1st harvest of 2016...

[thistlebloom]

Love those pretty carrots! Your lettuce is nice too, but if you've seen one you've seen them all if you know what I mean... But, of course it looks fantastic compared to the lettuce that I have not been growing.

I want pretty carrots like yours this year. You taunted me into a competitive feeling, even if it's only with past carrots in my garden.

 

[majorcatfish]

Love those pretty carrots! Your lettuce is nice too, but if you've seen one you've seen them all if you know what I mean... But, of course it looks fantastic compared to the lettuce that I have not been growing.

I want pretty carrots like yours this year. You taunted me into a competitive feeling, even if it's only with past carrots in my garden.

hint...... raised beds facing the south with a good mixture of black kow plant late July. for late season harvest....

 

[baymule]

I like your raised beds idea. Gophers are so bad here that if I ever want to harvest a root crop, I'll have to lay hardware cloth down and then put a raised bed on top of it to keep the durn gophers out!

 

[majorcatfish]

I like your raised beds idea. Gophers are so bad here that if I ever want to harvest a root crop, I'll have to lay hardware cloth down and then put a raised bed on top of it to keep the durn gophers out!

you being so south would think that a couple raised beds would be good for winter crops....be fore warned once you build a couple it's over you want to build more...

 

[Jared77]

How deep are the beds @majorcatfish ? I've come to the painful realization without raised beds and seed tape I won't ever get a respectable carrot crop.

Was thinking I'd use 2x12 boards for mine.

 

[majorcatfish]

How deep are the beds @majorcatfish ? I've come to the painful realization without raised beds and seed tape I won't ever get a respectable carrot crop.

Was thinking I'd use 2x12 boards for mine.

all my beds are 2x12 they are a couple of reasons why so deep. think the biggest is having a bad back 12" is perfect to sit on while weeding or making rows to plant seeds. the other reason is that i dont fill the beds to the top will leave 1-2" below the top, so really you are only using 10" of the 12" to grow in.
and thirdly growing carrots/ parsnips they can grow 8-10"+ long....

now heres the other edge of the sword.. being that you have a 12" bed you will need to water it deeply to keep the 12" moist, have found that even thou you water and you think you have done a deep watering, you really have not the bottom 6" is dry as a bone and if you have trees around the beds those trees will send roots into the beds and zap them of water and nutrients.. gum trees can smell a drop of water a mile away and send roots to the source...

most crops only have a root system of about 6-8" deep..............

now to the bed material......

yellow pine.... will last around 3 years before you have to replace it....

pressure treated lumber... THEY SAY IS SAFE NOW.. if you read up on it there's still a lot of copper in it. to be a true certified organic grower it's a no no.

hardwood.. you might get 4-5 years before replacing... but the cost

railroad ties... are soaked in tar....

plastic or cinder-block/ landscaping block... you have have a change of plastic by products, and some blocks are made with fly ash....

the best and unfortunately the mostly costly is heart redwood or cypress.... of course there is red brick, no byproduct is going to survive being in a oven for 2 days...

so my vote is to just use yellow pine and replace as needed...

 

[Smart Red]

My raised beds are 12 inches high, made by stacking 2x6 cedar decking boards. DH bent metal flashing around the corners for protection from the mower.

 

[Jared77]

Thank you. I would eventually like to go this route for the sake of my sanity to help fight weeds but have to start out small.

My daughter has been in my case about growing all the different colors of carrots so I need to get this done.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

hint...... raised beds facing the south with a good mixture of black kow plant late July. for late season harvest....

That is amazing.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

My raised beds are 12 inches high, made by stacking 2x6 cedar decking boards. DH bent metal flashing around the corners for protection from the mower.
View attachment 11228

Really nice!