Raised Bed Gardening (part 3)

July 28, 2008 by dave.

The raised bed garden is doing VERY well.  As you may recall, I constructed it with scrap wood and I used a combination of compost from my town’s Transfer Station (I call it our ‘dump’).  My goal had been to have a good producing garden that didn’t require much maintenance / weeding.

Well, I’m very happy with it and am already making plans to add another section next year so I can grow more.  A few thoughts and comments:

** Next year I will plan the layout a bit better.  Example: My lettuce is pretty much gone and now I have empty space.  At the same time my cucumbers are taking over.  Perhaps next year I can design the layout so when the lettuce is used up the room left vacant will be filled by the cucumber plants.

** I will also try to spread some things out a little more.  I left plenty of room for the tomatoes (based on the package guidelines) but the plants are absolutely HUGE!

** I may also try to stagger some plantings of certain fast-growing plants.  For example….I only had spinach for about 3 weeks then it was used up or went to seed.  Next year I’ll try to plant some…wait a week and plant more….wait a week….well, you get the point.

** I have had very few weeds in the garden.  This was my biggest gripe.  I blame the good soil….I’m sure I’ll get a bit more weed infiltration next year but I’m sure it will continue to be manageable.

So in summary I got a good batch of spinach - which is already done.  I’ve been eating fresh lettuce for about 6 weeks now and probably have another week or two of ‘inventory’.  My tomato plants are HUGE and full of green tomatoes.  Some around here have already gotten red tomatoes but not me.  I do have the quantity….we just need more sun.  The carrots are doing very well.  The biggest story is the cucumbers.  I have already pulled 43 cucumbers out of the garden….and the plants are infested with buds so I’m going to get a ton more.  Check out the pictures (they are from a few weeks ago so the realize the cucumber plants have about tripled and the tomato plants are almost doubled:

 Cucumbers in foreground.  Running out of lettuce towards the back.  far back are carrots and sunflowers.

 Some lettuce.  I tried to pick it in a way to open up room….which is why it’s not neatly aligned.

This is an overview of the garden.  The smaller area in the back is a cutting garden for flowers.  On the right you can see the tomato plants.

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