Raised Veg Beds Questions

 


Hi All

I'm new to vegetable growing but are keen to get my children interested
so we
have decided to install some raised beds in our garden. We will
have two beds
and each bed will be 2.4m x 1.2m and are 30cm high. They
are on the way in
transit as I'm writing this...

Now, my questions are:

1) The beds will be placed on a lawn area. What do I do with the lawn?

2) What do I fill the beds with? I was thinking of filling at least half
with
good quality topsoiled (delivered to my door) and the rest with veg
compost,
compost made myself in my garden and some manure. Not sure if
this is correct?

3) Any suggestions as to what to grow in each bed and what goes nicely
together?
We are thinking of growing lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, patty
pan squash,
cauliflower, spring onions, raddish, onions/garlic, dwarf
french beans, chard...

4) In terms of crop rotation I have little knowledge, but I assume
whatever we
grow in a bed this year, should not be in the same bed the
next?

We will also grow some carrots in a large container, as I know they
don't like
many types of soil, and tomatoes and cucumber in
growbags...what about
courgettes, where would they be best off?

Thanks for any advice!

Kind Regards,
Cecilie




--
Ceeci

 


 Cecilie  your breaking my heart    Song from past

Make a few mistakes.

Bill

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

http://www.sheep.com/sounds/baasheep1.wav

 



Turn the lawn so the grass is faced down.


Sounds good to me. Should work as is. Some people add vermiculite to
their soil to help retain moisture (not cheap) for raised beds.
 

Patty Pan Summer Squash takes up allot of space specially the bush
varieties. Many winter vine squashes can be grown on a trellis to save
space. One bush variety squash plant can take up 1 square meter.

I suggest a salad garden concept for the beds: Lettuces, leaf Lettuces,
cherry tomatoes, radishes, celery, peppers, carrots and cucumbers.

In my opinion plant companions is an art. I tend to keep short plants
with short plants, like peppers and celery. Tall with tall, like
cucumbers next to tomatoes on trellises. Some say carrots and celery are
bad companions.


One could switch boxes from year to year for rotation.


I have never used grow bags, so I do not know much about them.

The courgettes, zucchini and squash:  In my opinion, one plant is
enough. Those plants need room. They can smother smaller plants if
planted too close.

Enjoy Life... Dan

--
Garden in Zone 5 South East Michigan.

 



Be sure you garden with them, or it will be a lot of wasted money.

Mow it or ignore it.

Whatever dirt you get, don't add more than 15% compost or manure.

Need to know where you are. How much sunshine do you get (full, partial,
number of hours).

http://www.yankeegardener.com/resource/croprotate.html

add sand to lighten the soil.

with a lot of room (greater than 10 sq. ft.) and a lot of sunlight.

Might want to checkout the following books from the library:
"Vegetable Gardener' Bible" by Edward C. Smith.
(Amazon.com product link shortened)
580172121/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid06815454&sr=1-1

"How to Grow More Vegetables" by John Jeavons
(Amazon.com product link shortened)
3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=How+to+Grow+More+Vegetables&x=0&y=0

Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web
Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis
(Amazon.com product link shortened)
/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid06815176&sr=1-1

Maybe you could do your little part in saving the planet, and garden
organically.

Each plant is its own little universe, and has its own needs and
abilities; learn about them.

And as Bill Who Putters said, don't worry about making mistakes, you
will.

Keep asking questions.

"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100119/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_arresting_activists
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/19/headlines

 




This is what I do, and have been 99% weed-free.  Wet the area thoroughly.
Lay down a couple of layers of paper (any paper will do; I use old phone
books and newspapers), or a single layer of cardboard.  Wet that really well
too.  Sprinkle a little cow poo over it to get the earthworms excited.  Then
fill it with your dirt and organic stuff.  The grass will die and rot under
the paper and make the earth richer.  You may also want to keep a layer of
paper AROUND the beds, covered with decorative mulch, just to avoid grass
creeping back in, but I admit I don't do this and rarely have any problems
with it.


You don't really have to spend a lot on dirt.  If you are doing transplants,
you can fill the beds with rough stuff like clippings and dead leaves (it
could help to mow them to chop them up a little first), and you'll do fine
just setting the plants in there, maybe with a handful of dirt or compost in
with them.  Even if you want to plant small seeds, you can dig a little
trough in the rough stuff and put some commercial dirt or compost in the
trough to plant a row with small seeds.  In a few years of refilling with
rough stuff you'll have some good, crumbly dirt and you'll only have to top
it with dead leaves and clippings every year.  (It took me about a year to
see a few inches of real soil below the mulch.)  I placed ads on Craigslist
asking people for their bagged dead leaves and got TONS of them!


You can find lists of companion planting suggestions online.  I cram my
plants in there pretty good.  I space them at least half as far as the seed
packets say to space them.  With raised beds you really can get a lot in
there.  I'd suggest planting different things is each bed...herbs under
tomatoes, onions among lettuce, beans and corn together with a pumpkin or
two among them...  It confuses the critters!


Right.  Also, when you plan to have a high feeder growing next year, be sure
to plant a legume the previous year.  So if you know where you want to plant
corn next year, grow beans there this year.  Look up crop rotations online
to find some good info on cycling the types of vegetables you grow.
--S.