WHAT I GROW IN MY GARDEN: RAISED GARDEN BEDS PART ONE

Because I cannot get out in to my garden to show you what else I grow, I thought I would share some information on my favourite vegetables to grow in raised garden beds.

Also looks like I grow crazy old red haired ladies in my garden

Raised beds are a favourite among gardeners for many reasons. But for me being a renter, the soil can be altered to my needs, as I filled the beds rather than using what’s already available. The soil in these beds is not stepped on as much, which means it never becomes compacted. This allows it to drain excess water out quickly. The soil in these beds also warms more quickly in the spring, giving you a longer growing season.

In a raised beds you can grow almost anything, but there are some that I have had much better luck with than others. My three best types of vegetables for raised beds are:

1. Leafy greens

Greens such as lettuce, spinach and bok choy grwo like crazy in raised beds. These cool weather crops need to be planted just as soon as you can get a trowel into your soil. The fact that soil in raised beds warms more quickly than the ground means you can get started earlier with these crops and get several great harvests before summer hits. Another reason that leafy greens are perfect for raised beds is they despise soggy roots. The quick draining soil in your beds means lettuces will never have to stand in the water for too long.

2. Tomatoes

Tomatoes are heavy feeders that need nutrient-dense soil to thrive. With a raised bed you can easily customize your soil to your needs, adding in extra compost as you fill the beds. The only downside to growing tomatoes in raised beds is it’s harder for tomato cages and stakes to stand up in the loose soil. So I use long wooden stakes and ribbon from my sewing stash.

I also use a combination of the dirty hay filled with chicken poo, from the chicken coup, around the base of the tomato plant to stop it drying out too quickly and to prevent and weeds growing.

3. Beans. Beans are some of the easiest vegies to grow, which makes them ideal for beginners such as me.

But the best bit is, beans get the perfect start if they’re grown from seed, so this provides a great opportunity to teach Jarvis about sowing, germination and how seeds play their vital role as the starting blocks for our food. He loves to dig little holes and put the seeds in and cover them up. Not sure if he is old enough yet to get that all of the seeds he puts in the soil grow into the plants he loves to water.