Wednesday, May 2, 2012

RAISED GARDEN BEDS IN THE CITY

A couple of years ago, I built three raised beds in the backyard.  Our postage stamp sized city yard has no grass, it's mostly all concrete patio, deck and garage.  There was a small patch of "dirt" in the back corner, where a tree used to be, and so I thought that would be a great place to put a few raised beds.  Since we didn't own the farm at the time and it wasn't on our immediate future radar, it seemed liked the perfect plan. It's an oddly shaped space so I was only able to put in three beds.

A 5'x'5' square, a 3'x'3' square, and a 2'x'3' rectangle.

Last year, with the farm pre-closing stuff going on, and then trying to start the remodeling, not to mention our epic drought, I just let them go.  This year though, since I ran out of time to get a large garden built at the farm, I figured I'd live vicariously through fixing up these three small beds.  So last weekend, I started cleaning them up and getting them ready for planting, it's fun having something else to garden.  I'm going to have plenty of planting to do at the farm, more fruit trees and bushes and flowers and other landscaping plants, so a smaller scale but hopefully productive garden, will definitely keep me busy.

Ichiban Asian Eggplant in a raised bed
Above is the first one I worked on.  It's the 2'x3' one.  I practiced Square Foot Gardening in these beds in seasons past, but this year, I'm just planting a few things we want to grow since I'm getting a late start.  This bed has two Ichiban Japanese eggplants.  I grew one a couple of seasons ago and it was very prolific, producing all summer long.  I figured two in this bed would give us plenty. 

Beefsteak Heirloom Tomato in raised bed
In this bed, which is a 3'x3' square, I put one tomato plant.  It looks kind of lonely, ha, but it's an heirloom Beefsteak tomato.  I grew one a few years back and since it was indeterminate, it got HUGE (and gave us a lot of tomatoes in the process, hoping for that again).  A 3'x'3' is about the right size for it.  I might plant some herbs around the edges just to grow a little something else.

Side note; these are plants I bought that were already grown at a local nursery, not a big box chain.  They are non hybrid, heirloom plants.
I have one last raised bed, the largest 5'x5', and I'm going to get it fixed up this weekend.  Not sure what I'm putting in there, but I'll keep you posted.

17 comments:

  1. Nice looking beds! I planted onions and greens around my tomatoes because they're slow to grow and by the time they're big enough to take over space I'll harvest my greens and onions :)

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    1. Oooh, great idea! I wonder if it's too late for onions down here? Maybe not, can't hurt to try huh? Greens for sure. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  2. If I could only grow a couple things, I'd give up some space for canteloupe--Nothing better on a hot, late summer day.........

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    1. OMG, I LOVE canteloupe! Can't have any in town, but maybe I should dig a small patch at the farm and see if I can get some, ha. You know I blogged about Blue Bell ice cream last week, they have a special canteloupe ice cream in the summer. It sounds weird, but it's SO good. Dang, now I'm hungry, ha.

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    2. Why can't you have canteloupe in town? If it's due to space constraints, then grow it up instead of out. You can put together a quick trellis and train the plants up onto it. Not only takes up less horizontal space, but it keeps your fruits off the ground. =)

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    3. You know, that's a very good point. I could to "up". Hmmm, let me see what I can come up with. I'll keep you posted. thanks for the suggestion.

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  3. I am missing my garden, I wonder what it will look like when I go and visit this weekend!

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    1. I know the feeling!! Has there been rain while you were gone? If so, it might be doing better than you think. Of course you might have some weeds to pull. But hey, as we know, gardening is therapy! Pull those weeds and enjoy! :-)

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    2. Tons of rain - non stop!

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  4. Nothing better than veggies you have grown yourself :O)

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    1. And they taste ten times better than anything in the stores, huh?

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  5. I think no matter where I live I will have to have some kind of garden. Even a few raised beds is better than nothing. Good luck with yours.

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    1. Thank you, it's small, not what we'll have on the farm eventually, but every little bit brings me that much closer to the dream come trus, so I can't complain, right? LOL! Thanks. You're blog is an inspiration by the way!

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  6. Nice job! Do some "companion" planting by your beefsteak tomato - basil is my choice!

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    1. Love basil, that's a nice suggestion, thank you.

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  7. Tomatoes and carrots are great companion plants

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    1. Hmm, didn't think about carrots either. Might just try that in the other bed (since I want to have another tomato plant or two, ha).

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