Anyone have a garden going this year?

Is this the main reason for having raised beds?
What are the other benefits?

 

Ate first picking of rhubarb last night : ) supplemented with a few stalks from a friend just down the road

 

Gardening Nude Today! ❤

 

Cultivating one's soul literally from the ground up has perks, also allows for adding a defensive barrier of wire mesh to help fend off burrowing rodents though they can take a bit more watering than some patches

 

The main reason up here is the ground warms up a LOT better.

 

Ah : )
I see.

 

garden is starting, ready to hit the May rain, my tunas are putting up new leaves, this cactus is called Nopal in spanish, it is a very good immunity booster, the young leaves can be eaten raw after removing the little thorns with a knife..
Having raised beds can maybe make you able to provide a quality soil , you can fill them up with a selected dirt.

 

I love cacti. All of ours live in the conservatory though.

 

No not yet, the weather service will be issuing a hard freeze warning on Wednesday morning after that the weather pattern is changing and the warm weather will finally be upon us.

 

I haven't tilled for a while. I've been just making holes and dropping them in the otherwise hard ground after scalping the soil top with a string trimmer. I don't know if it's better, some say it is, but it's quicker and easier than getting the tiller out and running. And it works. I have added dirt to the area, not specifically for raising but instead for providing that heavy rain not be able to channel through or puddle up in the area.

You may want to consider having a load of pete / compost delivered with which you could cover your existing plot and contour to prevent water standing.

 

Raised beds are good for a variety of reason, as some have already stated, they can be used to keep out small animals, and they warm up quicker in the spring, meaning you can plant earlier. Other reasons could be, better drainage if your soil doesn't drain well, the soil won't get compacted due to people walking on it, no need to till, you can customize what you fill it with, making the best soil for whatever it is you want to grow, it's generally neater because you have clearly defined planting areas and walkways, and it's easier to drag a hose around without it hitting your plants if the bed is high enough.

Personally, I started using raised beds more out of necessity, my yard had 3 huge trees with a thick root system that made tilling impossible. We had the trees removed because they were rotting, infested with wood worms and causing a hazard when they would randomly drop large branches in my yard, not because of the garden. I loved those trees and the shade they provided, I would have loved to keep them but they were too much of a safety issue. Anyway, once they were removed we still had the roots to contend with but even after they rotted the right half of the back yard is still in need of raised beds because underneath we have a 2-3 foot thick layer of broken clam shells (I know because I dug a test hole, it required a pick-axe) that had at one time been used as a driveway leading back to the old garage that is now gone. The old garage had a floor that consisted of, literally, 10 tons of coal ash from the old coal burning furnace that was originally in the house, removing it was not fun. We decided that since the clam shells weren't a threat to our health, we wouldn't waste the massive amount of energy it would take to get rid of them. So we continued to use raised beds in that area and covered the remaining ground in mulch that decomposes and has become a layer of really good soil but it's only about 4 inches thick on top of the shells.

There are a few downsides to raised beds as well, the initial cost for materials, they require maintenance to keep them in good working order, and mine have a tendency to attract a lot of ants. Also, one year, when there was a "polar vortex," I lost pretty much all of my garlic, except for the ones closest to the center, when the ones too close to the edges got too cold because there wasn't enough surrounding soil to insulate them. Now, if it's going to get that cold, I make sure to protect them the best I can.

 

Must agree, they are not the best for over wintering plants, even strawberries.
Couple years ago a guy I got to know going farmers markets with my honey gave me a roll of rip irrigation tape. Granted, it cost me couple hundred bucks for all the fitting, but hey, the line was free :}. Got it develop into a perfected system last year and could water the entire garden with one hose hook-up, that was nice.

 

Looks like quite the beast. Always enjoyed running my Troy-built that I bought new inn 1973. Mostly now I use my 1963 Simplicity 725. I getta ride it. :}

 

No fair. Haha I still have the Troybilt. Same vintage. The rear tine is less demanding to handle than the front tine. They made these older machines to last!

 

That they did. I've put 3 sets on tines on mine and one depth adjuster bar cause I picked up junked out one at an auction for the tine hood I realized mine was about 2/3's gone. My tine hood was trashed mostly from tilling tree roots outta newly cleared spruce forest. Plus it earned my cost back doing gardens for people for about 15 years.

 

thank you, everyone, for explaining raised beds : )
it's one of those things I have wondered about for a while but never got around to asking

 

Thanks, Tundra for the video. My plot is only 8 by 6 feet with only one place for it. The sun and drainage are good. I'm am thinking of building the bed from 4x6-inch pressure treated lumber. I will probably have to buy soil/compost at the big box store because I don't think I could use a truckload.