Get the most out of your raised garden by keeping the plants spaced enough to reach their mature size.
Photo courtesy MelindaMyers.com
Raised beds and raised gardens facilitate access to gardens and can increase the space for growing vegetables and flowers. You will enjoy convenience and easy access when you include one or more in your landscape or on your patio, deck or balcony.
Proper care of these raised planting areas will ensure the greatest possible harvest and a vegetation period filled with beautiful flowers. Adapting planting strategies and care to the needs of these unique grow spaces can help reduce maintenance.
It starts with creating and maintaining a healthy growing foundation. Fill your raised beds with a high quality planting mix, which consists mainly of topsoil and compost. Or create your own plant mix using lasagna and hill culture techniques. These methods allow you to convert plant debris, compost, and a minimal amount of soil into a high quality planting mix.
Raised gardens are basically containers on legs and usually filled with a high quality, soilless planting mix. The lower weight makes it much more suitable for this type of gardening. Look for a product that provides drainage while still retaining moisture. Both traits are important when gardening in smaller amounts of soil.
Make sure you have easy access to water and that any excess water in your gardens can drain away. The limited soil mass and increased exposure to wind, heat and sunlight allow plant mixtures to dry out faster than in soil beds. Always water thoroughly to encourage deeper, more drought tolerant roots.
Extend the time between waterings by up to 25% with a sustainable organic product like wool pellets from Wild Valley Farms (wildvalleyfarms.com). These pellets, made from wool waste, absorb and store moisture and release it to the plants when needed.
Buy a raised yard with wheels or add castors on the legs if you need to get your yard out of the way for entertainment. Take advantage of the extra mobility to bring your planter in the sun or shade as needed throughout the season.
Use space-saving techniques to maximize your garden’s productivity. Space plants just far enough apart to reach their mature size. Plant fast-ripening vegetables like radishes, lettuce, and beets among tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetables that will take longer to reach full size and start producing. You harvest the short season vegetables exactly as the larger plants need the space.
Look for compact varieties of flowers and vegetables that will help you make the most of every square inch of these gardens. All-America Selections winner, Patio Choice Yellow Cherry Tomato produces up to 100 tomatoes on an 18-inch plant. Mascotte Compact Bush Bean and Patio Pride Peas are large producers suitable for these and small space gardens.
Extend your enjoyment and harvest with successor plantings. Fill in vacancies as soon as a row or block of vegetables has been harvested. Refresh ornamental plants by replacing weathered flowers with healthy novelties. If necessary, add more planting mix along with wool pellets.
Train vines on trellises or other supports to save space and reduce the risk of disease. Decorate them by letting trailing herbs and flowers run over the edge of these plant beds.
As you increase growing success and reduce maintenance, raised beds and raised gardens become a practical and productive addition to your gardening work.
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including Small Space Gardening. She hosts the DVD series “How to Grow Anything” from The Great Courses and the nationally syndicated television and radio program Melindas Garden Moment. Myers is a columnist and editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned with her expertise by Wild Valley Farms to write this article. Myers’ website is http://www.MelindaMyers.com.
