Im currently living at home and have in the past six months gotten into gardening. Before those six months i never really liked gardening. Not a huge fan of getting dirty and being in a garden (bugs etc). However when i came across a magazine (UrbanFarmer) with an article about raised garden beds, i was intrigued. The idea of having a garden in a box was much more appealing. I have always liked things that were utilitarian and not being a sheep to society. Buying things when you can make or grow them yourself. Being self reliant. So it wasn't a shock for very long to learn of my unknown to me green thumb.
I searched the Urban Farmer website and found an article right up my alley: http://www.urbanfarmonline.com/urban-farm-magazine-and-books/urban-farm-exclusives/how-to-build-a-raised-bed.aspx . These are the directions i followed in creating my raised garden bed. But i didnt like the idea of using wood for the garden bed. Mainly because it had to be replaced every 3 seasons. In looking around i found what i ended up buying, which is the Scenery Solutions Raised Garden Bed (4"x8"x12"). http://www.scenery-solutions.com/raised-garden-4-x8-x12.html
I got it setup on October 6, 2012. On the 20th I bought the dirt and put it in the bed (Local Nursery gardening soil and fertilizer soil. 50/50 mixed them into the bed). The same day i also put up the Green-Housing and planted a few rows of carrots. However i planted them wrong (3-4" deep instead of 1/8") so they never did anything more than germinate. As you can see in the pictures, four months later (March 2013) i had a lot of weeds growing. I also had a moss growth, I am not sure what from. I removed it (basically an inch of top-soil).
On March 10 2013 I planted three rows of seeds. The first row is of Lettuce (Bon Vivant Blend, Ed Hume). The second row is of Lettuce (Great Lakes, Ed Hume). The third row is of Carrots (Danvers Half Long, Ed Hume).
On March 13 2013 I bought and planted more. In the fourth row i planted four Romaine Lettuce plants, along with four Asparagus plants. In the fifth row i planted three Shuksan Strawberry plants. In the sixth row i planed four Hood Strawberry plants. (All the plants were bought from the local Nursery). If your looking at the Asparagus and thinking "somethings not right", I recently (as in yesterday) realized i planted them upside-down. I correctly replanted them and i don't think it will be an issue, seeing as how the exposed roots if not planted would be sitting in a bag in the garage (like the extra Asparagus roots are) and my Green-Housing keeps the bed warmer at night than if they were planted in the exposed regular garden.
On March 19th, I first started seeing Lettuce germination. On the 25th there was lots of Lettuce germination and the Carrots were germinating. Since then as you can see in the pictures everything has been growing great. I have been worried about the tiny Romaine seedling, but as shown it seems to be re-sprouting from the top and i'm excited to see if it makes it to full growth.
This weekend (assuming its not pouring rain) will be when i go out and thin. A tip i saw and plan on using is instead of disturbing the soil when pulling the Lettuce or Carrots, to get scissors and cut the seedlings that are to be thinned. That way they die off naturally and decompose in the dirt not disturbing any other plants around them.
As for the rest of my bed which is un-planted, I needed to wait a bit longer to plant some Cucumber (Spacemaster, Compact Bush, Ed Hume) and either more Strawberries (as you can see in the pictures, the black buckets are how the local Nursery sells Strawberries, so there are quite a bit left to be planted) or possibly Green Beans (Contender, Early Bush Bean, Ed Hume).
I searched the Urban Farmer website and found an article right up my alley: http://www.urbanfarmonline.com/urban-farm-magazine-and-books/urban-farm-exclusives/how-to-build-a-raised-bed.aspx . These are the directions i followed in creating my raised garden bed. But i didnt like the idea of using wood for the garden bed. Mainly because it had to be replaced every 3 seasons. In looking around i found what i ended up buying, which is the Scenery Solutions Raised Garden Bed (4"x8"x12"). http://www.scenery-solutions.com/raised-garden-4-x8-x12.html
I got it setup on October 6, 2012. On the 20th I bought the dirt and put it in the bed (Local Nursery gardening soil and fertilizer soil. 50/50 mixed them into the bed). The same day i also put up the Green-Housing and planted a few rows of carrots. However i planted them wrong (3-4" deep instead of 1/8") so they never did anything more than germinate. As you can see in the pictures, four months later (March 2013) i had a lot of weeds growing. I also had a moss growth, I am not sure what from. I removed it (basically an inch of top-soil).
On March 10 2013 I planted three rows of seeds. The first row is of Lettuce (Bon Vivant Blend, Ed Hume). The second row is of Lettuce (Great Lakes, Ed Hume). The third row is of Carrots (Danvers Half Long, Ed Hume).
On March 13 2013 I bought and planted more. In the fourth row i planted four Romaine Lettuce plants, along with four Asparagus plants. In the fifth row i planted three Shuksan Strawberry plants. In the sixth row i planed four Hood Strawberry plants. (All the plants were bought from the local Nursery). If your looking at the Asparagus and thinking "somethings not right", I recently (as in yesterday) realized i planted them upside-down. I correctly replanted them and i don't think it will be an issue, seeing as how the exposed roots if not planted would be sitting in a bag in the garage (like the extra Asparagus roots are) and my Green-Housing keeps the bed warmer at night than if they were planted in the exposed regular garden.
On March 19th, I first started seeing Lettuce germination. On the 25th there was lots of Lettuce germination and the Carrots were germinating. Since then as you can see in the pictures everything has been growing great. I have been worried about the tiny Romaine seedling, but as shown it seems to be re-sprouting from the top and i'm excited to see if it makes it to full growth.
This weekend (assuming its not pouring rain) will be when i go out and thin. A tip i saw and plan on using is instead of disturbing the soil when pulling the Lettuce or Carrots, to get scissors and cut the seedlings that are to be thinned. That way they die off naturally and decompose in the dirt not disturbing any other plants around them.
As for the rest of my bed which is un-planted, I needed to wait a bit longer to plant some Cucumber (Spacemaster, Compact Bush, Ed Hume) and either more Strawberries (as you can see in the pictures, the black buckets are how the local Nursery sells Strawberries, so there are quite a bit left to be planted) or possibly Green Beans (Contender, Early Bush Bean, Ed Hume).