I'm totally lost on gardening

[jackiedon]

That's a strange remark to come from me who grew up on nothing but veggies that came out of the garden. My parents grew a huge garden and grew potatoes twice a year. My husband asked last week when do you plant potatoes I quickly answered March 17!! I grew up hearing a bunch of arguments and a friendship ended over that very thing.

I grew up in central eastern Arkansas 40 miles east of Little Rock. My parents plowed and prepared their garden. The "rows" were always high with the middles being low to walk between and sometimes they would water the lower area. My mom was real big on the dirt had to be raked up around the plants during the growing season to help them grow.

My mother would consider herself a failure if she didn't can 100 qts of tomato juice a year. That didn't coun't the veggie soup she canned too.

I was the youngest so I got stuck doing the shelling beans, shucking and brushing corn and digging potatoes. Not fun being the youngest while digging potatoes because my oldest brother would grab me and rub my nose in a rotten potato!!

Sorry to get of topic. My question is the way my mother gardened considered raised beds?

Sorry to ramble.

jackie, who is soooo excited about getting to garden this year.

j

 

[beavis]

There are many ways to classify what exactly a raised bed is, and an equal number of ways to approach it.

I would say anytime the growing soil is above the main soil, it could be called raised bed gardening. You achieve the benefits of not treading in the growing bed, the bed being higher warms more readily from the sun than the existing soil bed.

My advice to you is to relax and have fun with gardening.

If you delve into it with lofty expectations of grandeur, you set yourself up for failure.

Make it personal, not what your parents or friends achieved, but what you personally get out of it.

It could be as simple as successfully harvesting a cherry tomato, and building on that success.

More people lose interest in gardening and proclaim themselves with a black thumb due to failures.

Look at failures as a learning experience to "grow" on.

 

[jackiedon]

Thanks Bevis,

I guess one thing I work about is weeding. I have lupus, Rheumatoid Artheritis and Fibromyalgia. So everyday is a new day, I never feel the same everyday.

I have had a garden and the weeds took it over and I planted too much at the same time. I plan to plant in stages so all the corn isn't ready at the same time.

I do have a wonderful husband who works hard outside so he will help me when he can. My hands and knees bother me the most.

jackie

 

[patandchickens]

You might pick up a copy of Square Foot Gardening. It maximizes yeild per area so you don't have to plant AND WEED as large an area.

Alternatively you could consider solarizing your soil with clear plastic for a month before planting, removing the plastic every week to scrape off the surface of the soil any weeds that sprout (do not disturb the soil surface) and then when you finally remove the plastic for good and plant, disturb the soil as little as possible and use a good mulch. That helps too (as do any other no-till type practices)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[jackiedon]

Thanks Pat

jackie

 

[me&thegals]

I don't really have anything to add on raised beds, but just a word of encouragement. I have been growing all my life (if I get to count childhood) and now have a successful CSA (shares of veggies to customers throughout the growing season) business. Probably most people would consider me a successful gardener. But, I have total garden flops every single year! So, like Beavis says, have fun with it. Even if one thing completely bombs, something else is bound to do well. To me, that's the one of the coolest things about having such diversity in a garden

 

[farmerlor]

If pain is a problem don't start out with too big of a garden. Start small and see what you can handle. MULCH! Keep your plants thinned and mulch around them to minimize weeding. You might want to look into some no-till methods which will make your life even easier.