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Firefyter-Emt

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
This year, I am debating adding raised bed gardens along one side of my garden (along the 50' length) with a gate in the center. Down the road I might even make two rows with walkways down the middle of them.

Does anyone else have some raised bed gardens added in around a traditional garden? I don't really want to give up my traditional garden, but would like the benefit of some raised bed gardens for some crops. (My main garden is 25' x 50')
 
#3 ·
Used both techniques last season, and will only be using raised beds from now on. My native soil is extremely rocky and just to difficult to grow anything but corn due to the volume of rock, any tillage after planting just takes out the plants, weed control is limited to mowing between rows for the most part,,, just to much of a hassle. The raised beds are a better solution for me, I can grow just about anything and dont have to deal with the stones. It was a little work to get the beds built and filled with soil mix but much more enjoyable and more productive in my opinion. Yes if your one that needs to use the tractor your not gonna like em, just about all the work is done by hand, no need for equipment other than hand tools. I have 56' of 3' wide beds and might add a few more feet this year.

Heres a link to my raised beds in production last year, check out the sweet corn,, 72 plants in a 3'x6' area, ended up with 52 ears.

http://s618.photobucket.com/albums/tt264/js5020d/Garden 2009/Raised beds 2009/
 
#4 ·
I love raised beds. Have been ussing them for years. I also use rows with multiple rows planted in a tilled strip(troy bilt wide) with grass in between that is a mower width wide. here is a link to my 09 garden.

http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=78134
 
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Discussion starter · #7 ·
Thanks for the photos guys.... I did forget to mention that I will be doing more wide row gardening this year. I did that with my bush beans and it really worked well.

I am also debating adding a rabbit house on one end of the raised bed system with a drop pit under the cage and the open side facing the garden. My daughter has been begging for a bunny, and it might be a good place to put the pen. Because the manure is cold, it can be raked out into the garden and spread where needed. No mess, no fuss, and self contained. I wish I had put that thought into the chicken coop, I would of tried to work them into the garden plan better.
 
#8 ·
For my first year of a garden a Combo of raised and regular worked for me - will expand both this coming year. It's chilly in the Cascade foothills, so having hoops on the boxes gets me started a bit sooner. Looking at building the tiered style for Hood strawberries.
 

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Discussion starter · #10 ·
Hey Sheila, you just gave me a great idea for the ends of my garden where I want to place the raised beds! I think one of those tiered boxes on each end (a left and right side design) would look great! Do you have any thoughts about covering to keep the birds out?

The hoop frames, and even maybe an add on cold frame cap are all things I have been thinking that the raised beds will help with.

I have a very nicely restored 8hp Troy-bilt tiller that was my dad's and I love using it, so I hate to fully give up the traditional bed. (The tiller is on my website below btw)
 
#11 ·
I also mulch everything, no weeding to speak of, moisture control, no dirt on beans, etc.. I use mostly "aged" sawdust, as that's available to me free for the hauling. Many things will work, chopped leaves, old (black & white) newsprint, pretty much whatever you have (don't use grass clippings if you use herbicides on your yard). Working the mulch in at the end of the season improves the soil also! ~~ grnspot110
 
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Discussion starter · #12 ·
You know, I was thinking about that fine coco mulch last year... any thoughts? It looks like it would break down pretty fast. With all the rain, the weeds killed me last year, I just could not keep up with them. This year I will be using some plastic film too. I might even try that red stuff they sell for the 'maters.
 
#13 ·
sweet sweet sweet sweet! I'm NOT the only one out there that does raised beds!

I'm in my 30's and I grew up gardening on raised beds. 3 acres of raised beds. It's all I've ever done. Yes there is a bit more to do as far as work load, but it's only at the start and end of the season. Here's the system my folks put together after almost 20 years of doing beds:

year one: bust up the sod/soil real well (usually with a plow& disk) once the soil is "plantable" it's formed into beds. beds are 3 feet wide, and about 18 to 20 inches tall, and 4 feet apart. the 4 foot distance is key to the process and maintainence during the growin season. (spaced apart to allow a garden tractor to pass between the rows, and other machinery)

****set aside a 10'x10' area to make a compost pile this year..for the years to come. add to it as soon as you can

at the end of year one, after harvest-- what was the walkway between beds now gets a layer of straw/hay/grass trimmings...somethin. followed by a 1 or 2 inch layer of manure. I use horse pucky, aged a few years is best. Poultry or cow is a little better as far as "hotness" goes...but make sure it's old crap ;)

** FLIP one bed into the walkway and conver your crap & straw layer. this can be a lot of work if done manually, but if you know what you are doing with a plow, this is quick work.

year 2: tidy up the hills/beds you flipped onto the old walkway--last year's bed is now this year's walkway. after dressing the beds up, hit em with a walk behind rototiller or, if you have a lawn tractor and pull behind tiller, use that. one the bed is set, plant away!

at the end of the season, lay down your straw and crap on the walkway, and flip the beds again like you did the year before. This pattern is repeated every year; previous walkway becomes new bedspace.

Every few years: we need to level the ground, and run our beds 90 degrees from the direction they ran. so if 2 years the beds ran north to south, the next couple years they run east to west.

This whole process builds soil volume and nutrition. I don't ever weed the walkways. Focus on the middle of the bed sides, the crowns, and the tops. You will notice after the 3rd year that this becomes really really simple. The first 2 years weeding will be a pain..but after 3 it's almost weedless :drunkie:

We actually used to let the grass grow in the walkways--if it happened to decide to grow that is. And since the beds wer far enough apart we actually mowed it with the rest of the lawn.
 
#14 ·
Here are some other tricks we developed over the years:

Compost tea-- take apair of old jeans, tie the cuffs shut and fill em with compost & a lil bit of soil. Once full, use a rope and the belt loops to tie the pants closed, then dunk em in water--we used a 200 gallon water trough or a 50 gallon barrel. Let em sit in the water for a day or 2 (this WILL get ripe and smell) use it like any normal water-based fertilizer. be amazed at how corn and tomatoes thrive on this stuff!

once the compost bed is useable, make use of it! Liberally!

Corn, once a foot or more tall loves a half inch of horse manure applied to root area..Keep about a 1 or 2 inch space from the stalks when applying...try this and count how many ears you get off each plant at harvest ;) (we'd get an average of 3--I'm NOT tellin lies)

Set up tall --VERY tall trellisses for your peas & beans. You will need it.
( our peas would climb up 12 feet or more. up, down, and back up over our 4 foot fences we set up )

no matter how tempting, **never** plant tomatoes in the same soil as the previous 2 years. keep em moving. if you plant in the same spot too often you will get a nasty case of blight or mildew...and that never likes to leave the soil--and it spreads like wildfire. basic and religous plant/crop rotation is your best fight against troubles :)
 
#15 ·
tips continued:

leave your carrots and sprouts in till after the first hard frost. that first hard frost is like a layer of sugar given by nature! you will find your veggies have a much better flavor this way

also, the day before you harvest your corn, take a thin rod, or a somethin like a toothpick, and poke it in your cornstalk, at the base of the plant. Try for about 8 inches from the ground-- this shocks the plant into super-sugar'n the food :)

tomatoes: pinch off the suckers--the lil buds that seem to form at the forks of the plant. this makes stronger stems and branches and forces the plant to focus on fruit production. **don't pinch flowers!, just the new stems

**nasturiums!! Plant these things EVERYwhere! they attract pollinators, and are sacrificial for pest control--got those white butterflies on your cabbage? nasturs are great for keepin them distracted from your cabbies

We would plant the outter perimiter of the gardens with onions and marrigolds --this kept a lot of the animal pests out. (not all of the animals..but most of the smaller ones)

being typical boys, my brother and I used to go to the swamp every so often and catch a bucket of frogs and turn em loose in the gardens. It never stopped to amaze us that they stuck around--eatin pests and spooking our mom as she walked the gardens....hehehe..

We even set up water ponds using buckets and rocks in places throughout the gardens to keep em around--minnows or goldfish in the ponds kept them mosquito free!

We never used fertilizers or chemicals in our gardens, and we always, always had surplus to share with others
 
#16 ·
Last year I had one raised bed at the front of our "traditional" garden. This year I'm hoping for five more, all down one side. Corn, the "vining veggies", and taters will go in the ground, everything else is in the raised beds. My raised beds are 4'x12' and spacing will be about 7' between them to get even our biggest mower through. So much less weeding!
 
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Discussion starter · #18 ·
They vary, but most are made from 2x6 and two boards high. The idea is to keep them compact, say 24" to 48" wide and anywhere from 48" long to 8'. If laying out many rows of raised beds, I think 24" to 36" by 8' works nice. For a smaller area, maybe 48" x 48". The idea is being able to access all the way around the bed.
Plus, many crops grow so much better in bunched blocks like this. Take bush beans for example. A 24" x 84" bed will allow the beans to shade the ground, block the sun to slow weeds, and keep the soil wet on top of that, the "block" method will allow more natural support to the plants. Crops like carrots can have the same bed with a custom mixed soil that is very loose to allow the carrots to grow better.

You also can solve the problem of packing the dirt around the plants when walking in the garden... in fact, lay down nice beds of mulch, trap rock... heck pave it with bricks if you have more money than brains!

PS, for cold areas, simple cold frames / green-house, hoop house type frames can be made to attach to the raised bed to lengthen the growing season.
 
Discussion starter · #20 ·
Looks like a great start at the new house, are you planning to make it bigger as the time goes on? I also love the old layout!

What did you have on the tri-pod trellis? It looks like a mix of squash and beans?
 
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