Vegetable Gardening Part 3

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This posting I’ll give some information about Raised Beds and Container Growing.

Raised Bed Gardening is an option for those who have some space but maybe the soil is not the best. My garden is a raised bed as I have a sandy-soil mix.  I’ve used a combination of a "buy it" kit and also created beds from standard sized lumber. 

When choosing lumber, make sure you either use lumber that is not
treated, or you put a plastic lining between the wood and soil. You should also size the bed to make it easy to reach the center of the bed from the sides to avoid stepping into the bed and compacting the soil.  You should also have at least six inches of depth on the bed. 

Once you have determined the size you want, pick a location that has sun the majority of the day. While you can grow some vegetables in the shade, most will require a good amount of sun. Place the frame on the ground and then remove a small amount of the top layer of soil, grass or whatever you have there.  Remember if you use 2x4 lumber you will have to dig down deeper to get that six inches of depth.  

Level the frame and the bottom of the bed the best that you can, you can use newspaper or cardboard to line the bottom of the bed to keep weeds and grass to a minimum from growing back. 

Now, you get to fill the area with soil.  You will want an airy mix, too heavy and root crops will not grow properly.  You will also want to add some compost or composted manure.  Place some soil then your choice of compost or manure, mix them together a bit and then do another layer of each until the frame is almost full.  Leave just a bit of space from the top of the frame to the soil level.  Give the bed a good deep watering let sit for a couple of days.  You are now ready to either direct sow seeds or transplant seedlings.

Container Gardening is an option for those who might not have a yard, or want those homegrown tomatoes (and other vegetables) that do not do well in the Florida summer heat. The up side to containers is you can place them just about anywhere and most crops can be grown in a container if properly sized.  I’ve used cat litter containers, flower boxes and even some very strange containers such as 2 liter soda bottles and coffee cans. 

The cat litter containers I’ve grown tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, pole and bush beans, potatoes and peas.  Flower boxes make a good container for radishes, spring onions and even lettuce.  Small clay and plastic pots are definitely handy for herbs. 

Make sure you have drainage holes in the bottom of the containers, or if you are really handy you can make your own “Earth Box”.  Use a good mix of soil and compost like I’ve mentioned above, remember you will probably have to supplement nutrients in containers as the heavy feeding crops such as tomatoes will grow great to start and will slowly stop growing as the nutrient levels decrease. 

Also, you will have to keep an eye on watering too.  If you are growing in a confined area such as a screened lanai or pool deck, you will also have to manually pollinate your vegetables.  Don’t panic at that it is actually quite easy and I do manually pollinate some fruits and vegetables outdoors.

Manual Pollinating is pretty simple and takes just a few minutes of your time. There are a couple of methods you can use.  Gently shake the stalk of the plant, get a small fan to blow across the plant.  I use a small hobby paintbrush and get right in there on each flower.  Take the brush and gently swab it in the flower and move to the next flower and keep moving to each flower until you are back to where you started.  Some plants have male and female flowers so don’t worry about that just hit all of the flowers.  If you have multiple crops going use a different brush for each. 

Or if you are adventurous, you can use the same brush for each variety.  An example would be on tomatoes, you might have a couple of different heirloom varieties and could easily cross-pollinate them for something that might end up very eye catching or super tasting.

Container gardens also have another option. Hydroponics.   Again don’t panic, while not for everyone you can do this at home with a small investment.  That will be another installment and I’ll walk you through making and setting up your own little hydroponics bucket.