Raised Bed Vegetable Gardening

In my 30 years of Vegetable Gardening I have always used the basic growing technique of rows and mounds for growing my vegetables. I have always practiced organic growing and no pesticides. I never before in my life tried this method of gardening vegetables called "Raised Bed" until this year. I had read a book over the winter months leading into the Spring of 2004 by Edward C. Smith, titled: "The Vegetable Gardener's Bible". I had the most abundant Vegetable Garden ever in my life. Not one vegetable failed to produce. In fact I planted Vegetables that I never planted before just to test out this method of Gardening. In my area, the season is very short. Our growing season here in Massachusetts is at best from June - October with the need to start plants indoors. I am so happy about my crop this year that I wanted to pass on this information to the home gardener. Eggplant in my area (Burlington, MA) is one of the hardest plants to grow and produce. Most fail to produce, so I'm using this photo out of all my plants as an example of how this growing method really worked more the just well. Here is a picture of just one of many eggplants grown in 2004, taken on 9/11. I will write next about how I followed and built my "Raised Bed Garden". You can also visit my web at: Http://www.gardening101usa.com - Ed Turner

The only way to grow as far as I'm concerned.
I originally started raised bed gardening when I moved to Colorado because of the horrible clay (adobe really) soil I had in my garden area. Having to use a pickaxe is not my favorite way to garden, lol!! Easier to create a few well ammended raised beds each year and much, much eashier on my back.
Here I've got a mere 100 days growing season if I'm lucky especially at 8500'.
Nice job in the garden Ed!!

Nice website you got there, Ed! Looks good!

Great pics, too!

I'm having a raised garden built this winter - nice to hear all the positive feedback! I may just go ahead and make it larger than I'd intended!

Ed. . .Have gardened both ways and really like the raised bed method. . .had excellent success with it. Very nice website. . .bookmarked it to take a look at in more detail on a foggy day when I'm planning for next spring.

I did an experiment in this raised bed. . .showing benefits of using compost vs. no compost (no contest. .LOL) Far 1/3 of bed was 100% compost, middle 1/3 was 50/50 compost/soil and 1/3 of bed closest to camera was 100% soil. Half of each section also had fertilizer added. The results on all crops (this was taken late in the season) was readily apparent. However, the fertilizer made no difference in each section except slightly in the 100% dirt section. Identical plants were put in each section. The 100% compost peppers, zucchini, corn, and basil were 1/3 to 1/2 larger than the other 2 sections and produced heavily by comparison and at this moment are loaded with peppers after producing heavily all summer. Had to stake some branches a few days ago because of the weight of the crop after temperature dropped out of the 100's here.

Sequee. . you'll probably use every inch of what you prepare. . .some advantages I've enjoyed. . easier on the back for one thing and soil compaction is less with paths between the beds. . .lends itself to 'Square Foot' method of veggie gardening. . .just to name a few. Janet

Funny, I was just out there pacing it off, I'd intended to do an 8'x10' area, but I think I can increase it to about 12'x16' without any problem. It will certainly be fun to plan out next Spring, especially since I've been learning a bit about companion gardening.

Do you "grow" your own compost or buy commercial? This will be my first attempt at composting, too! I'm going to try my hand at some flowers, too. (Now just look at what DG has done to me!)

Thanks for all the info guys!

Janice I prefer to make raised beds nomore than four or five feet wide so I don't walk and compact the soil eaiser to weed to because you don't have to bend so far. All in all you can prolly plant more stuff in a bigger area but either way raised beds are great I plant 55 lettuce in a four by twelve or 18 broc or cabage or cauli easy to water with a wand without spraying the plants to.

Stick around DG isn't done where is the hoop house for tomatoes going lol Ernie

So, maybe I'd be better off with (2) 5'x16' with a 2 foot path in between? The guys are going to place the flat, punctured hoses along the borders and rows within the beds. That way I just need to hook-up the hose to the fitting and they will water the base of the plants/roots.

Janet, what are the dimensions on your bed?

Me too for the narrower beds.
I'm short so my beds are no more than 4' wide. Otherwise it's just too much of a stretch to get to the middle. Some were plenty long tho-32 feet!! I had a 3' path between to accomodate overloaded wheelbarrows....

Can you guess that I'm a big advocate of raised bed gardening? Been doing it for many years. I'd like to make some observations:

I've found that 4' is the best bed width for me because I can easily reach to the center of the bed.

The space between the beds is 24". This makes for easy walking and allows me to mow between the beds.

One of my beds is 41" wide because that was the optimum width for installing steel hoops. I drilled holes every 6" along the top of the sides into which I insert the hoops. I cover them with clear plasic in the early spring to make a cloche for starting early crops like lettuce and brocolli. Later, I replace the plastic with Remay. Frustrates lots of flying pests.

I work my beds with a Mantis tiller. It is perfect for the job.

And as everybody has observed - compost, compost, compost.

Yes two to three feet between is a good thing especially if you are as unstable as I am these days. I will be destroying one maybe two because I cheated and only have 18 inches betwee and that is just plain un comfortable to work around.I do the row cover by bending a 1/2 inch pvc pipe over the top on 48 inch centers and holding it down with two two hole conduit straps each .side. Lots of ways to do this not many reasons not to do it. BTW the drip irragation is a nice touch you will enjoy that feature. Ernie

4 Feet (which pretty much seems to be the consensus) on all my raised beds, though not all of them are as deep as the one pictured. But I have dug down deeper into the soil in those that are shallower. If you have to walk in them, kinda ruins alot of the benefits. ;-D Janet

eweed -- What is the name of those good lookin maters?

Oh, boy! I'm finally going to be able to give the Mantis a work out!

Raised beds also work better for Sweet Potato, the vines can hang down the sides and be cut off for greens, before they reach the ground and start to root, also it is easy to use a row cover to get warmer temps in the bed early in the season, and this all means bigger, better, Earlier, and more, Sweet Potatoes.

Well, I have written about the "Raised Beds" I built and have placed some pictures of the Vegetable Garden on the website as well. I have noticed one thing that maybe others would like to comment on. I bought Ferry Morse seed for 2004 growing and in the past I had been a true to heart advocate of Burpee Seeds but had alot of trouble with the seeds. I noted about 35% of the time the seeds did not germintate and replantings were more frequent over the last few years. I used Ferry Morse Seeds this year and I noted that all my indoor starts propagated with only one eggplant seed out of all my plants not germinating. This was for me 99.9% success rate. Has anyone else noted any differences in "seed" from Burpee?

www.gardening101usa.com - Ed Turner

Ed, I had some low germination rates with some seed. . the fault being it was borderline on the age scale. . have not had problem per se with Burpee. A colleague recently indicated he'd had some problems with another co.'s seed germination rates, but not Burpee.

Here is a list of the seeds I started this yearand their germination rates. All but one came from Burpee. I used heat boxes I built using plans that Paulgrow posted. See
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/182057/

Tomato, Big Beef - 100%
Tomato, Juliet - 100%
Pepper, Early Sunsation - 100%
Pepper, Big Red - 100%
Pepper, Jalapeno from seeds I collected - 50%
Parsely, Single Italian - 80%
Sweet Basil - 90%
Lettuce, Little Caesar - 70%
Lettuce, Bibb - 50%
Cosmos, Sonata Mixed - 100%
Vinca, Santa Fe Salmon - 90%
Vinca, Arizona Mix - 80%
Zinnia, Cut and Come Again - 100%

Not too bad IMHO

Tplant left to right Prudens Purple and Rose

R Bob I get way higher lettuce percentages since I quit the bottom heat after a commerical truck farmer told me lettuce will not germ well that way. He told me all his lettuce starts are done in a cool room . I don't remember but I think he said 70 degrees produces 50 percent or less. I know my rates soared after I turned the heat mats off. Ernie

Nice tip Ernie. Alot of people make the mistake of treating Lettuce, Cabbage, Broccoli, and Cauliflower starts the way they would Tomatoes. Knowing some plants produce better in a cooler enviroment is the key to success in growing compared to plants that love the warmth. I keep it simple, low to the ground plants love cooler weather and plants that grow tall such as Eggplant, Corn, Peppers and Tomatoes like it warm. I will write an article about this on my website as it makes a world of difference for successful Vegetable Growing. For those interested in my Burpee Seed comment. I always buy new seed each season as I want the very best chances of growing.

Ed: Thanks for info. I've been very successful with tomatoes, peppers and ep's, but have been a disaster with greens. Now I know why!

Ed. . .I agree with you on both accounts. . planting right kind of veggies. . .warm, cool very important and have really learned from experience to get fresh seed each year. If I go to all the trouble to compost, rotate, etc., would like to see success with the seeds I plant the first time (provided the fresh seed is viable. .LOL) and not have to go back and reseed several times to get enough plants for my beds.

I don't worry so much about the viability. I start the seeds in the house, VERY early, so generally have plenty of time to do a second set if need be. I understand there is a lower germination rate for home collected seed than for commercial, so I always plant extras in that case. It does frustrate my frugal self to have a low germination rate on fresh purchased seeds, though. So far I've only had that happen with seeds from American Seed.

Once I set them outside, though, I do get freaky when then don't take off. I'm pretty sure my problem with greens has been that I've been treating them like tomatoes. We'll see how I do going forward with this new info.!

"I understand there is a lower germination rate for home collected seed than for commercial, so I always plant extras in that case."

No offense meant, Sequee, but I've been "home collecting" seed for over 20 years now and find just the opposite is true. I guess though that it may be due to having more familiarity with seed gathering/growing/harvesting, etc.

The only reason I can see why people want to purchase commercial seed each year is if you want to grow hybrids OR because it is much more convenient than saving certain types of seed (for example if you're worried about cross pollination of some of the easily-crossed plants like melons/gourds/cukes/peppers, etc). Besides, many seeds, home-saved or commercial, when stored properly will retain a fantastically high germ rate. (I bet ya'll just discovered what a miser I am, eh? Another reason I don't buy seed each year! ;>)

Sequee, I'm sure you'll be happy with the results. American Seed Company, well I can attest to that some ten years ago. I bought their seeds and was totally disappointed with my garden as the best I got was Green Beans. Even the Wax Beans did lousy, so I can relate to that. I somtimes wonder if seed companies get bad seasons with a few varieties, but I really question them when most of my crops don't even show at all considering I plant so many types of vegetables. I have been very fond of Ferry Morse Seeds and found that in order to get the ones you want for specific plants you have to mail order. I used to trust the local stores but sometimes they would have three Watermelon types but not the one I'm looking for. I also found that if you don't place your order early enough the seeds for that season may be gone. I had this happen this past season so I tried to get the varity I wanted by a seed company called New England Seed and I tried them on a few of my desired planttings that I just could not go without., one of them being "Black Beauty Eggplant". Ferry Morse had sold out on it, but I got them and tried them and I am very happy with this seed company too, so far. I was astounded how within a week they were 1 and a half inches tall from time of planting (view starter plants) www.gardening101usa.com/vegetable/indoor/starter_2.html and my first picked picture was in the beginning of this forum. Of course more pictures to my website are being added as I have time to do so.

Horshoe, I agree that the home collected seeds are just as good as the commercial. The problem is with chosing the seeds and handling them with most gardeners. Occasionally seeds from a home collected plant will fail without reason no matter what is done. I learned at a very young age from my Dad who still at 74 turns over his garden by hand and grows almost anything you can think of. He once gave me seeds from his prized, largest and healthy Blue Hubbard Squash and not a one out of 50 sprouted. Fortunately he also saved some from another entirely differnt grown plant and they did very well. All the seeds were processed the same as he had always done. Gardeners not familiar with collecting, selecting, processing, and storing seeds from there gardens should take some time in reading and experimenting with there own plants and still plant seeds they buy as a back up as they learn. I used to collect my own, but have not had the time in the past to do so, (except this past season) and the ease of purchase is most times risk free and less worrysome. I collected and processed all my seeds this season. It is funny this subject came up as I have been putting together a paper on seed collecting. I can't say when it will hit my website as I am trying to be detailed from my own experiences. But I will let all who are interested know when I post it. Thank you for the Garden compliment...I just added pictures from June and am working on July presently.

That's good info and I'm delighted to know that "home collected" is just as good. This is my first year seeds collect (ok - seed collecting THE RIGHT WAY) and I've been very nervous. I dabbled a bit last year, but didn't know about fermenting or about hybrids vs OP's, and I only got germination from 2 out of 20... Definitely "operator error" in my case. I've heard others say home collected is less reliable, but I'n sure's right - it depends on the expertise of the collector. (I have to admit to having no REAL fear in this arena - I've been trading like a demon! I do put a disclaimer on all of my specialty seeds that they are NOT viability tested and I do not vouch for their viability. Since I've never offered them and have only passed them around to those who have solicited me for them, I feel comfortable with that and am begging everyone who tries my seeds to report back to me! Why waste time collecting, drying, and storing if you're not going to learn from the experience and grow into a shoe?

PS - I planted my first set of "winter garden" seeds and I'm relieved to note that I'm getting germination from "my own" seeds - whew!

How true, Ed! On occasion home collected seeds will definitely thumb their noses at you, but then again so do commercial seeds, eh?

By the way, I would recommend in your seed saving article to include how important it is to choose seed from several plants in ensure success. For example, if you're saving seed of X variety of tomato then be sure to save the seed from different tomatoes of that variety (and from different plants of that variety, if possible). By not doing so it's very easy to end up with your Dad's hubbard squash scenario...either zilch, or perhaps an untrue variety (cross).

Sure do enjoy your pics on your website! Keep up the good work!
Will be looking forward to your seed article also!

Ed. . .Please post on this forum when you finish the 'seed collecting' paper. There's already alot of interesting stuff to read on your site when the fog sets in here. . .but I don't want to miss that. When do you find the time to work on a web site. . .do you ever sleep?? LOL

Shoe. . .I'm using up alot of seed that has a few years on it, but has been stored properly. . .I just add a few extra seeds to make up for those that aren't viable. Hate to throw seed out. . not a thing wrong with being miserly. . .then you can spend on something else you really want. ;-D Janet

Sequee, guess I missed your post above (we musta been posting at the same time).

Good to hear you are having great results from your seed. (Sure is fun, eh!?)

As for "operator error" (one of my most favorite terms! yay!), I've been operating for a long time and errors still pop up here and there. It's just a part of life. (Even though we've been walking for many years we all still stub our toes on occasion....operator error?!) ;>)
( By the way, Sequee, what didja plant in your winter garden? Right now I have turnip salad coming up nicely, and clover, for over-wintering. The other stuff in the garden came from plants I set out...cabbage, collards, brocolli.)

Janet, ten-four on being miserly! It opens up a whole new world, eh?

I do the same as you...when I worry about germination rates then plant extra. Often-times I'll do a germ test on some things; very helpful to do (and keeps me occupied during slow boring days).

Sure enjoy this thread. See ya'll when I come back later!

This thread is proof positive of what DG is all about (even though we did get off the original subject just a bit), I'll not be starting my lettuce seeds on the heat box next Spring!

Getting back on the original subject....hmmmm, over winter gardening, INDOOR Simulated Raised Bed Garden. I going out on the limb with this one. I have pondered for a number of years of how would it work out if I bought some 1x1x3 Patio troffs and tried growing an indoor simulated raised bed garden of Salad Crops? We have an addition on the house that is not used and is furnished but too expensive to heat with electric base board. I have monitored the temps in this all glass sliding window room (facing south) that gets plenty of sunshine and at night never falls below 50. My girlfriend is going to think I'm out of my mind but we can't over winter garden here in Massachusetts, so I'm really contimplating trying four or five of these containers in that room and growing Romaine, scallions, chard, arugula and some mixed herbs. Just goes to show how much I love my gardening and miss it all too much over the winter. Any takers on comments about this idea?

Also have place May, June and July Raised Bed Garden Pics on my website, picutres taken weekly so all can get an idea of growth to maturity aspects in a better light. I have even learned some things when viwing these as I have learned how I can manage better my planting intervals as well as I have learned the difference in the taste of salad greens when young and tender as opposed to fully matured they can get a bit bitter. Namely Chards, Arugula and Romaines. See title under photos called Vegetable Garden 2004. I will be placing August and Septembers photos there over this weekend.

www.gardening101usa.com

This message was edited Oct 15, 2004 10:08 AM

This message was edited Oct 15, 2004 10:16 AM

My first thought was sufficient light. Even though the sun shines in, the length of good daylight may not be long enough without added hours from artificial lighting i.e. 'grow lights'. . .which shouldn't be too difficult to solve. But sounds like a great project to keep your thumb 'green' through the winter (and some fresh greens to eat to boot). . .without too much investment. . .and you'll know whether to do it again the next year. ;-D Janet

Hmmmm, over winter gardening. I going out on the limb with this one. I have pondered for a number of years of how would it work out if I bought some 1x1x3 Patio troffs and tried growing an indoor simulated raised bed garden of Salad Crops? We have an addition on the house that is not used and is furnished but too expensive to heat with electric base board. I have monitored the temps in this all glass sliding window room (facing south) that gets plenty of sunshine and at night never falls below 50. My girlfriend is going to think I'm out of my mind but we can't over winter garden here in Massachusetts, so I'm really contimplating trying four of these containers in that room and growing Romaine, scallions, chard, arugula and some mixed herbs. Just goes to show how much I love my gardening and miss it all too much over the winter. Any takers on comments about this idea?

Great thread, enjoyed it muchly. I have been using some raised beds for several years, and agree that the 4 ft. width is best. I make my own compost, but can't make it as fast as I use it. have 5 compost beds going now, none smaller than 3 x 3 ft. A couple are 4 x 8 . But being 78 years old, I do it the easy way, slow but still good compost. No turning. I do have one tumbler type that is much fast when I remember to turn it!! There is not much winter gardening here in zone 5.

I don't save my own seed, but do save seed I buy from year to year. I only buy seed by mail. Jungs, Territorial, Stokes, Totally Tomatoes, Cooks Garden and others.

Ted, I could not get your web page when using Google, said page not available, but using your hyperlink worked fine. Nice web site , great pictures and good info. Donna

G101. . .I read your post and posted a response. . .the one above yours LOL. . .go figure?? Maybe something to do with time zone differences. ?? Janet

101 I'm thinking that would be a perfect setting for greens. Last year I did tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and herbs - the animals were delighted because the little buggers had fresh greens all winter! The eggplant and peppers did fairly well, but the tomato plants, while growing nicely, didn't produce until I put them outside in April, which was still ok as I was way ahead of the game. My sunroom does have heat, though, and I keep it pretty much at 60 - 63 degrees. I also keep shop lights, or in some cases just a low floor lamp close to the seedlings as they grow.

I'm not growing too much this year. Thanks to some very generous DG'ers, I'm already half full with cuttings and plants! I'm actually doing 3 areas this winter: There's a HUGE south facing bay window at the Adult Day Care Center where I started a gardening program, my sunroom at home, and a vacant office across from me at work that has a corner with floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides. So I decided to do an experiment. First tomatoes: I've ordered 3 seedlings and I'm started 6 from seed - 3 from commercial seeds and 3 from collected seeds. Each area will get one of each. We also have an extensive herb garden started at the ADC and I have 4 kinds of basil, rosemary, catnip, and catmint at home. I also have a few surprises I've started. I was separating/packaging seeds for trades, and when I got up there were half a dozen seeds on the floor. Of course I stuck them in soil - and they are germinating... How fun will this be? I also brought in the MS5 Cherry Tomato plant since it still has dozens of lowers and equally as many green tomatoes on it. (Funny thing about this plant? I started it from seed indoors last November!)

Then there's the suckers...how could I resisit 6-8" suckers? If they grow - cool; if not - still a fun experiment. Shall be interesting, at the very least. I've also planted a large, flat container of grass seed, in hopes that the critters will find those more interesting than the seedlings (please, oh please, oh please!).

Will send pix as things develop!

Sequee. . .Wow! Neat projects. . .will be interesting to see how those 3 comparison plantings turn out. I did one I posted earlier in this thread comparing growth w/ and w/o compost. It was at an experimental garden where my area is the vegetable garden. I'm always looking for experimental ideas to show the public what works best. Open to any suggestions some of you might have. Then I can start planning for a bed or two in the spring. One of my predecessors did a 'solarization' experiment in one of the raised beds. Sounds like your critters will be satisfied either way. . (the two-legged ones too!) ;-D Janet

Poor little doggie was being baddogdmmit this morning and I had to lock him in the sunroom when I left - I may have NOTHING salvagable when I get home this afternoon!

In one of my posts I mentioned Yams. They are nearly impossible to grow here as they need full sun and are grown in the tropics. Of course I pay no mind to where plants are grown, just the timing to produce the crop. Yams are not Sweet Potatoes. They are a seperate sweet vegetable. Some will call them seedless fruits. So if your in a winter zone, you can try this as I am doing presently. Figure backwards from maturity a Yams growth plus 5 weeks prior to your soil being in the 60 degree range and start them in a deep Troff Container or several containers 1x3x3 in feet. Keep these warm and moist but let them dry every so often. When it comes time transplant them into your raised beds. Be sure to cover on cool nights below 60. I buy my yams this thim of year at the grocer as I would good hardy potatoes. I look for alot of root still intact. I start them like you would an avacado just a week so in a bit of water so as to stimulate a new root growth or liven up an existing one. Make sure the Yams are off the fresh produce area and not the refrigerated area. Once chilled they don't do so well. I eat the rest of the plant, hey thats what is so fun about it. I get a taste, jar some or freeze some, and I grow my own. Getting your own to reproduce year after year from the previous year is also quite exciting. Thank you all for your postings, they are all great and a thrill to learn from and share ideas. This is awsome.