vegetables and herbs... i have a basic layout and location, but wher ei do i need to start in teh acualy construction?
If you have never gardened before, you may want to have your soil tested first. You can usually get kits from the internet and local universities will often test it for free. They will be able to tell you what is in your soil and in most cases what you can add for optimum growth of your veggies and herbs.
Try these sites, they should get you started: http://eartheasy.com/grow_raised_beds.htm http://muextension.missouri.edu/explore/agguides/hort/g06985.htm For treated wood alternatives - http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-5-22-35,00.html Peace & happy gardening poor_old_dad
An alternative to constructing raised beds is to use bags of mushroom compost and stack it up to form the raised beds. It is a no-dig way to go and would be cheaper than filling raised vege boxes with good organic soil. Friends of ours were inspired to plant a vege patch after seeing ours and they planted their's using the mushroom compost method. When we visited them weeks later their plants were HUGE compared to our own which had been in for a couple of months. It was truly amazing and I know I'll be giving it a go myself next season. The heat is held in by the compost and the plants go crazy! Try it for raised beds if u can get your hands on some! happy gardening and let us know how u go! August x
Oh and Gertie, PM me if u would like any more help. I'm more than happy to pass on what I know! peace
i prefer to do most of my herbs in pots as some tend to be invasive, but some herbsd are good companion plants, so those i will plant in with the veggies. be creative with what you use to make your beds with, and take time to make it look nice, it will make you happier and more likely to be in the garde, and your plants will beneifit. i try to avoid wood, for constucting my beds, because most lumber is treated with arsenic, it would be nice to use railroad ties, but i believe they are treated with diesel fuel or something. you want to go organic when you grow, so the materials you use to build the beds are an important, sometimes ovelooked, consideration. i like to have a layer of rocks down first, to help with aeration, and to save on the amount of soil i need to add. i also find it best to mix the native soil with your soil mix and compost if possible, this lends twords happier hardier plants. some creative building materials ive seen are different colored bottles lined up, forms of primitive cement, rocks, firewood, raw logs. i tend to avoid using wood because i like to make my beds in curves and organic shaped, and wood is expensive and hard to comeby, and more so when you want to make some curves.
Gertie , ypou have not said where you are from and what kind of climate you have.Remember this with vegetables, they are far more high maintenance than shrubs when it comes to weeding and watering.Also you must have a minimum of fours' direct sunlight each day. Presumably you want raised beds because you don't have to bend over.However it is much more work to start with.If you are starting from scratch , you might lie to think about keyhole gardening.That is to say the shape of the pathes is the shape of a keyhole.What so many people fail to understand is that you have GET THE SOIL RIGHT! So many people te over their plants and pay scant regard to the soil.Make a fuss over the soil and you will on the way to getting everythig else right.
