GayRioGrower
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Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 6:07 pm
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Raised Bed, Square Foot Gardening

O.K, I'm sure many of you are familiar with this type of growing, and the way I see it, it is just the perfect solution for so many of us. I like the fact that in a raised bed, you determine the type of soil that it will contain, whether it be a mixture of the soil already in your yard, compost, vermiculite, whatever fits your needs, the fact that the soil is never compacted, making it much easier for root growth, drainage, and pulling the few weeds that do grow. Not to mention that the soil warms much faster eaning you can plant earlier and grow later in the season. I like the fact that in a square foot garden, you can grow a variety of herbs and vegetables in a limited amount of space, while still achieving a fair yield. The fact that you are taking advantage of practically every square inch of your garden space, means less fertilizing and less water waste. These things are very appealing to me, being a new gardener, and wanting to make the most out of the small space I have designated to this venture.
But I am no expert, just have done a lot of reading on different techniques and this one seems to fit me best. I now understand the importance of companion planting in this setup, and have also been doing research on that subject. I guess what I am getting at is, what are your guys' and gals experiences with these methods? Did you use the recommended soil mixture of 1/3 compost, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 peat, or do you have a secret recipe that works even better? What were your favorite plants to grow together in say a 4' x 8' bed? What were your results? What was your fertilization process like? I have a fairly good idea of what I want to do, but want to compare to gardeners who are much more experienced than me, and have much more knowledge of what methods work best. Hopefully this can open up a good discussion that can help me and newer growers decide which methods work best, and how to properly grow with these methods. Thnk you for taking the time to read this.

cynthia_h
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I gardened in the more traditional way during the '80s and '90s, until lingering after-effects from a car accident in late 1995 sidelined me from many activities, including gardening. :x

By the time I returned to regular gardening in early 2008, Square Foot Gardening had gone Big Time, and I read Mel's revised edition. It sounded pretty manageable, even with my situation, so I gave it a try.

I was pleasantly surprised but not completely overwhelmed by the results. Now that I know my *specific* growing area (all 96 sq. ft. of it by now) runs much colder than it "should," even according to the One True Sunset :wink:, I can get excellent results. Just not with warm-weather veggies (like squash, cucumbers, eggplant, or...tomatoes). :(

Bed #1 is made from two rounds of concrete blocks and is approx. 12 inches deep. The inside dimensions are 4'x8'. I used the holes in the concrete blocks to plant carrots, parsnips, and other elongated root veggies. In the 8 inches of vermiculite/peat/compost, I planted bok choy 9 plants/square, sugar snap peas 9 plants/square, and so on. I completely misread *both* Mel and John Jeavons re. rhubarb. :oops: I tried 4 rhubarb plants/square. DO NOT DO THIS. I now have one monster rhubarb plant in its own 18-inch round container, and 3 smaller rhubarb plants in their 1-gallon containers, all valiantly carrying on after their unfortunate start in life.

After Bed #1 (contents as described above), we made a potato tower and grew potatoes in a similar manner. There are probably several discussions here at THG about "potato towers," "potato boxes," and the like. I'll try to keep to SFG in this post.

(Hauling myself back to the main subject...)

Bed #5 is made from wood. It's 2.5'x8'x18" (approx. depth). I had seen that 8" was nowhere near enough depth, no matter what Mel Bartholomew said. I loaded that puppy up with compost and vermiculite (no peat, having been educated on the stuff in the meantime) and maybe a few cubic ft. of organic potting mix. Don't remember the brand; I bought it at a local independent garden-supply shop.

Bed #5 was the home of mache, spinach, chard, rapini (broccoli raab/rabe), kale, broccoli romanesco, and (later) a SunGold tomato plant and a tomatillo plant. Bed #5 sits in the middle of the rose bushes and gets much better sun than Bed #1; it's also sheltered from the afternoon cold winds which bring in the San Francisco fog. All the greens produced quite well, and the SunGold did its best. Most of the tomatoes never found their way into the house...

My herbs are all in containers which line the south side of the house/north side of the driveway (which goes the entire depth of our lot; the carport is at the back of the lot). The rhubarb containers live amongst the herb containers, too.

I didn't--and don't--work with companion planting. It may work; it may not. But my life, frankly, has lots of complications as it is, and companion planting is one that I choose to forego. I *do* group the veggies according to cultural requirements: water, sun, etc.

Maybe more than you wanted to know? Less?

But a start.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

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rainbowgardener
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Here's a picture of some of mine:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=105961&highlight=raised+beds#105961

when we moved to this house, the main sunny area for veggies was the patio, so we built these beds on top of it. I have one more like that. They are each 4X8.'

The one not in the picture is not as sunny, so it has swiss chard, spinach, and two kinds of lettuce. The beds on the patio, one has 5 broccoli plants, 5 tomato plants (by the time the tomato plants are starting to get really big, the broccoli is done and gets pulled to make room), and around the edges and in the spaces, a little bit of carrots, onions, borage, and I will yet stick some nasturtium and marigolds in there. The other one has 5 pepper plants down the middle with a lot of basil on both sides. May put a few flowers in there as well.

When we built the beds, we had a load of topsoil trucked in to fill them, then I added compost, wood ash, some potting soil, leaves. And I've been adding compost and leaves ever since (they are going into their 8th season). They are now very rich. I really don't fertilize, just compost and mulch. But you can see, I cram them full and everything does well.

GayRioGrower
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Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 6:07 pm
Location: San Diego

Thank you so much Cynthia, and RainbowGardener, great posts. At first I was just planning on tilling an area and planting, but after further reading, I just couldn't resist making my own raised bed incorporating SFG. I know the initial cost and labor might a little more, but after that is done, the maintenance is so much easier. It's really cool to share ideas and discussions with people who have the same interests as you, and this site just rocks. I remember when I was a little younger, my grandmother would wake up at the crack of dawn to get started on the yard(my grandparents have over 2 acres of land, so there is a lot to do) and she would spend all day out there, it was very rare to even see her come up to eat. I couldn't help thinking, how could she do that, why would she want to do all that work, but know I completely understand. When you are actually out there doing the work, seeing the results of your work, you just can't help but get that feeling of satisfaction. It's not even work now, it's just something that needs to get done so you can continue growing beautiful plants. Sorry for the off topic ramble, but at this point in my life, the only thing I can ever think about is gardening, nothing in particular, just gardening in general. Anywhere I go, I think about what could be done to make the landscape more attractive, and how many/what plants could be planted there. O.k, I'll just stop now, but thanks again for the great posts.

Joyfirst
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Location: Southern California

I use raised beds too for couple of years and they work nicely. I just moved my plot and I saw that they are rotting in places from the inside, but should last a bit longer-I used just regular pine though. Filled it with compost, peat moss and vermiculite _ I did use a bit less of vermiculite than Square foot garden recommends because of the expense, but it still worked very well.

Rootietoot
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Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 8:01 am
Location: Georgia

I have 4 raised beds 4x8 made of cinder blocks. when we put them together I hit on the idea of turning the blocks hole side up and filling the holes with soil as well, and they are perfect for growing shallow rooted lettuce greens! It's like getting a whole 'nother bed's worth of gardening area :D Mind you, cinder blocks aren't the prettiest things in the world, but there's no weird chemical leaching issues, no rotting...I think they work really well. Kind of an investment but completely permanent and easy to move if necessary.
I filled them with the bagged garden soil from Miracle-Gro, mixed with cow manure and compost, and every year (it's been 4 yrs now) add 2 more bags of cow manure and compost from my own source.
I like to "rotate" the crops, generally tomatoes, peppers, beets, squash, cukes and snow peas/english peas (seasonally) and I also double plant- low growing things amongst the vining trellises (like beets in between the climbing beans, or peppers and basil amongst the tomato cages). I am alwasy piddling with what grows best amongst what, and will probably never be completely satisfied.

Pippin Limbertwig
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Location: SW Virginia (Appalachia)

*than you ever thought possible on less land than you can imagine.
John Jevon's book describes the Bio Intensive method developed by Ecology Action in the early 1970's. It's square foot, raised bed and no work styles all in one sustainable package.

It's got companions, distances, 3-season rotation - mixing perennials with annuals, composting and inputs for square foot planting beds.

Check your local library - and it's been revised and reprinted many times. (10 Speed Press). It's about being financially sustainable as well as producing good food in an environmentally responsible way. Ecology action was one of the first group to not only recognize the effect of the increasing population on our food supply - but to develop systems to feed people on marginal land.

By double-digging your beds and leaving the paths compacted you don't waste resources on the framing material. The soil is loose enough after double-digging that it is mounded above the paths. (After you have worked that hard for your soil You won't allow anyone to step on it.)

I'm amazed at how much money people spend on inputs like bagged soil. We talk about eating local food - but we grow it in peat and poo that's been trucked across the continent. How sustainable is that. I started gardening organically (almost 50 years ago) because I was too cheap to purchase inputs.



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