Raised Bed Trials (a quick look in early July)
As I mentioned on the radio show, I got fed up with trying to garden in this wet north country clay. Our farm is always wet and if you know anything about wet clay, you know that it spells poor yields and frustration. It was the 2nd week of June and still to wet work any ground. I’d tried heavy mulch/no till with mixed results. I decided to cut the garden back and start building some raised beds. Even though I would not be able to build very many the first year, I figured the better yields would make up for it. I started by gathering up scrap 2X6 and 2X8 boards. The first two beds I made were 4ft wide by 10 ft long. These I used for tomatoes and beans. I made some other beds that were 4X8 with a trellis along the long edge for cukes and peas. As I mentioned on the show, I was able to fill the beds with a mixture of composted hay and manure that we got from areas where we had fed cattle round bales a few years ago.
Some of the beds had newspaper laid down to suppress the grass and weeds. I filled them with a “beaterless” manure spreader that worked like a walking floor trailer.
Here is 10X4 tomato bed being filled with my special black gold
The planting crew got 26 plants in.
We decided we better stake the plants a few weeks after we planted them
Here are the tomatoes on July 9th. They have received no fertilizer but I did mix 20lbs of lime in when we filled the box. Sam just turned one on the 4th and is already a garden helper!
Bean bed mid-June
Beans on July 9th
Summer squash in a tractor tire
Herbs, peppers and cucumbers mid-June
Herbs, peppers and cucumbers on July 3rd
Cabbage
Wife and children 🙂
Everything looks great! Raised bed gardening is the only way to garden as far as I’m concerned. 😉
Nice looking beds! We’ve been doing raised beds for a number of years and really love them for much of what we grow. I do wish I had some cattle manure to mix in but most of the places that would be happy to give to me are ‘industrial farms’ with all the usual animal meds involved. This is our first year for chickens and were getting some of that on the compost pile, but its just not the same.
Love the radio show! I download the podcast and listen during my commute. (I still have a few years of ‘outside job’ work to do before I retire and can just work on the homestead.) I’ve got gotten a number of great ideas and leads on other websites with more of the same. Thank you! Your efforts are appreciated.
Col. 1:9-12
Mark