Hi guys. I'm Al Gracian from Albopepper dot com. Today I'm here at my
mother-in-law's and I want to show you a nice simple raised bed garden that I put
in for her.
Are you in an urban or maybe a suburban area and you thought about gardening but
then you look at your plot
maybe look at your soil at the ground that you have to work with and maybe it
just seems like that's an impossible task. Is it just this rocky clay
maybe you have just a couple inches of topsoil and then you're on bedrock.
Does that mean you just have to throw in the towel because there's no chance of
being able to plant something successfully?
Absolutely not. That was a situation it looked like we had here but now today we
have an excellent start in year one with some good fertility and some good
results in this raised bed garden. So I want to show you how we've set this up
and you'll be able to see the results of what we're getting already in the very
first season. We installed this raised bed in April on a relatively flat area
in the lawn.
Just a couple feet away from the back porch where the garden can be watched
and monitored every day very easily. In a spot where there is excellent lighting
really good full sun.
That's where we put this bed. We went with a four foot by eight foot bed
constructed from two by ten lumber using three 8 foot boards. And after everything was
fastened well we were able to drop it into place on the actual lawn. We
anchored the bed in place with some stakes that kept it nicely attached to
the ground.
We didn't pull up the grass but rather after getting it leveled we laid down
several layers of cardboard to completely choked out the grass killing
it,
not allowing it to come up through the box, but leaving all of that organic
matter, leaving all of that top soil that was already there in place. To get the
maximum results from this bed
we filled it up with some really good soil.
You could try to use a Mel's Mix, but for this project a four-by-eight bed that
was 10 inches deep
I had delivered on-site a 50-50 mix of topsoil that also had mushroom manure or
mushroom compost already mixed in.
So added to that mixture of topsoil and mushroom manure
I added two cubic feet each of some peat moss and vermiculite eight just to
slightly enhance the texture of the soil while keeping the cost to a minimum. And
then on May 22nd is when I planted this garden. Much of it was direct sown. The
seeds such as beans, spaghetti squash, zucchini. And we did have some
transplants of some peppers some tomatoes and an acorn squash. It didn't
take very long at all
and the plants were already starting to take off and we were already seeing some
great growth. And now if we skip ahead to today
July ninth, look at how this stuff is looking!
These plants are going crazy!!! It's awesome!
I mean yeah the soil here the grass this lawn
not really all that great not doing so hot. But by just bringing in some
inexpensive topsoil mushroom manure mixture
we're able to add 10 inches of high quality soil right on top of the top soil
that's there. You put in a little bit of some organic fertilizer and this stuff
can do so great!
We went with a trellis system. Some basic wire fence material that is placed on
some U-posts.
What's really great about them is they have these little hooks that allow you
to drop the fencing material right onto it
securing it without the use of any hardware and I found this is stayed in
place really well,
even as the fence has started to get weighted down with all these spaghetti
squash and the different plants just hanging on this.
So all the vining things have been able to go vertical.
They've been able to climb up the fence. This whole trellis is on the back side
of the box. That is to say the northern side. And so on the southern side of that
is where the rest of the plants are growing and they're in the optimal
light that you could expect in the northern hemisphere.
We've got zucchini coming in. We have tomatoes that are ripening and the beans
are already flowering and pretty soon we're going to have beans that are going
to be setting. Spaghetti squash are all over the place.
This thing is doing great. So there you have it guys.
It may take a little bit of planning and some preparation but even despite
challenging soil situations: depleted soils, poor drainage, issues like these.
That doesn't mean that you can't prepare a nice site for an excellent vegetable
garden. And then, going forward, you can focus on using organic techniques to
continue to build your soil fertility. Slowly in time you could take on more
building more beds if you want. Or you can scale things down if you want too
depending upon how things have been working out for you.
The key is to get in there and garden. Don't be afraid of limitations.
View them as challenges that can be overcome.
Just do some research and have some determination and you'll find that you're
gardening in no time,
having a great time doing it. I know that my mother-in-law has been really excited
to be able to get out there and already she's harvesting things and even sharing
them with her neighbors.
Really that's a big part of what gardening is all about.
So, don't let anything hold you back.
I appreciate you taking time to watch this video. Please subscribe if you
haven't already. And as always... Happy Gardening!
(Mother turkey with baby turkeys)