This is a journal of my vegetable gardens. Skippy was my first dog and he thought the garden was his, even though I did all the work. Now Suzie and Charley follow in his footsteps. We're located near Boston (USDA zone 6A). I have a community plot, a backyard vegetable garden, fruit trees, berry bushes, chickens, and bees. I use sustainable organic methods and do my best to grow all of my family's vegetables myself.
peas planted!
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Thursday, June 10, 2010
glowing leaves
My plot in the late evening light. That's my garlic in the foreground. Peas are over at the right.
Wow, looks great! I live in Wyoming 7200 feet (talk about a challenge) and my garden is just beginning. Meanwhile, I envy watching your garden grow. THANKS!
Your garden is beautiful! How do your raised beds work? Are they buried in the ground a ways or are the frames flush with the ground? Also, how do you manage to work the earth in the beds? I've always been curious! I wanted to start a raised bed garden but had to settle with working the soil directly because I just couldn't figure out how to manage the raised beds.
The beds at my community plot are made with pine 2 x 4's. So they're 4 inches tall. But you can make them any height you want. My husband made me a nice tall one at home that's 12 inches tall (made with 2 x 12's). Just put the frame one the surface of the soil and fill the bed with compost and manure. Add 2-3 inches per year. To work the soil, just stand in the bed and turn the soil with a shovel the usual way. Or do lasagna gardening and don't turn the soil (lasagna gardening means just layers of compost and soil and newspaper - check the lasagna gardening link on my side bar).
I like to collect pieces of wood to lay across the beds so I can stand on then to cross or plant and don't need to step on the bed after its turned.
Make the width of the bed a distance you can step across. Mine are 3.5 or 4 feet usually. You may want to make the spacing between beds wide enough for your rake.
Hello Kathy, This is nice to see the photographs of your garden. Special thanks to Kay, because your questions are answered and it helped me a lot. Thanks Kathy again for giving more information on raised beds.
Wow, looks great! I live in Wyoming 7200 feet (talk about a challenge) and my garden is just beginning. Meanwhile, I envy watching your garden grow. THANKS!
ReplyDeleteYour garden is beautiful! How do your raised beds work? Are they buried in the ground a ways or are the frames flush with the ground? Also, how do you manage to work the earth in the beds? I've always been curious! I wanted to start a raised bed garden but had to settle with working the soil directly because I just couldn't figure out how to manage the raised beds.
ReplyDeleteThe beds at my community plot are made with pine 2 x 4's. So they're 4 inches tall. But you can make them any height you want. My husband made me a nice tall one at home that's 12 inches tall (made with 2 x 12's). Just put the frame one the surface of the soil and fill the bed with compost and manure. Add 2-3 inches per year. To work the soil, just stand in the bed and turn the soil with a shovel the usual way. Or do lasagna gardening and don't turn the soil (lasagna gardening means just layers of compost and soil and newspaper - check the lasagna gardening link on my side bar).
ReplyDeleteI like to collect pieces of wood to lay across the beds so I can stand on then to cross or plant and don't need to step on the bed after its turned.
Make the width of the bed a distance you can step across. Mine are 3.5 or 4 feet usually. You may want to make the spacing between beds wide enough for your rake.
For more information, here's a nice thread from my community garden's yahoo board: raised beds at BVG yahoo board
Hello Kathy, This is nice to see the photographs of your garden. Special thanks to Kay, because your questions are answered and it helped me a lot. Thanks Kathy again for giving more information on raised beds.
ReplyDeleteYour garden looks amazing!
ReplyDelete