In this video I am sharing 7 raised bed hacks you’ll wish you knew sooner. Gardening in raised beds is easier because you have control over more variables and can grow more in less space, and these 7 genius gardening hacks for growing an organic garden in raised beds will take your garden to the next level.
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30 Comments
When I worked in concrete we would use the nail spacing idea. This is very helpful. However I have a couple of scars from scraping myself open on the nail heads. It hurt and made a mess but I have survived and I plan to incorporate this nail spacing into my garden years.
I got so mad when my father came over and I was rushing to get my garden beds built and he said, why don’t you just dump all your compost on the ground in a line and put your plants in?
Beautiful yard and beautiful garden ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Most of these are great!!
I agree with square foot gardening being easy for beginners but I don't recommend using string. I did that last season and then when I needed to clear/clean/amend my beds, there were strings everywhere and it was a massive PITA. I decided to just make a square by attaching cheap wooden rulers together (so it folds up) and I just use that now to help with planting because you really only need the grids when you plant. The 4 rulers joined with metal brads is foldable, gives me up to about a 4' measure and can create a 1 foot square if needed.
This year, I also added plastic pipes to make low tunnels. I don't have wooden frames so we pounded rebar into the ground as posts and slid the pipes over those (for those who don't have wooden raised frames)
I forever love, love, love your property and gardens!!; so beautiful and functional. I watched you build most all of it and you're so freakin amazing. Thank you for sharing all of this info & tips. Good stuff! I will be putting several to use immediately! 🙏🏽🥰
Been trying to figure out how to ask you a couple questions. 1) I have 2 wooden raised beds 9'X4'. How many tomato starts can I grow in each one when the almanac says it is OK for my area? 2) How close can I plant the Basil to the tomatoes for a good crop of basil and as helpers for the tomatoes as you described their helpfulness as partners? 3) I have 2 small wooden raised bed 3.5' square. What can I plant in them? I love sweet potatoes but have never grown them and I love crookneck and zucchini but have never been successful with them since moving to Eastern TN. In fact, never been successful with tomatoes since moving here either but my basil LOVES TN and I get to make lots of pesto. I believe your tomato method will greatly help me here. Thank you for considering my questions. I need to get those tomatoes in the group May 3rd. (Last year they said April 15th. go figure. This great grandma is trying to learn new tricks in gardening and you are GREAT!! Thank you for your help!
This is awesome. Thank you for all of this great information.
My raised beds are currently 12" tall. I'm going up another 6" on them.
Thank you for the metal raised bed advise for voles!!! With the plastic lining do you have to put holes for water drainage?
Thank you for the metal raised bed advise for voles!!!
The chicken coup flowers are beautiful. A friend of mine up north is going crazy with a squirrel problem. What do you do about them?
How to save my raised bed plants from deer?
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I bought metal beds and had local dirt place deliver 6 yards of compost. My HOA neighbors were freaking out, as usual. FYI my garden sold my house to people that didn't garden. 🤣
As a reminder be careful using commercial hay or straw that has been treated with the herbicide GRAZON. Only use organic hay or straw!
85 My beds are 24” high with a cap to sit on.
These are really well thought out ideas to help organize. I’ll definitely consider the tunnel (we get RARE freezes, but when we do the plants get WRECKED).
I needed this!! I have to completely change where my garden beds are. My southeast side of my yard was next to a farm. Farm was sold and now a building is going in and an 8’ rock wall is being installed. These beds now only will get 2 hours of direct sunlight. I needed to rethink everything.
Please add me to your Planting Calculator.
Thank you,
Miss Daisy
You just gave me an idea for my shade to put over my tomatoes using a pvc hoop house like design. I live in zone 8b east texas.
3:07 THANK YOU for pointing this out! Many who make this suggestion fail to mention nitrogen drawdown. This is very important as it can totally devastate a garden.
Ferel neighborhood cats wanna poop in soils ugh
I wouldn't put plastic sheeting inside/under raised beds…it will eventually start to break down and then you have plastic bits in the soil that are too small to remove. Not wise.
I like the PVC hoops idea Brian. I have used those fiberglass tent pole sections; but they are fiddly. PVC pipe is cheap as chips.
Is the first tip Bella proof, have you found her tunneling in the mound of compost yet. ? I think shes taking lessons from the gofers at night going on her digging. 😄
I tried to find the calculator, but it takes me to odd sites?
In my community's garden, we cannot screw into our raised-bed frames, so I pound in sections of rebar and the pipe slips over them to make the arch.
Thank you Brian.
Awesome ideas.
hope you feel better
Framing (or the DIY low hoop structure) is probably one of the important ones, if you climate is like mine.
Supposedly 'temperate' (LOL, no, 'random' is the word I would use). Take last grow season, with my last frost date of 15 November – had frost at the beginning of November, but by mid November, a string of days around 30°C in batches. The entire growing season was chopping and changing, mainly when it should have been warm, it was too cool, then throw in a batch of days in the high 30s. Worst season ever. Thankfully not my first growing season, because if it was, I would have declared myself a failure at all this and given up forever.
Because of my seasons, I need a plastic over the bed at the beginning to protect from late frosts, and to warm up the bed, particularly for the tomatoes. Then when it hits the scorching temperatures, some shade cloth to protect from midday or early afternoon sun, because it can be brutal. Over my brassicas, I need permanent netting, because white cabbage butterfly here is relentless.
Now that I am older, I do appreciate raised beds. I am planning a fenced-in, sectioned off, series of growing areas, with the chickens accessing the various areas in between plantings. Basically you have the coop and run centrally, and the run leads to the sectioned off growing areas. Keeping chickens safe from foxes and eagles, but giving them some prime foraging areas.
The pvc was a game changer for me when gardening through and after Y2K. The husband I had then hated vegetables and gardening but he enjoyed building things for me. When I went to work at an educational farm, i told my boss about it and we built them there too. Thanks for sharing, keeps bugs down too!