Earlier this summer I wrote about my homesteading goals. I didn’t end up completing all my goals but I have learned A LOT, especially about gardening. I can’t wait until next year, so I can try it all again.
6 Things I Learned with my First Raise Garden Bed
- Deeper – I used cinder blocks and they weren’t quite high enough. My carrots came out completely flat. (but still big enough!) Some things I planted just didn’t have enough room to grow.
- Still Need to Weed – Before I put my soil down, I laid down a layer of weed control fabric. I’m not sure if weeds ended up pushing through the fabric or what but I still ended up with weeds. It wasn’t too bad and would have been much worse if I hadn’t used the fabric at all!
- Plan Better – I need to plan out where I’m planting things. Companion planting is when you plant certain things together like beans with carrots or beets with leeks. They compliment each other and grow better.
- Keep Bugs Away – I planted marigolds around my garden because they help keep pests away. Next year I’m going to plant more things that keep pests away like dill and basil.
- Plant Things Closer Together – I had a lot more room then I thought I had. I could have fit another row or two if I had planted things just a bit closer together.
- Smart Planters – I used old tires and rims to plant tomatoes and cucumbers. This worked out really well and help me plant more stuff around my yard.
- Soil is Everything – I used cheap soil without knowing much about gardening. I should have realized that the better the soil, the better the harvest, but I didn’t. I think that if I would have spent a bit more on soil I would have done a lot better. This may explain all the weeds too!
My big take away is that I need to plan, plan, plan. I want to double my garden size next year and I want to end up harvesting way more then I did this year. I didn’t end up with as much veggies as I would have liked, but I learned a lot.
Next year I plan on using a tiller. I think raised garden beds are a GREAT use of space and they can make things a whole lot easier if you do it right, but I think I would have done better with a tiller and planting stuff in the ground.
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