Raised-bed vegetable gardens

[methusaleh]

I just came home from an excellent seminar on raised-bed gardening. My fiance encouraged me to go and I am glad I did, I just wish I could have taken notes to share with you all!

If you have not looked into this, it seems to be an extremely efficient way of raising vegetables for the average person. It is not as labor-intensive as a traditional garden, and has the added advantage of relatively less pests than conventional gardening.

The woman who led the seminar has put this program online for anyone to use to help plan a raised bed garden. I played with it a bit and it is very helpful! It is not perfect, but is a good place to start for ideas:

http://www.gardeners.com/Kitchen-Garden-Planner/kgp_home,default,pg.html

[pathfinder3081]

Thanks!! That site is the BOMB! I'm planing on (12) 2'x8' beds and was crunching numbers for the yards of top soil required, plus so many other "what fors".. Thanks for the Link.

[unswydd]

This is great! Gardening is my forte but this site is just a gem!!!!!

[herbalpagan]

I garden extensively with raised beds and I highly reccomend it! I have 10 beds that are 4'x16' and will be putting in more this year. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer what ever you have. I've been gardening in raised beds at one time or another for 20 years.:)

[slowz1k]

HerbalPagan,

I'm new to gardening, and have been planning a raised bed garden for this spring. A friend at work warned against planting certain plants near each other due to "cross polinization". Specifically, she warned about cucumbers near melons and various strains of tomatoes.(beefsteak and roma is what I'm planting) I've started my seedlings using heirlooms, and plan to harvest the seeds in the fall.

Any truth to this issue?

[oscar80]

Yeah there are some plants that help each other with bug and disease issues. Not sure whick ones do which but I can ask my sister she has been doing the organic garden thing for awhile and doing pretty good.

I would make the beds out of something that hasnt been treated. Would hate for the nasty crap in the pressure treatment to leach into your plants. I am building a raised bed here soon. I have some cedar that I am going to use I hope that is an okay woodd to use.

Dave

[herbalpagan]

HerbalPagan,

I'm new to gardening, and have been planning a raised bed garden for this spring. A friend at work warned against planting certain plants near each other due to "cross polinization". Specifically, she warned about cucumbers near melons and various strains of tomatoes.(beefsteak and roma is what I'm planting) I've started my seedlings using heirlooms, and plan to harvest the seeds in the fall.

Any truth to this issue?

I have NEVER had any problems planting those kinds of things together. HOWEVER...if you are planning to reap the seeds yourself, there is truth to that in a way. To get seeds to breed true, you will need to get "open polinated" varieties. (my suggestion is to go to an heirloom seed distributer or organic coop). Then it IS important that you keep like veg apart. For one season, these plants planted together make it convienient for you to garden, but after that, they will cross pollinate, and others that are hybrids, will revert back to the most dominant parent plant. I don't get into that, as so far, seeds are not hard to come by and I keep a stock of standard non hybrid varieties. Be aware though, that heirlooms are in the "past" for a reason many times. A prime example of that is the normal green bean...green beans were (and still are at times) called "string beans". They had a woody string down the seam and it had to be removed to make the bean palitable. Gardeners improved on this over the years, and many of the improvements are really good! Tomatoes are a good veg to have in your garden, and new varieties are resistant to the diseases that made them a "touchy" veg in the past. It does not mean that they are genetically crossed with a fish or anything (no joke), just that over years, seeds were taken from the best and strongest varieties. It's a touchy thing to many gardeners, but I think you will be fine planting things like cukes and squash and melons in the same patch for a year or two.

[Dracos]

Raised beds

I use two or three old tires stacked up to make a bed. They tend to absorb heat during the day and give it back during the night. It gives me an earlier start and a little insurance as it is not too rare to have snow in June.

[Brosia]

HerbalPagan,

I'm new to gardening, and have been planning a raised bed garden for this spring. A friend at work warned against planting certain plants near each other due to "cross polinization". Specifically, she warned about cucumbers near melons and various strains of tomatoes.(beefsteak and roma is what I'm planting) I've started my seedlings using heirlooms, and plan to harvest the seeds in the fall.

Any truth to this issue?

Companion gardening

The following are a list of the top 12 vegetables and their ideal plantingcompanions.

Beans--they like celery and cucumbers but dislike onions and fennel.

Beets--Bush beans, lettuce, onions, kohlrabi, and most members of the cabbage family are companion plants. Keep the pole beans and mustard away from them.

Cabbage--Celery, dill, onions and potatoes are good companion plants They dislike strawberries, tomatoes, and pole beans.

Carrots--Leaf lettuce, radish, onions and tomatoes are their friends, Plant dill at the opposite end of the garden.

Corn--Pumpkins, peas, beans, cucumbers and potatoes are nice companion plants, Keep the tomatoes away from them.

Cucumbers--They like corn, peas, radishes, beans and sunflowers. Cucumbers dislike aromatic herbs and potatoes so keep them away.

Lettuce--It grows especially well with onions. Strawberries carrots, radishes and cucumbers also are friends and good companion plants.

Onions--Plant them near lettuce, beets, strawberries and tomatoes but keep them away from peas and beans.

Peas--Carrots, cucumbers, corn, turnips and radishes plus beans, potatoes and aromatic herbs are their friends. Keep the peas away from onions, garlic, leek, and shallots.

Radishes--This is one vegetable that has a lot of friends, they are excellent companion plants with beets, carrots, spinach and parsnips. Radishes grow well with cucumbers and beans. It's said that summer planting near leaf lettuce makes the radishes more tender. Avoid planting radishes near cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, broccoli, kohlrabi or turnips.

Squash--Icicle radishes, cucumbers and corn are among their friends.

Tomatoes--Carrots, onions and parsley are good companion plants. Keep the cabbage and cauliflower away from them.

Sometimes plant friendships are one-sided. Carrots are said to help beans, but beans don’t reciprocate. Though beans will help nearby cucumbers.

Other plants have bad companions and you'll be doing them a favor to keep them apart. Beans and onions are natural enemies so keep them at opposite sides of the garden.

If you have a patio you might try mint to repel ants, and basil to keep the flies and mosquitoes away. Both herbs have pretty flowers and are fragrant too. Besides, they're nice to harvest and use in the kitchen. In her book, "Carrots Love Tomatoes" Louise Riotte, says getting to know good and bad companions can double the bounty of your garden. The only required work is to plan your garden planting properly.

"Carrots Love Tomatoes", Garden Way is an informative, well-illustrated guide to the subject of companion planting. The book recently reprinted was originally published under the title "Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening".

If you would like more information on the various plants to use for companion planting and natural insect and disease control, you'll find "Carrots Love Tomatoes" is available in bookstores that carry the Garden Way books.



there's plenty of websites with info, just do an internet search on "companion gardening"




I'm just going the regular garden route this year, I wasn't going to build (well, have hubby build) any raised beds, but I figured I would add more dirt and make mounds for each vegetable type.

[slowz1k]

Hey guys!
Thanks for the info concerning plant placement!!!
It was just what I needed. It's kind of funny. What started out as another one of my "whacko survivalist plans" (according to my family) has turned into a fun family project. Everyone has gotten involved and my 9 yr old daughter has taken the task of caring for the seedlings. She is very excited. We now have one more thing to pull us away from that dreaded TV.

I'll post pics once things get going.... Unless I kill all of the plants.... Then I'll just pretend it never happened.

Garden? What garden?

[methusaleh]

Sorry I'm late to respond...

As has been affirmed, yes, it's not a myth about the concerns for "companion" plants.

Also some varieties of strawberries should not be planted where they can mingle with others; I remember it being discussed at the presentation but I don't recall which species are the ones that have to be isolated.

[herbalpagan]

If I recall, it might be the day-neutral, everbearers and regular strawberries that shouldn't mix.

[shadowwalker]

I had almost two acres of gardens in TN. I converted a 100 x 90 foot garden to Raised bed. I used less water. Made the rows wide enough to get my garden tractor through to mow. Could protect from frost easier, so I could plant sooner and get two harvest of alot of things. They are easier to pick produce from, weed, rototill, use insecticides on. I loved it.

[monet861]

This is great stuff all. My wife has her seedlings just popping up and wants me to set up a small raised garden in the yard. I am using 12" wide X 1" thick knotwood. This is wood fiber mixed with resin (no chemicals can leach out, it's very stable stuff) that does not rot, ever. It is a bit more flexible than wood, but stakes (made from PVC)should take care of that. And because of work I get it at about 1/4 the price of anything else I could use.

Thanks for all the info.

[Skyowl's Wife]

LOL!

I posted some links about 3 sister gardening and companion plants somewhere here...