Raised beds are great for both novice and experienced gardeners. Raised beds are elevated above the ground, making it possible to grow vegetables longer into the growing season and reducing the overall amount of work and effort required. Raised vegetable beds are also known for their ability to provide full sun and warm soil that is rich in nutrients that allow vegetables to thrive. Our experts have compiled a guide with tips and tricks for starting a raised vegetable garden.
Checklist of Raised Vegetable Gardens
Planning is critical to creating and maintaining a healthy raised vegetable garden. This is especially true when choosing the best location for your raised vegetable gardens to ensure that your crops get enough sunlight.
Before you start, here’s a checklist of raised vegetable garden plans to help you begin.
Are your raised vegetable gardens getting enough sunlight?
To thrive, most vegetable crops need at least 6-8 hours of sunlight per day. You’ll want to choose a spot where your raised vegetable beds will get sunlight daily.
What do you want your raised vegetable gardens to look like?
Use landscaper’s paint on the area you want to plant your vegetable garden. This will allow you to see how your garden will look in the designated space and plan the layout of your plants. To maximize space, allow vining plants to grow over the edges of raised vegetable beds.
What materials are best for building raised vegetable gardens?
You can use rock, brick, metal, wood, and metal to build your garden; however, it is crucial to do extensive research before you start building your raised vegetable garden. Toxins from chemically treated wood or other substances can leach into your garden soil and contaminate your plants.
Are there water sources that can be easily accessed from your raised vegetable garden?
When choosing a location for your garden, make sure that your hose or another source of water is easily accessible. It is also important to ensure that your garden is accessible from all sides for weeding, pruning, and harvesting.
How to Handle the Soil in Your Raised Bed Vegetable Garden
The soil composition is key to growing vegetables in raised vegetable gardens. There are many ways to make your vegetable beds grow. Gardeners can control exactly what goes into their soil and alter its quality. The soil must be replenished with organic matter as plants constantly consume nutrients.
Which Soil Should You Use in Your Raised Vegetable Beds?
Raised bed soil can be used in its entirety as a soil mixture, or it can be placed on top of the soil. This soil provides the perfect environment to ensure your plants thrive. Most raised bed soils should have a well-draining pH balance that is between 5.8 to 7.5, which is ideal for growing vegetables.
Soil amendments for your raised vegetable garden
Even if your raised garden soil is top-notch, you should amend the soil with organic matter or compost to replenish the nutrients used by your plants. Some examples include:
- Rotted leaves
- Worm castings
- Feather meal
- Poultry manure decomposed
Mulching a Raised Vegetable Gardens
Although the raised vegetable garden bed has light, rich soil that is ideal for root growth, it can also be susceptible to moisture loss.
To retain moisture and regulate the temperature in raised vegetable gardens, add mulch to the soil around the plants and the top of the soil. Mulch acts as a protective layer, allowing moisture to seep into the soil and reach the roots of plants without being evaporated by the intense sun’s rays.
How to Plant a Raised Vegetable Gardens
The success of your raised vegetable garden will depend on what you plant and how you plant it. It is important to remember when you are planting each plant and where you are planting it. Some plants are tolerant to transplanting, while others should be directly sown in the soil you will be growing them in. Which, in this case, would be your raised vegetable beds. If you plan to transplant your plants, it is important to know what garden zone you are in to determine which plants will thrive outside your raised vegetable garden.
