The soil volume formulas can be used to calculate the dimensions of raised garden beds, such as rectangles, octagons, hexagons, L- and U-shaped beds. These formulas help gardeners avoid waste of soil by determining the necessary dimensions for their beds. The most popular height for raised beds is 11 inches, which provides sufficient drainage for most crops. To determine the soil volume, measure the length, width, and depth in meters and multiply them together to get the volume in cubic meters.
The ideal dimensions for raised beds for community and school gardens are determined by three general parameters: height, width, and length. The width is the most important consideration, with three to four feet wide being optimal for the short side. The Finished dimensions will be 4x4x2, all cedar, with a minimum depth of eight inches, but if possible, twelve inches. A 2×8 board when laid horizontally measures only 7.5 inches.
To create raised garden beds, use a tape measure or ruler, a pen, and a drill. Measure the sides and mark them off every twelve inches. This will help you plan your raised beds once they’re installed and ensure they are properly sized for your needs.
📹 Harrod Horticultural Wooden Raised Beds & Liners
Harrod Horticultural Wooden raised beds for both plant and vegetable growing have become extremely popular because they …
How many tomato plants are in a 4×8 raised bed?
Raised bed sizes can vary greatly, but a 4×8′ raised bed can fit two rows of tomatoes, each 8′ long. The number of plants depends on the variety and techniques used. Pepper plant spacing is simpler than tomatoes, as they don’t have indeterminate and determinate varieties. Most pepper plants don’t grow more than a few feet tall, but they typically don’t need as much space as tomato plants. You can either put pepper plants 2 feet apart or go with a 1 foot spacing.
A closer spacing can help plants remain upright and lean on one another, similar to determinate tomatoes. However, closer spacing may be harder to find at harvest time. However, using a 1 foot spacing will allow you to grow more peppers in each bed.
How do you figure square footage for a bed?
To calculate square footage, use the formula L x W = A (in square feet) and multiply the length and width measurements. This yields the area, expressed in square feet or square inches. For example, to calculate carpet for a 12-feet long and 10-feet wide room, multiply the two dimensions. If there are odd room dimensions or additional areas that don’t neatly connect with the main room, divide the space into separate areas to accurately calculate the square footage.
How to calculate landscape area?
In order to calculate the square footage of landscape beds, it is necessary to multiply the length by the width, the length by the width, and the radius by 3. 14. This calculation can also be used to find the area of a square, rectangle, or circle.
How far apart should rows be in a raised garden bed?
The text indicates that there is a three-inch interval between the side and the subsequent seed.
What size and spacing for raised beds?
Raised beds should be at least four feet wide to ensure easy access without stepping on the soil. Beds against walls or fences should be 2-3 feet wide, with a minimum height of 6 inches (15cm) and up to a foot (30cm) ideal for root crops. Space between beds should be about two feet wide. Raised beds can be purchased as kits or built from scratch, with kits being the simplest to setup. Raised-up boxes are ideal for wheelchair users or those who are less able to bend.
How many cubic feet are in a 4×8 raised bed?
The volume needed to fill a raised bed depends on the type of soil used. Gardeners often use a mix of topsoil, compost, and other organic materials to create nutrient-rich soil for plant growth. However, the densities of these materials can affect the overall volume. For instance, topsoil is denser than compost, so it may require more topsoil. It’s crucial to consider the soil mixture’s composition when calculating the required soil. Additionally, many gardeners use a base layer to improve drainage and prevent weed growth, which can be made of materials like gravel, sand, or landscape fabric.
What are the dimensions for a DIY raised garden bed?
The dimensions of raised bed gardens typically range from 1. 5 to 4 feet in width and 4 to 10 feet in length. The most commonly utilized garden sizes include 4′ x 4′, 2′ x 8′, 4′ x 6′, 4′ x 8′, 2′ x 6′, 4′ x 10′, and 2′ x 10′. A popular do-it-yourself raised bed is a 4-foot-by-4-foot-by-1-foot wooden garden bed, which provides 16 square feet of growing space. Modifications are available for other sizes.
How to calculate the square footage of a raised garden bed?
To determine the square footage of a square or rectangle, multiply the length and width of the area. Overuse of materials like fertilizer, mulch, and paving stones can lead to unused materials, dead plants, and wasted money. Overestimating mulch and plants can also discourage growth. Learning simple calculations for common gardening situations can help save time and money, making your garden an Eden. Whether you’re a math expert or a math nerd, understanding these calculations can help you turn your garden into an Eden.
How to measure raised beds?
To calculate the cubic feet of your garden, first determine the square feet of your garden, which are the length times the width of your garden bed. Multiply the square feet of your garden’s footprint by the height of your raised bed garden to get the total cubic feet of garden space that must be filled with soil. Use a soil calculator to add up the total width of your garden in feet = W.
How to calculate the area of a garden bed?
In order to ascertain the area measurement, it is first necessary to measure the length and width of the bed in question. These measurements should then be multiplied in order to obtain the requisite area measurement.
How many bags of soil do I need to fill a 4×8 raised bed?
A 4×8-foot raised bed with a 10-inch height requires one cubic yard of soil, whereas a 4×8-foot raised bed with a 6-inch height necessitates five cubic feet of compost, peat moss, and vermiculite.
📹 9 Beginner Raised Bed Garden Mistakes to Avoid
A few good soil mixes: – 1/3 perlite, 1/3 coco coir, 1/3 compost – 1/2 topsoil, 1/4 compost, 1/4 grass clippings, straw, leaves, etc.
I am 12 and I started gardening this year! I only did 2 dwarf tomato plants and 2 bell peppers plants. Your articles has helped me a lot and I am going to be doing my first harvest in about 2 weeks (I started late but I know I can move them indoors because I have a room that gets ton of sun) Thank you for all of your help!
1. And 2. Are Bed Placement for sunshine 3. Plan for irrigation 4. Invest in good raised bed soil mixed with compost Research good mixed soil.. and compost blends 5. Use Mulch (composted) 6. Make space for pathways – minimum 24″ 7. Planting space…and placement. Plants that grow taller in a place that won’t shade other plants 8. Take care of your bed soil over time… during fall and winter… make use of a cover crop 9. Label, track and record your plants, date of planting, expected harvest date, etc
Im 13 and just got my wood for building my planters this year, thanks for the advice! I found where my great-grandpa had his garden and apparently has good soil and sun, im doing half in ground patch – half raised beds. I really hope I can get all my perennials started like any berry bushes, rhubarb and asparagus so I can have some self-sustainability by the time im 15
Tips: Regarding watering consider making your raised beds wicking beds. The other idea to consider is using the German Hügel Kultur method and filling the bottom of the beds with logs, branches etc. This saves on soil and as it breaks down, adds nutrients, will retain water and provide a home for many organisms that will improve the quality of your soil.
Everything that was covered in this article were great tips for the beginning gardener. A few more tips that I was taught, and have been very successful with, is to select the right seed – lets use sun flower seeds as an example (type doesn’t matter in this example) In a packet of seeds, not all seed look the same: some are flat, others are thick, an others are somewhere in between. Select the thickest seed (ovary) because it has a greater probability to start to produce a healthy plant. Then double up the thick seeds (with some separation) – if they both grow, you could either separate/transplant them when they get big enough or cut the weakest one to the ground.
Here in Boise, Idaho, I have to shade my plants all afternoon during the hottest part of the day from 1 o’clock on because for three weeks out of the year, it gets 100° plus and it will kill anything that has afternoon sun. So tarps and sheets are laid across my plants every day and then I remove them around 6 o’clock in the evening. Kind of makes it so I can’t go on vacation in the summer but I get great yields.
A mistake I made early on was relying too heavily on interventions like soap spray and copper fungicide. Eventually, I realized that when shield bugs and cabbage moths and aphids got too numerous, they just naturally attracted their own predators. The key was creating an appealing environment for them to hunt in—one that mimicked a more wild or natural landscape. Every year now I find frogs in my garden. I hatch mantises. Ladybugs descend in huge numbers and breed in my garden. I plant a wide variety of native flowers around the edges of my garden and let some areas get weedy. I don’t spray anything anymore, because what kills the bad bugs always kills the good bugs. This year, juncos are nesting in the tall grass along my fence. They eat bugs when they’re raising chicks, so when I pull weeds I don’t want, they follow along and pick up all kinds of goodies in the exposed soil. It’s important to remember that your raised beds are as much a part of the landscape as a park or a vacant lot. Creating balance in your garden isn’t just good for you, it’s good for everything around you.
Cover crops are not just for covering the soil. Cover crops are actually used to inject nitrogen back into the soil through the nodules that are grown by the roots that store the nitrogen. You must cut in or mulch in the cover crop before it uses the nitrogen nodules to create flowers and seeds. Cover crops is a whole other article and super fun and important for gardening! 🙂
I’ve built a couple of different types of raised beds which I still use, but just ordered my first Birdies 6-in-1’s from you and am looking forward to setting them up! One thing I do a bit differently from you is allowing more space between beds as I always want to be able to get a garden cart or wheelbarrow (or even a camp chair) between the beds and on my garden paths 🙂
Another great article Kevin. My tip would be to plan your bed layout for the mature plant size. Good plant spacing improves the air flow around your plants. That minimizes diseases, allows you to find pests and gives the plant the space and nutrients for optimal growth. A good resource for figuring out that spacing plan is Mel Bartholomew’s Square Foot Gardening books. Ps: can’t wait to try out my two new Birdies beds this spring.
“What we measure, we manage” … yes!!!! Absolutely love it! Different take on Drucker, but it still works! Thank you so much, Kevin. Your articles have helped a lot. I also used to watch the first few seasons of “Growing a Greener World,” and you mention Joe once in a previous article. I love to see just how connected we all are. Again, thank you.
Excellent. Two points – when the bed has no plants in remember the earth worms, don’t let the soil dry out and the worms die, they are part of having a successful crop in future. Think about what you will need to do to protect your vegetables against birds if you garden where that could be a problem. I had a whole bed of spinach wiped out in one day and can only grow them in a caged situation where I live. The birds leave the celery alone so that is okay in the open but tomatoes are vulnerable.
Great article, thanks. I had friends decide to “help” me by filling my new raised beds with some dirt they were getting rid of. It was very loose and dry and even had trash and glass in it. When I said I wanted to replace it because, well, why start a beautiful garden with bad soil? So I looked up your article. Good to know my common sense was on the right track. I will remove 2/3 and replace 1/3 with my local soil and 1/3 with compost, at least thats my start but I will keep adding good stuff to the soil.
One thing in raised gardens is remembering that the soil level is going to drop as it settles. Also how much root space is taken up. e.g. the depth of your root crop (carrots, parsnips, potatoes) compared to the top croppers (peas, beans and brassica) are vital things to look at when planting and sowing. Love the article, very informative
I have been gardening with my dad since I was about 7 or 8, helping with the strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, etc. I started to upgrade and had about 10 plants that I crammed in my room. There is a huge window in my room so they all did pretty well. Now I’m starting to grow my own fruits and vegetables in my own garden! My goal is to study botany in college and to become a botanist ! You articles have helped a lot. Keep doing what you do Kevin
THANK YOU SO MUCH! 😊 I’ll be attempting my first raised garden at my new house. In the past, I lived in condo and apartments, which left me with minimal have space for planting and therefore I didn’t. HOWEVER, I was able to plant and control an herb garden that I grew in a nice sized container that I placed in my kitchen window. Now, I live in a beautiful home that sits on close to 13 acres – TONS of space to grow. 😍 Wish me luck ❤️
Also, if you live in an area where you have lots of leaves falling in the Autumn season DON’T rake them all up!! MULCH them with a mower and use them in your garden. They provide lots of nitrogen for your soil ALSO rotate your crops!! don’t always be planting the same things in the same raised bed since different plants use different nutrients from the soil
Awesome article! Kevin’s List of 9 Mistakes in Order of Severity/Permanence 1:21 #1 Not putting your garden in the right place 3:03 #2 Not planning for irrigation 3:44 #3 Not investing in good soil 5:03 #4 Not choosing the proper soil mix 6:04 #5 Not mulching 7:42 #6 Not initially making enough space for pathways 8:44 #7 Not thinking about what the plants will look like when fully grown 9:55 #8 Not preparing your beds throughout the seasons 11:25 #9 Not labeling/tracking what you planted & when you planted it
I’m really surprised theres so many thumbs down for this article, all of the tips are bang on. I think I’ve made all of the mistakes here at one point or another and they really are mistakes. Before I planted up my current garden I watched the ground for a whole year, taking note of where and when the sun falls month by month, 1st and last frosts, cold spots, wet spots, prevailing winds, where the slugs hide, where the birds perch, what pests are active and when. You might think its nonsense or overkill but when you’ve redesigned your garden as many times as I have you know it’s worth the effort. He made a good point on planting dates. For things like carrots that’s really important. You can’t often see them, but leave them too long and they become woody and a little tasteless. There really isn’t such a thing as too much effort, it just has to be balanced with time availability. As I always say, it’s not about whether you make mistakes, but what you do about them that defines us. Remember, “you only truly fail when you give up” (Albert Einstein).
Thank you for this article. I like your approach to grow wherever you can, because we don’t always have the choices we want, but we still have choices. These tips have super payback potential. I do get lazy, or absent minded about mulching and it really takes a toll mid season. I also like the tip is planning based on sunlight path.
Your articles are so helpful! I was wondering if you could make a article to go more in depth about how to winterize and amend soil – you talk about it in this article and I get the concept of winterizing soil (great to know!) but I’m not sure how to amend soil and some examples of how to do that would be super helpful, thank you!
So useful! Thank you. I had left my raised bed unattended for about two years. It was derelict – full of grass roots and barren soil. Because of Covid, there weren’t many garden supplies around. I used bentonite powder on my soil plus compost to bring it back to life.I live in an arid area in Australia. Lots of sun and not much rain. I also couldn’t get any bug sprays because of Covid, so I used some homeopathics on the garden and they were amazing! I have problems with mulch as it never breaks down due to how dry our climate is. Does anyone have thoughts on this issue? I’m rethinking where my garden should be as I really liked your description of the sun going over the garden. In winter, mine got no sun, so I might move it now we are going into spring.
Along with your last tip: take pictures of everything along the way! I have lots of pics w/ the seed packs laid out where I planted my seeds, which helps me remember what is where before they start fruiting, but I also just love the reminder of how much the garden changes! (And I can see “oops. Those peppers aren’t doing so hot there, next year they’ll need to find a new home!”
Omg, just subscribed because it amazes me that as I just started trying to care more for my little garden and recently found Garden Answer who has probably 10+ acres with one million subscribers and then I accidently stumbled on your website. You have a tiny little garden but have over a million subscribers as well 😱. I am totally impressed and plus I learned a whole lot from this second article of yours. Can’t wait to see the rest.
Just wanna say what a grateful fan I am of this website! I started gardening to give myself a healthier habit than smoking to deal with my anxiety and depression. I knew pretty much nothing but have successfully raised some crops in raised beds and containers, have some plants that have survived into their second year, and improved my health (through diet of increased veggies, and better mental health) All thanks to your articles! Thank you for the articles and tips they have improved my garden and my health.
I’ve been binging your articles the last couple of weeks. My teenage son & I got a small grant from a state run program Farm to School. The objective of the grants is to teach children about food gardening. So we have ordered a couple of small raised beds, soil, tools, and seeds. It’s an unfortunate time of the year for the program to be starting, but we got some seeds suited for fall. We should get our beds put together this weekend. We’re excited about it and your tips have been very helpful.
Be nice to see you do a garden for fierce heat & sun & humidity. I live in North East Florida. My full sun southern exposure gets mad heat & sun. Not much larger than your front garden. Seldom doesnt have full bright sunlight 6+ hrs even in winter & of course we also get quite a bit of heavy rain so drainage is queen to sunlights king. Thanks
Must Do List: #1 Need PH tester to test the soil. Check PH around certain plants due to needs are different. One size does not fit all. #2 Amend your soil during the growing season. #3 Don’t forget flowers to deter pests like marigolds stuck in between plants. #4 Compost Thermometer to check activity and finishing. If you are composting. #5 Prune plants during the season as needed when they grow in for air flow and proper care. #6 Don’t water too late in the evening – plant does not get a chance to dry – encourage plant fungus problems, mildew and mold.
AFTER I had my raised planters all set up, I watched a article (might have been you, not sure) advising to put hardware cloth on the ground under the raised bed if putting them directly on the ground. I did not think of this. All I did was put a thick layer of cardboard down before I added my bottom layer of old firewood and stuff. I had already had problems with moles in the yard, and now I have a worse problem. I have not really noticed anything eating my root crops, but this could turn into a problem in the future. Is it worth pulling all the dirt out and start over? Hardware cloth or even chicken wire is not expensive, but the thought of redoing the beds is overwhelming, not sure I’m up to it at age of 70. So this is something for you guys to think about if you are just getting started. Also, the instructions on my planter said to put it on level surface. All but one of my planters are fine, but one is close to the trench where the electric line from the house to the garage is buried. It has always been a spot where I keep having to add fill dirt. The corner of the planter is a few inches from that line. I thought it would be ok, far enough away, but whether because of the extra water or a slight slope, that corner of the planter is sinking into the ground. So putting cardboard down first was not enough. I’m going to try your trick of loosening that corner with a shovel and sliding a couple of boards under it to level it out, hope for the best.
Thank you so much, Kevin! I have always had problems growing vegetables outside. I live in Northern California but didn’t grow up here; I grew up in a Chicago suburb, where the climate and soil are so different. But, after perusal many of your articles and this one about raised beds in particular, I have beautiful tall productive tomato plants!! It is a miracle to me. Soil structure is so important and I did everything you talked about. Thank you very much!
A couple weeks ago when the news showed farmers bulldozing entire tomato crops, we dusted off the planters and got as much as possible into trays in the window right away. We spent the past two weeks getting all the planters ready, and lots of things are sprouting in all the places. There can only be two gardening mistakes as far as I’m concerned, not starting a garden, and the above mentioned plowing under of perfectly good food!
Tweak to placement advice for harsh-summer gardening (I’m up in northern Utah where the winters are icy and the summers are dry and scorching, and this year in particular the heat wave and drought was absolutely brutal): Give your bolt-prone or otherwise more heat-sensitive plants more shade than typically suggested for them. I had FANTASTIC success this year with a bushy indeterminate tomato closer to the sunny side and kale behind it, the kale has lasted all season without any significant wilt issues and produced SO well, possibly the best out of anything in the garden this year with the possible exception of the amaranth (which has also been protecting my chard and spinach from the full force of a particularly hot and dry alpine-desert summer by being tall and shady). More generally, if you’re dealing with difficult conditions for something you want to grow (in my case, leafy greens in a scorching desert without a drip irrigation system or very much free time to spend hand-watering, but this is the abstraction level that’s applicable in a lot of directions), consider microclimates. A little extra shade can mitigate heat, a thermal mass like a large rock or a wall can mitigate cold weather and extend a short growing season, a slope or hill can mitigate slow-draining soil while a sunken area can gather more moisture — I’ve seen plants grown so far out of their hardiness zone, in terrible soil conditions for their native preferences that it almost looks like magic, with a good understanding and application of microclimates.
Amazingly enough I’ve done every one of those things this my first year. I have been reading and perusal articles for two years before I built my raised beds this year. Additionally I bought red wiggler worms to put in the beds. I only have space for 3 3’x8’ beds and a 150 gal tank that I’ve used for tomatoes the past 15 years. So I purchased 4000 worms to split between the beds. Last year I did put a few in the tank and when I took the soil out this year to move the tank there were still worms in that soil. I put the fresh scraps from salads and such in the soil to give worms food to break down into worm castings. It really doesn’t take long for the worms to break down the kitchen scraps either.
Gee, year #2 here and I’ve made lots of these. For me, keeping track of labeling was becoming a real issue. Specifically what kind of tomato for example. I started using different colored or patterned duct tape corresponding to each. So on popsicle stick or like, I just make a bunch with each of the six different colors and then I don’t have smeared, squiggles of writing that have to be looked at closely to be able to tell.
I don’t have a garden all around the house. Europe has a lot of townhouses. I can’t plant on south. I have to make do with east/southeast. But I got a good yield from some plants last year that didn’t get murdered by copious amounts of rain. This year i’m trying raised beds. See how that goes. I will take the mulch tip to heart, hadn’t considered that.
Two other mistakes to avoid. First, don’t plant food that someone in your household doesn’t eat, especiallyif they do more cooking than you. An exception would be a trial quantity so they get the chance to try it fresh. Second don’t grow plants in the same bed if they have radically different needs for fertilizer or water.
Something where planting large plants in front of small ones actually can work is with some herbs and leafy greens if you live far to the north. We’re a high enough latitude that it’s very difficult to grow lettuces, arugula, and herbs like basil for a lot of the summer, because the daylight is so extended that they bolt. I built squash trellises for butternuts a few years ago that were just two wire panels framed with stakes and leaned against each other like a tent. I don’t remember why, but I put several lettuce and herb plants between the trellises. Lo and behold, the lettuce and herbs continued to grow all summer, in spite of the heat, because they were under shade a significant part of the day. When the plants out in the sun were bolting, the ones under the trellises were not. There are definitely situations where it can be beneficial to plant short plants behind or under taller ones.
I live in the high desert of south central Oregon. Our summer afternoon sun is baking and many plants cannot tolerate it. Putting up shade cloth is impractical due to the near constant winds. This year I’m trying the east facing side of house as gets full sun till early afternoon and gives some protection from wind.
Winter is coming and I’m really glad I watched this or I’d never think to put mulch down to protect the soil. This was our first year doing a few felt planters and my kids absolutely loved it, so glad we took the steps to do it. We had to share a lot of our cucumbers and kale with the wildlife, but I think it’s okay since they can’t go to the grocery store and the caterpillars that ate our kale and grew to moths would fly and land on us all summer. It was really special 💕
I don’t have a raised bed, I used the soil my house came with. My mistake starting out was not testing that soil. Last year I did test it and find that it was low on phosphorus and had too high of pH. I was able to correct that with a little sulphur and some bone meal. I had better yields for doing so. I would advise that if you use plain ol’ dirt, test it, or send it to your local university if possible
I’ve found a 10th mistake is trying too hard to stick to a predetermined plan. I’m just starting raised gardening (in berms, not planters) and I spent an inordinate amount of time over this past winter deciding what crops to plant in which order and which location. Fast forward to “it’s time to build these garden berms”, and I’ve come to the realization that I was overcomplicating things. I adjusted my build plan to take on a simpler, but what I believe to be more-effective, construction. Had I insisted on “I don’t want my plans to be for naught!” then I’d probably end up doing much more work than is necessary, and the results would likely have been less successful. It’s a bit like what Eisenhower said: “Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” I still had a good basis of research under my belt thanks to my original plan, and with some recent new information I was able to adapt my original plan and (hopefully) make it even more successful.
All very good tips. I would also add to the last tip how important it is to rotate your crops from one to the next, and marking what you planted in each bed facilitates that. Plants have nutritional needs specific to that species, along with diseases that can persist through the year, especially in warmer climates. A couple of examples: corn or potatoes use a lot of nitrogen compared to other crops, while legumes put nitrogen back into the ground, so rotating these into the same bed will help balance the nutritional quality of the soil. As for diseases, tomatoes can contract viruses from a variety of external sources, and those viruses may persist in the soil for more than one season, which could infect your newly planted tomatoes as soon as you put them into the ground. Rotation will greatly decrease this potential threat to a new crop.
These are great tips, thanks for sharing. One of my biggest problems, early on was special awareness…not knowing how far a plant will travel on it’s growth to maturity. Butternut squash for example should never be planted by the gate to enter your fenced in garden. In the same respect knowing cukes like to climb and giving them the room and support to do so will give you amazing yields!
Thank you for this article. I am just now planting my first garden in a zillion years and my first ever container veggie garden. I really appreciate these tips, especially the last one. I hadn’t thought about a spreadsheet. (I don’t know why I spreadsheet everything else. lol). For some reason, it hadn’t even occurred to me to keep track of what I am doing and when. Such a “doh” moment for me. I am actually a little embarrassed to be writing this. I keep track of everything, yet I was just planning on sticking the little tags into my pots. Thinking about it, I know that’s not going to cut it if I plan to learn from what I do. Thank you for saving me from my occasionally scatter-brained self. 😄
There’s one thing I can say that has helped me immensely with my garden. Remember to fertilize weekly during the growing season. I did my first fertilization this season with a handful of steer manure in a bucket filled with about a gallon of water. I watered my crops once a week with tea to help them grow better. The next week I used a handful of my organic compost made from green and brown waste as well as earth worms in a compost pile… so a handful of black gold in a one gallon tub with a gallon of water, mixed in, to fertilize my garden once a week. The week after I used water from my tubs that I’ve been catching rain water in. The low ph is good for some crops like blueberries, strawberries, and spinach. After that it was waste water from my organic aquariums, high in nitrates, that I used to fertilize the garden. But every week during the growing season you should fertilize with a diluted fertilizer solution. I even cut up weeds from my garden, steep them overnight, and then use the tea to water my garden as a form of fertilizer before adding the solids to the compost bin. It’s been really good for my raised beds and container garden. I mulch with leaves and twigs from the trees in my garden, and I highly recommend you guys start doing that as well.
I live in Vancouver, Canada and I think there’s one extra thing I would share; be prepared for wild animals. Mouse will eat anything if they are hungry (they pulled out my chives and ate it all). Some Squirrel may “mark” your garden as their washroom (check the poo shape on google). Raccoon or skunk may plow through your soil looking for food…. Set up a camera. Make some effort to deter critters, or at least have a plan if they show up. Their activity become a lot more frequent towards end of summer. Pick your fruits early. Throw away the ones that won’t make it. If you park your car nearby and you leave that tomato plant there after season, you gonna find lots of green tomato and poo under your hood, right on your engine.
I am so happy to have watched this article! Thank you. I live in a very large property in Canada and have purchased the steel raised beds and am shaking in my boots in fear of failing. This was so helpful. You don’t know what you just don’t know until you learn. Now I won’t make these errors. Wish I had someone like you for set up though, lol. ❤️🇨🇦👍
What a great article I think I probably made everyone of those mistakes and one point or another and maybe still making some but thanks for your honesty and wisdom. Your experience helps us all not to possibly make them and I or we appreciate that. Not sure how your plants look so good after that crazy week long storm we just recently had but thanks again. Nice to see someone from my hometown giving out props. Peace bud.
Thank GOD that if you DO screw up your garden for a season you aren’t going hungry ya just head on down to the local produce stand or grocery store. How BLESSED are we in this country even with EVERYTHING that is going on in the world. Count your blessings daily give to those in need and pray for the ones you can’t physically help. If God cares for the sparrow you know he cares for us✌️🤟
Okay, thanks. I wasn’t going to go work in my garden … now I am. Had no motivation … now I do. Doesn’t matter what happens with it, I’ll have good success when I just get going! Here’s a plan / tip for people who have a larger growing space, and less control over the type of weeds and volume of weeds that come our way during the year. Obviously, the first and most important way to control weeds is “mulch, mulch, mulch!” makes a huge difference. This tip is one I’ve never seen anyone share before, though: CHOOSE YOUR WEEDS. Over the past four years in my garden plot, in a Midwestern climate where a weed will pop up every single hour on a warm July day, I’ve come to favor Oxalis, a low-growing weed that is easy to remove and can occupy a lot of sun-space that other weeds would like to get their hands on. Grass weeds? Out they come. Milkweed? Leave three, pull the rest. Dandelions? Out with their cores! Oxalis? Hang out a while, go to seed, pardon my trimming of your edges. Smartweed is also no big deal, but it’s taller, so when it comes up in a corner, “Hello!” I won’t get too aggressive until it gets on top of something else. The idea of cultivating least-harm weeds is not too different from cultivating a cover crop, except that weeds have one excellent quality that not all cover crops have; they’re WEEDY. They fight to be there and they thrive under all local conditions. So while I have to nip them out of my crops’ way, they’re also covering the soil and leaving their roots to dissolve in the ground every year, without my having to worry about caring for them.
Some easy peasy stuff: stay on top of weeds, do a little every day. Don’t over or under water and don’t over or under fertilize. Make sure the fertilizer you use is best for the type of plant, flowers, trees and vegetables need different mixes. Compost is best but you may have to supplement. You can get the soil tested if you want to be really precise.
This is amazing @epic gardening!! I am from Melbourne trying to stay at home to help with CoVID 19. But what inspires me is the environmental sustainability of gardening and the mediation side of the act of planting and perusal them grow. Love to hear what other Melbourians on here and what are on your JULY planting list.
Been a fan for quite a bit now. Love you website. I jus recently planted patio baby eggplant. Well as dry as it is here. We have had some major extra rain here in Vegas. Anywho.. I noticed a powdery lauer on the leaves. I panicked then took a deep breath. Mixed 1 part Apples cider vinegar/mixed w/three parts water in a spray bottle. Pruned the damned leaves. Now it looks like it’s on the mend. Make sure you keep the other plants away till its much better. Now I know you have this info but thought I would share my experience. I’m growing tobasco peppers and tomatoes too. My lima beans are look’in good too. Thanks for all you do. Stay amazing
Hi Kevin, I’ve been following you for the last several months as I’ve been installing my own raised vegetable garden, and your articles have been really insightful. I have a question regarding drainage; I’m using 128 gal galvanized water troughs from a farm supply retailer. They’re 5x2x2’ and they have a drainage source that I’ve used to run my main irrigation line through and up to the top of the soil, instead. Do the raises beds need drainage outlets? I was thinking of drilling holes abound the bottom of my beds to allow for that but is it necessary? I’m concerned about root rot.
Hi! Loving your articles, so helpful to a new gardener like myself! How would you recommend Fixing the bare soil over winter mistake? 😅 also, please tell me vermiculite in potting soil from a local quarry wasn’t a huge mistake. And we’re adding mulch but how much mulch should i add if I already have moisture retention mixed in?.. Just trying to see what’s lying ahead this season. 😅 thanks!
We just planted our first raised bed last weekend and although I didn’t watch your article I feel pretty confident that we’ll have a decent season after hearing of these mistakes! Random note: This was a recommenced article for me and I didn’t notice when this article was posted but I found it interesting to see a passerby walk by wearing their mask 😷 Goes to show you that’s how we’ll be able to recognize content that was posted during this crazy time in history!
Can you recommend someone to watch who doesn’t live in 72′ California? I like your articles, but I live in Maine which has a lousy growing season, and harsh blizzard-filled winters. Things we have to here for our gardens are similar, but like Arizona gardening, things vary a bit depending on your climate.
Hi from North Yorkshire England. Thanks for 10 brilliant tips! One that springs to mind for me is that if you are planting a raised bed for permanent ornamental use is that soil naturally compacts over time so before you plant up, make sure you press your soil down at regular intervals when filling your raised beds otherwise even though it looks full when your done, you could lose a few inches in height after a few months and if you are growing alpines, that will be disastrous!
Love this article. I have made some of these mistakes and I hope I have learned from them. There are couple of things I would add here. First make sure that your boxes are deep enough to hold an adequate amount of soil for your plant’s root balls. It has been my experience that boxes that are 14 to 18 inches deep work best (my 8 inch deep boxes were not a big success). Second, rotate your crops. Don’t plant the same thing in the same boxes time after time as the soil will become depleted of the nutrients necessary to maintain that particular crop. I like to let the soil in my boxes rest by putting a thick layer of grass clippings on top and then watering once a week or so to aid in the composting process. Before planting again I like to turn the soil and add amendments appropriate to the planned crop. But be careful what you add to the soil. I added some wonderful stuff that we raked out from under our juniper bushes. Unfortunately it was full of palm seeds from the nearby trees. We had a huge crop of glorious tomatoes in amongst the hundreds of little palm trees that sprouted up around the tomato plants. I learned the hard way to screen out the palm seeds before using the compost collected under the juniper plants.
I love how you do layers of veggies from shortest to tallest. I’ve never thought of that before and will be using it in the future. Question: Do you use citrus peels in your compost? Some say yes and some absolutely not but won’t ever give me a reason why? The reason I ask is my family loves oranges but I don’t know if I should use it in my compost. Also, I have 3 gorgeous hydrangeas. One is purple, one is blue, and I found this amazingly vibrant hot pink one that the lady at the farmer’s market grows. I asked her what the secret to keep the hot pink flowers and she told me lime juice and the rinds of the limes. My hot pink one is still fairly new to me but since no one can give me an answer if citrus is good in compost I’m not having to keep a regular compost and a citrus compost (still being to scared to use the orange peels). What is your theory on citrus in your regular compost?
Totally made the soil mistake. I put too much faith in the quality of my local gardener’s store “raised bed mix.” My plants were all super nitrogen deficient!!! They were very yellow and stunted, but I noticed in time so I was able to amend it by adding dilute urine a few times. This fall I plan to add some high quality compost and mulch to help improve the soil quality for next year. A disappointing mistake, to be sure, but glad it was something I could correct in time to still have a productive garden this year!
Thanks for your helpful tips! One thing I would recommend is to put plants with similar nutrient needs in the same raised bed or container. I made the mistake of planting morning glory flowers in the same container as my leafy herbs. I fertilized to support the herbs with a nitrogen-rich fertilizer. They did amazingly, but the morning glories put out a profusion of green leaves, climbed to the roof of my deck and did not produce a single flower!
Mistakes from my first raised beds. 1. Add an insufficient amount of soil. You should always expect the soil to lower a few inches after the first few waterings. 2. Wait a few weeks before planting if you’re adding potting mix soil into the bed. Potting mix has seeds already in their soil and will germinate once watered.
I’m glad the sun is up almost all night in the summer here, since my growing space is a west-facing balcony with a permanent wall at the south side of it. It’s far from ideal, but it will have to do for now. Also: last frost date here is usually around beginning of june, and first frost date around the beginning of september, so… I’m pretty glad if I manage to get anything at all, and mostly grow things for the sake of having an outdoor green space to poke at and learn from. I already have some swiss chard outside under cover, mostly to see what happens. They’ve been out for a couple of weeks now, and seem to be doing well, even with quite a few frost nights.
Great article Kevin! All your tips are well grounded! (Pun intended) One other tip I think may be important for some people is getting the right sized bed. Some folks build their beds way too big and they can’t reach all their plants without stepping into the bed. 🥴🥬🥒 Thanks again for all these wonderful articles….. and many blessings for an amazing gardening season!
An absolute essential if living in an arid, hot climate, is some sort of shade covering. The lightest shade cloth you can find. It will make all the difference. Otherwise those raised beds, become ovens to cook tender roots, and you go through so much water just to keep things alive – but they won’t produce much of anything to harvest. Taste bitter, etc. So just get the shade cloth.
I appreciate these tips but I’m an Arizona gardener of 32 years. Full sun doesn’t work so good here except in fall and winter, Spring.Our summers are too brutal to grow but a few hot weather veggies… eastern is best for cooler morning sun exposure. Because of our Alkaline soil i amend with Good organic soil, Wormcastings, compost, fish Emulsion too!!! 🌻🌼🌸🌺🌹
Hey, like your raised garden bed and your planning. Thanks for the tips! I’ve become more mindful of the possible heat transfer from the sides of the raised bed into the soil. I’m wondering/thinking about how to minimize this. I understand this can contribute to plants bolting near the end of cool season. Any thoughts on this?
I made the equivalent of mistake #1 over 20 years ago when I created my square foot garden. I live on 6 acres of wooded land. At the time I had the area for the garden and pond cleared, put down a wood frame and actually my best year was my first. Each year following my results got worse.. After about 10 years I realized thel problem, the forest was encroaching on my garden. There is now nearly no sunlight on it. I had to make a decision to either cut down several 100 year old oak trees or give up my garden. I gave up the garden. And considering I have 6 acres of land, there is not one spot that gets a full 8 hours of sun a day. I was a novice gardener at the time, on my own, I could not foresee this happening, and to correct it now would be a very tough choice and cost several hundred dollars. I decided I rather put that money toward my future grocery store bills. The trees were here before me, they deserve to be here after me. So if you have a lot of trees, remember they grow in all directions.
Especially if you plant something like tomatoes I recommend putting layers of material in your raised bed. I put in a layer of bigger sticks/wood in as a first layer (ask you neighbours in spring, they’ll provide this for free). Then some chopped sticks, cuttings from bushes (usually you get this also for free). Then some natural soil from your property. Topping this off with some bagged garden soil and or buyed or own compost as final layer. The sticks provide drainage and longerm they*ll decompost and give nutriens (your tomatoes roots will reach this layer before). The chopped matreial will keep moisture and break donw faster (this will provide nutriens when the nutriens from compost layer get lower). The soil/compost layers will be the matreial your plants start with. This provide enough water and nutriens for the start of your plants. This kind of filling is little bit work intensive but you get perfect conditions for your plants for very little money. In addition you mainly use renewable and cheap sources.
Thank you for all your tips they are for gardening is in San Diego, and I’m in the desert! South of Nevada to be exact, we have a very bad soil most is clay and rocks I do use organic mulch a lot, I only grow flowers for now, and I been very successful, consider the location where I’m……. However, I will consider the mistake number one very useful thank you very much!!
Hello epic gardening, wish we saw this article sooner . My husband and I are beginner gardeners, we recently purchased a 12 x 4 x 11″ raised garden bed . Today we went to our local landscaping materials company and purchased 60 % topsoil 30 % cow manure compost and 10% peat moss. While placing all our materials into our raised garden bed we noticed the top soil was almost like a clay Sand and was extremely dry to where it was as though it had rocks. We mixed everything together well and thought by watering it, that it would turn softer. Instead it turned into a clay mud concoction. Is there any recommendations you can give for these first time gardeners?
for herbs i have never run into this problem but with aloe and other indoor plants that dont need to be watered as frequently, how do we tell if we are over watering vs underwatering the plant? Also how do we know which plants can be next to eachother ? I have green onion and dont know where to put it. Will it hurt my other plants?
I have 4 raised beds. Every year, I have to till the soil and remove tree roots that have migrated into them. I don’t want to continue with this ritual as I am getting older. The trees are my neighbor’s and about 30 years old with thick roots, so digging 12 inches down to place barriers is not an option. What can I do that will work to remedy this situation without cementing my backyard?
I live in northeast Zone 5. Landscaping wasn’t as vibrant in 2020-21 as the previous growing season. Long story short, I discovered jumping worms near the compost pile I had been using throughout my entire landscaped areas. Even with using mustard powder solution I’m not sure I can eradicate this problem and so I am considering raised beds. I’m wondering if you have any thoughts on a solution for the jumping worm infestations in different parts of the country. Thank you.
Hey love the Teal color themed but also consider building a treehouse over just a house that tears down the forest. Trees should be building blocks no tearing blocks. It can be funky and swirlyio just needs a bit of adjusting imagination and blueprinting and there we go and inventive you might get more followers because your not just helping humanity but your helping the World. We are not only making websites grow but It inspire others to experiment and YouTube websites will grow when we choose to help the world 2 ways in one stone. Building a tree house and putting gardens in it. It can maybe make new species
Nice article. I have a question though. Do you have any issue with invasive roots and if so, how do you handle it? I have a small backyard garden but roots from my neighbor’s shrubs and trees are making it difficult for my garden. I did try a root barrier, but the roots somehow still found the garden and now the soil is completely dry.
I made a mistake this year! I have 150 five gallon buckets and milk crates. I bought two yard bags of triple mix !!! I mixed triple mix, with compost manure. 20 plants DIED!!!! So I went out and bought premium potting soil and more spagnum peat moss and more manure so mixed all together 🥴🥴🥴 Expensive mistake ! FYI Hot peppers do not like peat moss manure with triple mix in a bucket. They will die ☹️
Do you add insects to your raised gardens? Ant colonies seem to do wonders for the soil around a plant. Otherwise, how do you keep aphids from chewing everything up. I tried planting eggplants; they grew so well in this super hot climate. But every morning, when checking on them to water, I could see that 1/4 of the leaves were full of holes, and the holes got bigger and more numerous each day. Eggplants do have succulent broad leaves; but perhaps they are just too succulent to last long. Import ladybugs, maybe?
I think a lot of first time urban gardeners don’t realize that you can’t just take the topsoil from your yard and plop it in a raised bed an expect it to grow vegetables. Most yard topsoil is either nutrient-exhausted (because all we grow on it is grass and it’s never replenished by fallen decomposing material) and/or contains too many contaminants. Rich natural soils take hundreds if not thousands of years to make by nature alone; you have to make your own if you’re planning on gardening where natural soils have been scoured by urbanization.
I would say plant, feed and maintain a green thumb, it’s not natural, one might be raised in a family of gardeners and seem to be born with one but it was picked up by modeling. Paying attention to those who have success and following their examples, Reading, studying, perusal gardening sites. Making mistakes and querering why. Every year we have a fresh palate. Expirience is the best teacher if we learn what works and what doesn’t. Develope your own “green thumb”👍
Leave enough room to easily fit a push mower between the beds. If a mower can fit, so can you. Higher the raised bed the LESS bending over.Less chance of animals bothering your stuff. Make a plan-a-gram for your garden. It is a kind of map. About watering – make sure you have easy access to water for your garden. No fun bucket toting water every day. Raised beds will dry out quicker than normal gardens. Generally, you might want tall plants on the west side of the garden to shade the garden on the hot summer sun. Best sunlight is the 1st 1/2 day then filtered shade the remainder. Give concern about neighborhood thieves and vandals too. Big juicy tomatoes will attract the unwanted 2-legged animals who can clean out your crop. Raccoons can be a problem too. They eat the same things that we usually eat. Place a pan of water out for them. Put in a handful of Epsom salt in the water. Won’t hurt them but they will go elsewhere since they don’t like the taste. Make sure you leave no other sources of water around. An interesting garden design is floating gardens. Or gardening on a raft.
New gardner, no clue where to start,I’m in uk would I have to get a green house to grow anything would I have to cover the veg to protect them in bad weather not sure what months to plant and harvest prune etc uk only seems to have few weeks of nice weather will veg still grow out side and what’s best to stop slugs from eating my veg hurt eggshells baked and then put round them is there other options without chemicals want to try and be organic ?what steps would I need to follow to grow organically
Hi 🙂 new to the website and to zone 9b of florida’s panhandle… i have 12″ raised beds and added regular top soil and some compost, but all of my plants – flowers and veggies – are only about 2 inches high and have stopped growing 🙁 i planted them in march! we have the rainbird misters on them and i water 30 min in morning and then 15min after 6:00pm. What is wrong? i tried the fish spray and liquid feed and espoma plant food pellets and nothing works 🙁 HELP, please.
If you plant a bunch of stuff and give it zero time and effort you will probably end up with nothing. If you plant and are willing to put in the time and effort it deserves then you will benefit greatly from your efforts and naturally learn more each season. Kids can do it, pretty much anyone can, you just need to be willing to.
I have ducks and geese that free-range and get into everything. Last year I had a lot of success using recycled wood palates flat on ground then kiddie pools placed on top! The kids stabbed a hundred or more holes in them before we filled all of them with dirt, duck compost, shredded straw, worms, and tiny bits of decayed wood. Excellent way if your on a tight budget. We had everything laying around. And we used dollar store seeds. Didnt want to waste my good seeds yet just in case it didn’t work well… It works great to keep my birds and animals out. Also great for bug control. Creatures have a hard time getting up the sides of the slick plastic pool. Next season I want to upgrade to the kind of raised beds you have. The pools still work great for the kids garden! Thank you for all the wounderful tips. Love from a fellow Cali Skatergirl. 💕 ( Now transplanted in Washington state. So glad we moved here for the better climate & water 💧 supply).
I don’t have advise for anyone since this will be my first year planting outside as I usually grow my food inside (half of my dinning room is dedicated to food plants and underwater plants lol). I am just excited to get started outside as it took a few years after we bought out house to control the complete over growth (the house was abandoned before) so now I’m ready and no one in my family gardens or has a knack for it. So I’m just hear to tell anyone who will read this that I am planting corn, Tomatoes, jalapeños, Pablanos, pumpkins, watermelons, cucumber, zucchini, kale, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, elderberries, and lettuce. I know some of these will take years to start producing. I also have chickens this year so this will be great to let them fertilize the souls before I start planting outdoors. One thing I have a lot of is raccoons, bunnies and squirrels. Any advise on how to protect the plants from these animals would be great.