Are you looking for ways to maximize your garden space? You might be thinking of using a raised vegetable garden bed or a square foot garden. How should you build your bed or arrange your vegetables to maximize space? What are some useful tips on raised vegetable gardening? This article will answer these questions and more.
Raised Bed Vegetable Gardening: What, Why, and When?
Raised bed vegetable gardening is simply growing vegetables in a raised garden plot. Gardeners grow vegetables in a raised bed for reasons such as:
- Accessibility of Land: Many people who live in the city or who don’t have access to a large area for gardening can grow vegetables in a raised bed.
- Suitability of Soil: If your garden soil is not suitable for the vegetables that you want to grow, you can use a suitable soil mix in a raised bed.
- Easier Gardening: Gardening does not have to be strenuous. With a raised bed, you do not have to bend down or kneel to plant, care for, and harvest your vegetables.
- Aesthetics: Raised beds add an extra touch of beauty to the garden. Visit a few gardens with raised beds and you will notice that they are more aesthetically pleasing than most flat gardens.
- Longer Growing Season: Soil in a raised bed warms up quickly, so you can start your vegetables in a raised bed while other gardeners wait for their soil to warm up.
Raised beds have many benefits. Continue reading to find out how to build a raised bed to enjoy the benefits of raised bed vegetable gardening.
Do you want to build a raised bed garden? Are you looking for raised bed ideas or plans? Have you constructed a raised bed and are looking for ways to maximize your yield?
Plans for Your Raised Bed Vegetable Garden
Most gardeners who build raised beds want to make a square-foot garden. Square foot gardening is the practice of separating your growing area into squares that usually 1 foot long and wide. With a square foot garden, you can grow many crops in limited space (i.e., your raised bed.)
The plans of different raised beds that have already been converted to a square foot garden are below. If you don’t want to practice square foot gardening, ignore the squares in the plans and use the design idea for your raised bed.
The plans of raised garden beds that are included in this article are:
- Square raised bed
- Rectangular raised bed
- L-shaped raised garden bed
- U-shaped raised garden bed
Are you ready?
1. Square-Shaped Raised Bed
We used 4 x 4 ft. design for the square-shaped garden plan above. Note that the width of any raised bed should not go beyond 4 feet so you can reach the plants in the middle.
If you want to practice square foot gardening, know your vegetables’ height and light requirement. Vegetables that climb or grow tall like indeterminateAlso called pole or vine tomatoes, these tomato varieties will continue to grow and produce fruits till the start of frost. Unlike determinate tomatoes, these tomatoes require trellises or stakes to grow. If you grow indeterminate tomatoes, you can harvest tomato fruits weekly until frost. tomatoes, watermelons, cucumbers, and other vines should be planted in the northern squares (i.e., 1, 2, 3, and 4) or the middle squares (I.e., 6, 7, 10, and 11).
Grow climbing plants in the northern or middle squares. In another location, they could prevent sunlight from reaching other plants. If you plant climbing vegetables in the middle squares, you should plant shade-tolerant vegetables in the northern squares.
2. Rectangular Raised Bed
The diagram above is a plan for an 8 x 4 ft. vegetable garden bed. Remember that the width of raised beds should not exceed 4 feet. When building your raised bed, you could design it to be 6 x 3 ft. or 5 x 4 ft. depending on your space or needs.
TIP: When constructing side-by-side raised beds, provide 2-3 ft. of space between the raised beds to give room for you to walk between them.
The plan above gives square foot gardeners 32 squares to grow their favorite vegetables. If you want to practice square foot gardening with a vegetable like tomatoes, you have 16 squares to grow bushA plant without a distinct trunk, short, and has a lot of leaves (i.e. thick shrub). An example of a bush is bush tomatoes. and vine tomatoes. You should learn the best methods to grow tomatoes in a square foot garden.
Remember that you should grow tall or climbing plants in the middle or northern squares.
3. L-Shaped Raised Garden Bed
Don’t you think L-shaped raised beds are beautiful? With this raised bed, you have enough space to reach your vegetables as you walk and work. You can construct L-shaped raised beds at the edges of your garden or backyard.
If you want to practice square foot gardening in a 12 x 12 ft. L-shaped raised bed, you will have eighty squares to grow your favorite vegetables. That’s a lot of squares and will probably produce a yield that is more than you and your family need. You can either share your harvest with friends and neighbors or reduce the bed dimensions to 8 x 8 ft. for 48 squares.
4. U-Shaped Raised Vegetable Garden Bed
This is a great raised bed design. Many gardeners install a door in their U-shaped raised beds for fun. A U-shaped raised bed contains an equal amount of space as an L-shaped raised bed, but a U-shaped raised bed takes less space and is, well, fancier.
Square foot gardening practices in U-shaped and L-shaped raised beds are the same. Make sure that you consider the height of your vegetables when planting them in any shape square-foot garden.
So far, we have discussed only two dimensions in the shape of your raised bed, length and width. What about the depth of your raised bed?
How Deep Should Raised Vegetable Garden Beds Be?
The depth of every raised bed depends on the required soil depth of the plants. The minimum depth a raised bed should be is 12 inches. Depending on the requirement of different vegetables, a raised bed could be 12 to 36 inches deep. You could also choose to make your raised bed the height of your waist.
Examples of shallow-rooted plants that can do well in 12-18 inches soil depth are:
- Kale
- Ginger
- Lettuce
- Cabbage
- Lemongrass
Some medium-rooted plants that require a minimum of 18-24 inches soil depth are:
- Carrots
- Cucumbers
- Cantaloupes
- Sweet peppers
- Summer squash
Examples of deep-rooted plants (24-36 inches soil depth) are:
- Yam
- Tomatoes
- Asparagus
- Watermelon
- Sweet potatoes
The kind of vegetable that you want to grow determines the depth of your raised vegetable garden bed.
Do you want extra tips on raised bed vegetable gardening? Keep reading.
Raised Vegetable Gardening Tips
Below are tips on raised bed vegetable gardening.
- Water: Raised beds usually drain water faster. You must water your vegetables regularly. To save time spent watering, install an irrigation system.
- Trellis: You can maximize space by caging plants that climb or installing trellises or stakes. Remember that trellises should be at the northern end of your raised bed.
- Soil: Generally, the soil mix in your raised bed should be 40% topsoil, 40% compostAn organic matter made from decomposed plant materials. Compost is often made from decomposing shredded leaves, hay, fruits, and other plant materials at a ratio of 25 part dry brown materials to 1 part fresh green materials., and 20% material that increases soil porosity and drainage, such as perlite.
- Companion plants: You should grow vegetables that are beneficial to other plants. According to the type of vegetables, companion plants (such as lemon balm and sunflowers) can attract beneficial insects, increase soil nutrients (such as beans and peas), or even repel harmful insects (such as lemongrass and lavender).
- Square Foot Gardening: Square foot gardening is the easiest and most rewarding method of growing vegetables in a raised bed, especially if you do not have access to land or suitable soil.
Conclusion
Raised bed vegetable gardening improves your yield and the beauty of your garden, even in the smallest space. The plan of your raised bed can be square, rectangular, L-shaped, or U-shaped. To get more harvest, you should consider using a square foot garden method.
Take care of your raised bed vegetables by watering them regularly or making an irrigation system. You should use a nutritious and well-drained soil in your raised bed.
Which of the plans shared in this article will you choose to build? Will you make a square foot garden? Share your thoughts in the commend section below.
