed garden so you may be able to plant earlier in the spring than you normally would. However, do keep in mind as the temperature increases and the hot days of summer arrive to water frequently when the soil becomes dry.
Design a Vegetable Garden
Now that we know some of the advantages of a raised bed garden and decide this is our garden of choice; we are ready to plan our garden design.
There are many building materials you can use such as wood, plastic (usually from recycled materials), bricks, and cinder blocks to name a few.
Wood is the most popular and my choice of material. Be careful not to use pressure treated lumber or creosoted railway ties because the chemicals used to treat the wood may leach into the soil. A good choice is cedar wood, which is also rot resistant.
Choosing Location and Size
Next, after choosing your choice of material, planning a
raised bed garden
is similar to planning a vegetable garden straight into your backyard soil.
Choose a location that gets the most sun. Vegetable plants need at least 6 hours of sunlight to grow and be healthy. Orient your raised bed garden in a north south direction so that your vegetable plants get equal amount of sunlight on both sides of your raised bed.
Planning a vegetable garden requires some thought and the same holds true for your raised bed garden. After you decide on location for your vegetable plants you need to know the size of real estate your raised bed garden will use.
An ideal measurement would be four feet wide by six feet long and a depth of between eighteen inches to twenty-four inches. These dimensions will allow you to reach any part of your garden when tending your vegetable plants, and high enough you can sit on the edge while doing your work.
To better visualize the location in your yard and the space your raised bed garden will take, use either twine, rope, or spray paint to mark out the perimeter design. Check with your local garden nursery or a garden center such as Lowes or Home Depot for building plans you can purchase.
Raised Bed Garden Types and Design
For ideas on types and design of raised beds, a great source would be landscape and garden magazines. Also, try the internet and search for companies who pre-make raised beds. You just follow the enclosed instructions from the manufacture to put it together. Some manufactures offer raised beds that interlock together without using tools and can be taken apart should you decide to move.
A few tips to keep in mind when building your raised bed garden.
If you choose a location where there is grass, remove the sod before you build your raised bed. This will eliminate any future problems of grass growing underneath your raised bed.
Filling Your Raised Bed Garden
To prevent a muddy walkway caused by heavy rainfall, dig a trench around the perimeter of your raised bed and fill with loose stone or gravel.
Fill the raised bed with rich high quality topsoil. A lightweight soil that holds nutrients and moisture, yet drains well, are essential for good results. Check with your local Nursery for advice on the best soil to use. The Nursery advisor would be happy to suggest the right fertilizer and compost for your vegetable plants, so be sure to ask and be prepared to tell the advisor what kind of vegetable plants you intend to grow. If you are not sure check back when you have made a decision.
When you fill your raised bed garden with soil, you must let it settle. This may take a few weeks or more, then add soil as needed to compensate for shrinkage. You may notice over the fall and winter the topsoil will continue to settle. This is normal, just top up with more soil.
If you are interested in building your own raised bed garden, we have an article
raised bed construction
which show you with step by step instructions including pictures how to build a raised bed.
An Alternative to a Standard Raised Bed Garden
Finally, there is one other type of raised bed garden worth mentioning called Self-Watering Containers. These are an excellent option for smaller garden space with all the benefits of a raised bed vegetable garden.
Instead of drainage holes in the bottom, this container bed is designed to have an overflow hole on the side. There is a false bottom inside the bed separating the soil from the water reservoir.
At the top of the garden bed is a plastic tube connected to the water reservoir. You fill the water reservoir via this tube and access water will flow through the overflow hole.
The idea behind this design is the roots of your vegetable plants will
grow through the holes of the false bottom to receive water nourishment and the soil at the bottom of the bed will absorb water from the holes in the false bottom.
To better visualize this concept, many people have a saucer under a flowerpot. Water placed in the saucer is absorbed or wicked up into the flowerpot soil. I am sure at one time or another we all have done this with our indoor flowers, or perhaps still do.
Anyway... This is the idea behind the design and is definitely worth considering as an option especially if you have very limited space such as only a balcony area. Self-construction kits of this design are also available from vegetable container manufactures advertising on the internet.
If you are interested in finding a manufacture who sells self-watering containers, go ahead and enter a search word in the Google "Search Box" below.
Custom Search
Build Your Raised Bed in the Fall
A good time to build your raised bed vegetable garden is during the fall. Planning a vegetable garden this way, will not only give the soil a chance to settle but will also give you a head start for planting vegetables when spring rolls around.
Before you fill your raised bed vegetable garden with topsoil and
compost,
use a fine wire mesh or gravel to prevent your soil from washing away. And if you make your own compost, be sure you do not use clippings from disease plants or vegetables from the previous year, because the spores will not be affected by the cold temperatures of winter and will be waiting to infect your new vegetable plants when spring arrives.
Now that we know how to build a raised bed garden, and if you did so over the fall months, you now have plenty of time for plannning your vegetable garden with vegetable plants you love. Be creative with your choice of vegetable plants and experiment a little.
Vegetable Plants You can Grow in a Raised Bed
If you have not done so on an earlier trip to the Nursery, check with their advisor to find out which vegetables are best suited for your zone.
Here are a few vegetable plants that come to mind you can try. Beans, beet, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, radish, salad greens, and tomatoes. As I mentioned before, check if any or all of these suggestions will thrive in your area zone.
Weeding Your Raised Bed Vegetable Garden
What is a
weed?
To many people they are different things. My take on this is simple. If I find a plant growing in my garden I don't like, I look upon it as a weed and "out it must go." I have precious space to grow my vegetables, and any intruder is not welcome!
Weeds can be a real pain. Fortunately, a raised bed garden makes it a whole lot easier to remove weeds than your traditional garden. You can cultivate the soil with a trowel to remove them, or moist the soil with a little water and remove them by hand. The soil in your raised bed vegetable garden is not that deep so there will be very little resistance when you use a trowel compared to traditional gardening.
Because your bed is only four feet wide, you can reach any part of the garden with ease and you can sit on the edge while you do your work.
These two reasons alone make a convincing argument in favor of building a raised bed garden.
The Advantages of Mulching
Even though your weeding process is a whole lot easier with a raised bed vegetable garden, there is still room for improvement by mulching. Not only does mulching dramatically reduce weed population, it also conserves soil moisture, keeping the soil at a uniform temperature and preventing soil erosion.
Insects and Fungicides
We have covered a lot of information in planning a vegetable garden, planting our vegetables, and looking after them with tender loving care. Be sure to keep a close eye on your plants for any signs of
insects
looking for a tasty treat.
In addition, when planting, leave enough room for air circulation around your plants. High humidity and moisture will encourage the development of disease on top of your plants. This is especially true of your tomato plants.
It would be a good investment of your time to check with your local Nursery advisor for advice on preventive measures for these problems.
Now it's time to sit back, relax, and enjoy your raised bed vegetable garden.
I'm sure you will be excited with your vegetable crop at the end of growing season, and receive praise from your family for a job well done.
Now that you are the shinning star of your family, why not top it off and try some of your new grown vegetables in a variety of great recipes.
I strongly recommend you click on
Sarahs Easy Soup Recipes
for some yummy recipes you and all your family will enjoy.
As always,
Happy Gardening
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Garden Planter.
This is an ideal solution to vegetable gardening if you live in an apartment with a balcony or have a patio with limited garden space.
A vegetable garden planter seen here maybe just what you need. Most types of vegetables can be grown in this planter including herbs.
If your love of gardening leans toward flowers as an added touch on your balcony or patio, then indeed plant flowers instead of vegetables. Your garden planter won't mind whatever you plant.
Soil Moisture Tester.
As any successful vegetable gardener will tell you, a soil moisture tester is a must to grow a healthy vegetable crop. How else are you going to know whether your plants have too much or too little water for their survival?
A soil moisture tester like the one to the left can be purchased at a very reasonable price and well worth the investment. They can also be purchased at any gardening store. Whatever your choice, do consider getting one for your garden.
Ready Made Raised Bed Garden
Not every vegetable gardener lives in garden heaven having perfect soil to grow their garden. For those of us not so fortunate, a raised bed garden in my opinion is a solution to poor soil.
If you are a bit of a carpenter, you can build your own raised bed, or as you can see to the left, purchase a ready made bed that you just assemble.
I have several in my garden and opted for a second tier in height.
Compost Bin to Make Rich Nutrient soil
Our "Making Compost" article gives you the information how to make your own compost and why compost is so important for your vegetables.
Another option rather than creating your own compost pile is to purchase a Compost Bin as seen at left, or you can purchase one from most garden outlet centers.
Whatever you choice, it is definitley an asset for your garden and a viable option to making your own compost pile.
Table of Contents
Beginner Gardening Growing Vegetables Confused and don't know where to start? Beginner Gardening will take the mystery out of planting your first vegetable garden
Raised Bed Vegetable Garden Do you have limited space to grow vegetables? A raised bed vegetable garden will solve this problem. You can grow healthy and tasty vegetables with less garden work than traditional garden planting.
Vertical Gardening Do you love gardening but have limited space or live in an apartment or townhouse? Then Vertical Gardening may be your answer. It's fun and it's easy to grow your own vegetable plants.
Making Compost Making Compost is easy and anyone can do it. Follow our easy to-to-do instructions and you will have excellent organic fertilizer for your vegetables.
Vegetable Seeds Why not grow your own seedlings from vegetable seeds you collect from last year's gardening.This article explains how to store seeds and when to plant them. It's fun and it's easy.
Garden Weeds Want to know how to kill garden weeds? This article covers several options both organic and chemical that you can use to destroy garden weeds
Growing Tomatoes Learn how to grow tomatoes that are tasty and delicious. If you are a beginner gardener growing tomatoes is not difficult and a great way to gain gardening experience
Vegetable Garden Tips Avoid making some of the most common garden mistakes when planting your vegetable garden. Here is a collection of handy vegetable garden tips you can use to grow a successful vegetable garden.
Vegetable Fertilizer What is the best vegetable fertilizer for your garden? Is it organic fertilizer or chemical fertilizer? Read on as we explain the pros and cons of both.
Growing Vegetables Growing vegetables can sometimes be a daunting task and frustrating when you see your plants wither and die.This article will address most of the potential problems your vegetable plants may encounter
Growing a Vegetable Garden Have an article you would like to write on growing a vegetable garden? Our beginner gardeners need your help.You can submit any article to do with gardening
Feedback about our Site Planning a Successful Vegetable Garden If you love gardening and especially if your are a beginner gardener your feedback is important to help us better develop our site for you the gardener. Please tell us what you think of our site.
Vegetable Garden Pests Do you know what kind of vegetable garden pests are lurking in your vegetable garden? Learn how to recognize the good insects from the bad ones and what you can do to rid your garden of them.
Garden Pest Aphid Control Aphid control of your vegetable garden crops can sometimes seem never ending. This article explains the damage they do to your vegetables and what you can do to protect your crops.
Garden Plant Pest Caterpillar Are caterpillars classified as a plant pest? Read more about why vegetable gardeners are not happy to have them in their vegetable garden.
Information about Ladybird Beetle The ladybird beetle helps protect your vegetable plants from invading harmful pests. This article gives you information about ladybugs and why they are so important to your vegetable crops.
Beneficial Garden Insects Lacewing Find out why beneficial garden insects like the lacewingfly are your plants best friends and how they protect your crops from invading pests.
Praying Mantids Praying Mantids or also called Praying Mantis is one of many beneficial garden insects you should have in your vegetable garden. Find out why Praying Mantids are a vegetable gardeners friend.
