Content
- Ideas for planting the raised bed
- What comes in the raised bed?
- Large selection of vegetables
- Annual and perennial herbs
- Berry fruit and other fruit trees
- An ornamental garden in the raised bed
- So plant the raised bed
- direct sowing
- Planting young plants
- Tips
Who plans well, can enjoy several harvests per year from the raised bed
Ideas for planting the raised bed
Such a raised bed can be planted very varied, according to your ideas. You can design a practical kitchen garden with fresh fruit and leafy vegetables, but also a delicious snack garden or even a flowerbed. Only plants that take up or down a lot of space, should better get a different location - otherwise the raised bed is quickly full and the limited space is only insufficiently utilized.
Early item mini raised bed for balcony and roof terraceWhat comes in the raised bed?
Crops such as vegetables, herbs and fruits such as strawberries, currants or gooseberries feel comfortable in the raised bed. But also shrubs, grasses, onion and summer flowers and small shrubs thrive here.
Large selection of vegetables
The nutrient-rich soil in the classic raised bed is ideal for hungry vegetables such as cabbage, celery, tomatoes and zucchini. But less nutritious vegetables such as radishes and lettuce, carrots, spinach, beetroot and Swiss chard or more modest ones such as onions, peas and bush beans thrive in the raised bed. When planting, you should rather the growth than the nutrient requirements of the individual plants keep an eye on: If you already gardening at hip level, make up high awake plants such as cherry tomatoes or runner beans sense - by the end of June at the latest you need a ladder for care and harvest. Even plants that grow strongly in width (such as zucchini) take away a lot of valuable space in the raised bed and should therefore be better cultivated individually.
Annual and perennial herbs
Kitchen herbs such as parsley, chives, lovage, chervil and dill thrive excellently and profit from the protected growing conditions. Be sure to plant biennial and perennial herbs on the edges, so that they will not get in the way of the autumnal clearing of the raised bed. Mediterranean herbs such as thyme, hyssop, rosemary, oregano, sage and curry grow too well in a compost raised bed and develop little flavor. You need your own raised bed with lean soil. Perfect are, for example, the sides of a Euro pallet raised bed, in which you can easily integrate planters.
Berry fruit and other fruit trees
Picking is easier in the raised bed
Of course, strawberries should not be missing in any snack garden. But also many berry bushes feel well here, as long as you choose small-sized species and varieties. Red and white currants and the related black currant thrive in a raised bed with potted soil or commercial potting soil outstanding. For blueberries that do not like lime and prefer acidic, humus-rich soil, raised beds filled with moorland peat are ideal. Gooseberries should definitely be powdery mildew and spiny varieties that are easier to care for and to harvest. For a large tree or vigorous blackberries, however, a ground-level garden is more suitable.
An ornamental garden in the raised bed
Most perennials are perennial, d. H. they survive the winter and drive out of the rootstock every year. Evergreen species show their foliage even throughout the year. For perennials, grasses and roses, it is best to use a roof garden substrate, which usually consists of garden soil and lava granules, or a high-quality potted plant soil with a high content of clay or sand. Compost or pure bedding and balcony potting soil decomposes too fast, so you have to fill in new soil every year. Perennials blend well with onion flowers such as crocus, tulips and daffodils as well as one-year-old summer flowers.
So plant the raised bed
In spring, you can sow many vegetables, herbs and flowers directly into the raised bed. If you use a cold-bed attachment (there are pas for many ready-made beds), the season can even start around two to three weeks earlier. In addition, many plants can be preferred from February on the windowsill and can then already as young plants in the bed.
direct sowing
For compost raised beds, you should first fill a five-centimeter thick layer of seed soil in the bed, as pure compost is too nutrient-rich for many seeds. The soil should be fine crumbly and slightly moist. Place large seeds such as zucchini, cucumbers or pumpkin in the bed with the tip so that they are about three to four centimeters deep in the ground. Bush beans and peas, on the other hand, are sown in clumps of three to five seeds per hole. Cover these seeds about two to three inches high with soil. Fine seeds are sown directly from the bag in rows or over a wide area on the bed surface. Sowing is more even if you mix the seeds with fine sand first. Saatbänder or plates have proved to be very practical, in which the grains are already inserted at the correct planting distance.
Planting young plants
With early seedlings, you can make the most of the space available in the raised bed, as it allows the vegetables to ripen faster and you can then make subsequent sowing or planting. You can put salad, spinach, chard and cabbage in the raised bed as early as March / April. A cover made of antifreeze fleece helps against cold nights.On the other hand, plants that are sensitive to cold and frost, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini and pumpkins, are not planted outdoors until the middle or end of May. Eggplant and Chinese cabbage will not be released until late May / early June. Even late maturing cabbages such as broccoli, Romanesco and cauliflower are planted in June / July.
Tips
Under protective foil or glass, plants grow better and faster than in the open bed. With a cold frame raised bed, you can actually start the gardening season from the middle of February with the sowing of lettuce, lamb's lettuce, pork lettuce and garden cress.