Food gardening

[Teddy4]

We're looking into raised bed food gardening....anyone with suggestions?

 

[Teddy4]

Should have mentioned that we are in Texas....hi y'all! I'm on such a steep learning curve on everything we're doing for self sufficiency on our little 3+ acres that I'm thankful for any advice!

 

[AMKuska]

Hi there! You can do a lot on 3+ acres. I believe we also have some people who are familiar with the details of gardening in Texas. @baymule comes to mind.

What have you done so far? What are you trying to grow?

 

[flowerbug]

We're looking into raised bed food gardening....anyone with suggestions?

i use very simple raised beds due to mostly clay soils and living in a flash flood zone. in most gardens i use them by raising up the area to be planted and tamping the edge with my foot and that is it. no need for formal edges and such because each year i like to vary how i plant in a garden space which means nutrients are drawn from each area of a garden in different years. without formal edges it is very inexpensive and gets the job done.

for a new gardener i don't recommend doing anything too fixed in place the first years because as you learn you may change your mind about how you want a garden space laid out.

my own learning has found out that i don't like a lot of small gardens and it is easier for me to take care of bigger gardens.

for critter control fences have done the best and it pays to use better quality fencing and poles.

 

[meadow]

If you look at @Alasgun's thread, One Alaskan's Greenhouse, he has photos of raised beds with hoops to hold fabric, along with his formula for amendments. It is well worth the read!! If you look carefully, you can see his method for dealing with a raised bed on a slope. Pure genius. He also uses 'sidebars' (attached to hoops) that keep older foliage in upright position so that they don't hang over into the walkways.

We are redesigning our garden layout and may use some raised beds (the type with wooden sides like Alasgun's). What we have now are mounded beds. One of the changes is to go from 4-foot wide to 3-foot wide. As we're getting older, that extra reach is a bit fatiguing.

 

[ducks4you]

Raised beds need to be NO WIDER than 4 ft wide so that you can harvest. Even if your beds are Not raised, you should not ever be walking in your beds and compacting the soil.
Some are constructed very high, some not so high, and some ground level.
If you are having soil problems a raised bed can be filled with soil that you purchase.
Many people construct a box, lay cardboard down on the bed, then fill with better soil. This keeps weed seeds that are already in your soil there, from sprouting.
There is nothing magic about them, and MANY vendors ready to part you from your $ to buy Theirs.

 

[baymule]

Where in Texas are you? with 5 temperate zones, it's kinda a diverse place. I'm in deep East Texas, Trinity county. Buying a new farm, that has been a LOOOOONG process, 25 acres and I also want to build raised beds. I don't need a 100'x70' garden anymore. I want my beds high enough so I can sit on the edge to work the soil, plant, etc. So I'll probably go with cinder blocks with the caps on top.

Please add your general location to your avatar.

 

[ZinHead]

We're looking into raised bed food gardening....anyone with suggestions?

Awesome raised bed for the garden with tanning roof, A/C, wine cooler, custom air mattress & garden security monitoring system.

 

[Phaedra]

Where in Texas are you? with 5 temperate zones, it's kinda a diverse place. I'm in deep East Texas, Trinity county. Buying a new farm, that has been a LOOOOONG process, 25 acres and I also want to build raised beds. I don't need a 100'x70' garden anymore. I want my beds high enough so I can sit on the edge to work the soil, plant, etc. So I'll probably go with cinder blocks with the caps on top.

Please add your general location to your avatar.

Bay, 25 acres! I want to have some alpacas!

 

[ZinHead]

Phaedra Geiermann,
Perfect location for muscadines.
Puts you close to very large untapped potential markets, as well as at the edge of optimal growing range!