Content
- Create a raised bed properly
- When is the best time to set up the raised bed?
- The selection of the right vegetables for the raised bed
- variety selection
- Sowing or planting?
- crop planning
- crop rotation
- Optimum utilization of the different nutrient composition in the raised bed
- mixed culture
- Tips
The raised bed brings many advantages
Create a raised bed properly
If you plan to grow vegetables properly, you can feed your own garden almost all year round. If you also set up your raised bed appropriately, you can store all the tools you need, for example in integrated compartments and shelves.
When is the best time to set up the raised bed?
If possible, compost raised beds should be laid out in the fall so that they can ripen over the winter and finally fill up with fresh soil in the spring. To avoid collapse of the bed, if you have just planted it. In addition, your plants will have more nutrients available with this method. Raised beds, which are only filled with soil, can also be set up just before planting in spring - there is no risk of collapse here.
The selection of the right vegetables for the raised bed
If you are still a beginner in the field of raised bed gardening, first choose as easy as possible to draw vegetables such as lettuce, radishes, basil, zucchini, tomatoes and pumpkin. Even beans and peas grow almost by itself - as well as parsley, chives, leek or celery. In this way, you can gain a sense of achievement and calmly build up the necessary expertise.
variety selection
Do not plant or sow any salad, but consider the variety. Especially in the case of cabbage, lettuce, celery and carrots, there are special varieties on the market, which were created especially for cultivation at different times of the year. With such varieties, many types of vegetables can be grown all year round. For example, "early" varieties of lettuce tolerate cold temperatures better, but late varieties do not bother the heat in summer and they do not flower prematurely. This flower formation before the time is called in the jargon also "shooting" or, depending on the region, "shooting". In particular, leafy vegetables such as lettuce, spinach and chard, as well as many herbs, tend to do so in the event of frequent weather changes, high heat or delayed planting.
Sowing or planting?
Many vegetables are sown directly in the raised bed. In some sensitive species such as tomatoes, however, the summer, which is quite short in our latitudes, is not enough to give the plant enough time to ripen fruit. The gardener avoids this problem with a simple trick: he simply pulls sensitive vegetables on the windowsill, in the cold frame or in the greenhouse. These early seedlings have a head start of up to eight weeks - in this way you can make optimal use of the valuable, limited cultivation area in the raised bed. Then sow directly into the raised bed only vegetables such as carrots or radishes, which can not be preferred.
crop planning
In the garden, the correct cultivation planning is quite complicated: It must be observed crop rotation, not planted certain vegetables next to others and after a season a break are inserted. Gardeners are more independent in the raised bed of many factors: For example, many years in a row, the same types of vegetables can always be grown on the same spot. After all, every year new soil is replenished. Nevertheless, it makes sense if you also observe a few basic rules of crop rotation and mixed culture in the raised bed.
crop rotation
Especially in the raised bed the crop rotation is to be considered
As crop rotation or change is called the annual cultivation change of various vegetables. The reason for this is that vegetables from the same plant families should only grow on the same area in the same soil at a distance of three to four years. This prevents pathogens such as fungi or nematodes from spreading in the soil. Especially cruciferous vegetables, which include all types of cabbage, but also rocket, garden cress, kohlrabi and radish are susceptible to resulting diseases. In these cases, the cabbage hernia would destroy the crop. It is a root disease whose pathogen persists for many years in the soil.
Optimum utilization of the different nutrient composition in the raised bed
A second aspect that is taken into account in crop rotation is the nutrient requirement. Vegetables and herbs are classified into high, medium and low levels of acidity, depending on how much nutrients they need for healthy growth. In a classic raised bed with compost layering, the nutrient supply in the first year is very high - ideal for starvation. In the second year then followed by middle and next year weaker. A crop rotation in the raised bed could look like this:
Of course, you can also plant medium and low-level waste in the first year. They will then grow a bit more luscious and many nutrients will remain unused, but the cultivation still works.
mixed culture
Another strategy for as much variety in the bed - and thus a lower susceptibility to disease - is the mixed culture. Again, the nutritional needs of different plants is taken into account, so you plant as heavy-duty next to the weaker (so they do not get in each other's way), but also shallow roots next to deep root. This method has several advantages: All nutrients are optimally utilized, and there are no gaps in the bed due to the denser planting. In addition, some species move in their growth, while others impede each other.
Tips
So you do not have to harvest all the vegetables at once and then do not know where to put them: plant or sow at intervals of two to four weeks, only small amounts of carrots, lettuce, beans or peas. This will only harvest a small amount that you can easily consume until the next set is harvested.