Planning a Raised Vegetable Bed

Dummy

I will be starting to construct my 2 raised vegetable beds next week. This is all new to me so I am looking for some guidance please on what to attempt to grow.

Well for starters, we have all agreed on lettuce but have no idea on variety. Any suggestions for this novice gardiner?

Also can anyone suggest some else that is easy for the beginner and fast growing?

Is it possible to get our complete supply of lettuce from such beds for the Summer do you think?


Regards,

D

Oliverdog

Try 'Salad Bowl' lettuce - you can pick off the leaves you need and keep the main plant growing.
This overcomes the problem of sowing lettuce seeds weekly for succession, and then having them all come up together on the week you go on holidays.

Good luck with your veggie beds - you'll have a lot of fun.

davenewt

Check some sites or simply pick up a good book. You can't go far wrong...

Will dig out a few links I found when starting to grow my own veg last year, hope they help - see below.

Really though, the best tip is just to get stuck in - mistakes will more than likely happen, slugs will appear, some veg will wilt and die.... and if you plant 6 courgette plants all at the same time, you'll end up with a mountain of courgettes and it'll put you off them for at least the next year, if not life but the successes you do have will be all the sweeter for it.

A good place to start for some info, and if you need to stock up on some seeds, a lot of people here (myself included) would recommend seedaholic (in Westport) - http://www.seedaholic.com/ - they supply good instructions/advice with their seeds.

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Search.aspx
http://www.kitchengarden.co.uk/forum/
http://www.vegetablegardener.com/
http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/

Good luck, and enjoy!
D.

EDIT: Mods, how about a sticky on 'veg patch advice' ?!? Am sure it'd be useful to lots of people.

Aeneas

1. Size of Raised Beds: Beds can be any length but I think it is best, if possible, to keep them to a maximum of 4ft wide. Any wider than this makes reaching into the centre difficult for sowing, planting and weeding. It's also a good idea, from a practical point of view, to make all your beds the same size. This aids rotation and planning, and if you need fleece or other forms of cover or supports you can transfer them easily between beds.
2. Lettuce: I agree that the cut and come again method is best. With this you do not cut the whole head of lettuce but take the leaves as you need them. Almost all lettuces will provide a good continuous supply of leaves this way. Try a few varieties - a soft butterhead like Suttons Unrivalled (one of my favourites), a crunchy cos like Unwin's Lobjoits Green or Little Gem, and a red like Lollo Rossa. You might like to try Rocket also for your salads. Three or four of each plant will give you leaves for a month or so. You can sow in succession - every three or four weeks - to keep you supplied over the summer. Lettuces take up a fair bit of room. They need a minimum of about 9ins each way between plants.
3. Other easy Plants: radishes, spring onions, beetroot, carrot, parsnip, peas, broad beans, perpetual spinach, Swiss chard, courgettes.
4. Easy, but need attention: Green beans (French beans, Runner Beans) - these are fairly tender and need support. Do not sow before early May, and use a wigwam of bamboos to give support. Leeks - occupy the ground for a long period.
5. More difficult Plants: the cabbage family (cabbage, broccoli, kohl rabi, cauliflower). Not really so difficult but they do need care eg protection from birds (pigeons can decimate a whole row of young cabbage plants in a night), and butterflies in summer. And they take up a fair bit of space. Broccoli for example need to be planted 18ins to 2 ft apart. Squash family: courgettes are easy but don't overdo the number - two plants are generally enough. Pumpkins need a warm summer and a lot of space. Tomatoes, aubergines, peppers - really need to be grown under cover (greenhouse or polytunnel) in Ireland.
6. Sowing Time and Spacing; there are many books and websites with information. But the instructions on the back of the packet are generally all you need. Two things to remember. First, most of the seed suppliers are British and I often feel that they base their sowing instructions on southern England which is often a week or so in advance of Ireland. Second, generally seed suppliers give instructions for sowing and planting in rows eg sow seeds 3ins apart in rows that are 9ins apart. If you are using raised beds you will need to sow or plant equidistant from each other, so you will need to work out an average. For the above I would sow or plant at 5ins each way.

henryporter

Just put in another bed today; that's 12 in all so far. I'd second the advice of the last poster. The nice thing about raised beds is that you can plant things closer together. If you're making the beds with timber you can get slug tape to put around the tops to stop the little buggers. The best thing about growng your own is that you're no longer limited to what the local shop sells - we're just after going through a pile of purple sprouting broccoli which is heavenly and next near impossible to buy. Best of luck with the gardening.

Ever2010

We've been growing for about a year ourselves OP and also started with 2 raised beds. Radishes are a great first crop as they're up in a matter of weeks! I think the trick is to grow what you like as well - that way you won't mind eating them day after day!

We also joined a local GIY group (Grow It Yourself www.giyireland.com) which we've found great for advice and sometimes some free seedlings

Best of luck

Dummy

Thank you all very much for the excellent advice.

I have been looking forward to this for a long time. I have ordered in a top soil, compost mix to fill the beds. I have read up on as much as I can before starting, but your advice has been brilliant.

Henry - I had never heard of slug tape. I'll go to the store tomorrow to get some. It was one of the things that worried me and had planned doing nightly patrols to catch the slugs in the act of eating our vegetables. This should make life easier.

Thank you again everyone & I will let you know how I get on.


D.

Oliverdog

We've been amazed at the results we've had with sharp gravel paths around our veggie beds - the slugs just won't cross them.
Best of luck, and we'll look forward to hearing how you get on.

Garden Freak

Was bowsing some sites for ideas for our garden, keen to have a healthier lifestyle. Found a site www.timberandthyme.com. They have pics of beds with gravel paths and a nice lay out. Hoping this weekend get started on our patch

deisemum

Once you taste your own home grown full of flavour extremely fresh vegetables you'll be hooked. I would never have been able to afford to buy organic vegetables and fruit but for the price of a packet of lettuce seeds and growing organically you can have months and months of organic lettuce at it's freshest.

This is my second year growing vegetables and fruit. I only started after joining the first GIY group in Waterford before it went nationwide and everyone is so helpful and it caters for complete novices to the very experienced gardeners. I've made a lot of new friends and people share surplus seeds, seedlings, produce etc and if someone has a job to do such as building raised beds, clearing a vegetable patch or erecting a polytunnel they form meithails and help each othe out.

One thing I've noticed this year is the hike in the price of seeds in a lot of places but I can recommend a very good site that was recommended to me by several people is www.seedaholics.com, it's an Irish business based in Mayo as well and the prices are cheaper than a lot of places but they come with the most detailed information on the seeds, instructions etc.

Garden Freak

Thanks for that, will check out the site. What seeds can I still set? I know I can get some plants in my local garden centre but it would be cheaper to sow seeds. Is it too late to sow carrots, parsnips, beetroot etc?

fodda

Garden Freak wrote: »

Thanks for that, will check out the site. What seeds can I still set? I know I can get some plants in my local garden centre but it would be cheaper to sow seeds. Is it too late to sow carrots, parsnips, beetroot etc?

No Spring is late this year you have plenty of time plant away.

EAFC_rdfl

Hi i said I wouldn't start a new thread but add to this one.
I am a first time grower this year. I set some courgette seeds and they came up good in the box I had sowed them in. On monday I decided it was time to give them a bit of space so removed them from the box as best I could (could not believe the network of roots already!), and transplanted to a bed I have made inside some tyres. Now though the ends of the leaves are looking unhealthy, have turned sort of yellowy. I hope I havnt killed them by moving? anyone any ideas? Ill try get pics this evening

deisemum

Did you harden them off before planting them ie did you bring them outside during the day and in at night for about a week until they got used to the cooler temperatures?

The plants might be stressed if they were moved from a warm environment to a cold or cooler environment if they weren't hardened off. They're possibly shell shocked but hopefully they should perk up soon and you get green leaves. My courgette, pumpkins and a couple of other plants were decapitated by children this week.

The weather is a lot colder for this time of year compared to other years so it's a bit hit and miss as to what will do well at the moment. I've got my heat on and I'm in the sunny south east. We had hail stones yesterday.

EAFC_rdfl

hailstones - nasty! I didnt have them inside at all, sowed them outside probably mid-to-late march I'd say, so they are already hardened!

EAFC_rdfl

so I took a few photos last night - heres one of the little fella's! I Think they are improving from earlier in the week, seems to be a bit of green creeping back out towards the tips of the leaves. hopefully they were just a bit distressed.

Waffle

hey, ours looks similar to that. My wife has it covered in a bell shaped plastic container and where the leaves touched the plastic they look like that. There was condensation build up and the leaf tips kind of stuck to the plastic and then got scorched or something. Not sure is that your problem, but she doesn't seem too concerned about it.

btw complete novice here