Friday Finds: Raise It Up

This Friday is dedicated to raised gardening.  A raised garden, is a garden that is built on top of the ground not in the ground.  Sometimes the soil that is already there is used and sometimes it is not.   It depends on your preference and the soil you have.  There are so many different ideas on raised garden beds.  Some are for decorative purposes, some are for those who have back pain, there some for teeny tiny yards, some for huge yards, some build them because they have terrible soil.  There is something for everyone.  You can make them small or big.  Or buy them ready to go.  You can have legs on them or on the ground.  High end or from old 2x4's.  For flowers, or vegetables, or both.  You can make it however your little heart desires.

From Scenery Solutions

Raised Bed Vegetable Gardens Colleen Vanderlinden

I am making a raised bed garden for a couple of reasons.  1. We rent.  I didn't want to tear up the yard and invest a lot of money into something I couldn't take with me if we were ever to leave this house.  2. I have little ones 3. I don't have a ton of time on my hands to take care of a big garden.

There are loads and loads of websites and books out there on raised bed gardening.  You could possibly go mad with all of the information.  Whoa, information overload.  I just want something super simple that a mom of 3 can take care of by herself.  What I have come up with is a conglomeration of a lot of different ideas.

I really like is a trough bed design from hex2006 on gardenweb.com Check it out: Raised Salad Box Design.

Trough Bed from Hex2006 on gardenweb.com

If you go to the site and read about this design you will find that you can conserve water from run off.  It is also at a nice height so you aren't hurting your back.  the plants are able to breathe really well, so as to promote growth.  You can make this as big or little as you like.  It will not damage the ground it sits on much, if at all.

I also like Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Garden.

Square Foot Garden

Creating sections within the trough bed would work great! Here is an example of the square foot garden you can order from Mel's site or make yourself.  He states you can "grow more in less space,"  with his method.  Reading his book, I am becoming a believer.  He says you can plant 4 plants per square foot.  He found that a little old lady and a big hefty man could both easily reach 2 ft.  So making a 4 ft. x 4 ft. garden area, that you can walk completely around without walking on, was the best solution.  After selling more than 2 million copies, I think this man has this down to a science.

To grow carrots, Mel suggests to build a 1x1 square ft. box that is 6-12 in. tall out of plywood.  Because carrots need deep soil.  Along with carrots, I would like to have romaine lettuce, spinach, oregano, basil, red and green pepper, onion, & Roma tomato.

Even Oprah has a thought on raised gardening.  She has a blog on Oprah.com called The Dirt.  Okay so it is her gardening club.  I don't really see Oprah having too much time to garden.  But you never know.

To do raised gardening you need to:

1. Find a good sunny location
2. Make sure you do not choose a location that floods
3. Decide the size of space you can take care of
4. Construct your bed - make sure it is level
5. Fill the bed with good topsoil and compost
6. Get in and get dirty with your plants!

Why Raise It Up?

• Raised beds warm more quickly in spring, allowing you to work the soil and plant earlier.
• Raised beds drain better.
• The soil in raised beds doesn't get compacted, because they are constructed with accessibility in mind.
• It's easy to tailor the soil for your raised bed to the plants you plan to grow there.
• After the initial construction process, raised beds require less maintenance than conventional garden beds.

Some websites to ponder over

• http://www.raisedgardenbeds.info/
• http://www.squarefootgardening.org/
• http://groundbreakingtips.com
• http://forums2.gardenweb.com
• http://www.oprah.com/home/The-Gardening-Club-The-Dirt

I hope that you have fun raising it up!

Please let me know what you think or what kind of gardening you will be doing this season!

DISCLAIMER - My thoughts and ideas are for information purposes only. This information is in no way meant to guarantee results, although I hope it does. :-)