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re: Raised garden bed
Posted on 2/8/16 at 9:39 am to OleWarSkuleAlum
Posted on 2/8/16 at 9:39 am to OleWarSkuleAlum
Would like to plant some tomato, cucumber and banana peppers.
What is a good size Raised Garden to build?
What is a good size Raised Garden to build?
1
Posted on 2/8/16 at 9:40 am to Canvasback
quote:
What is a good size Raised Garden to build?
depends on how many plants
but tomatoes get huge and cucumbers spread and climb
pepper plants don't take up much space
Posted on 2/8/16 at 9:48 am to LSUlefty
i went to louisiana nursery and bought 1 cubic yard of organic garden soil for 35 bucks.....wayyyy cheaper than bags, and added triple 10 to it.....from 7 tomato plants i got around 60 pounds of tomatoes in my first season....i think that was good
Posted on 2/8/16 at 9:48 am to Salmon
quote:
but tomatoes get huge and cucumbers spread and climb
For cucumbers you must build a trellis. I mostly grow cherry tomatoes and those sucked grow to 6ft alot of the time by the end of the season so you will need to plan ahead and get a large enough cage from the start.
I've grown bell peppers which do not take up a lot of space. Jalapeños do however. You want about 2ft in between each jalapeño plant. Also you need to provide atleast 6ft of spacing between your tomatoes/bell peppers and your jalapeños otherwise they will cross pollinate. Your jalapeños will be weak.
Posted on 2/8/16 at 9:51 am to Ignignot
quote:
from 7 tomato plants i got around 60 pounds of tomatoes in my first season....i think that was good
60 pounds from 7 plants is okay. For your first time it's good.
Posted on 2/8/16 at 10:15 am to OleWarSkuleAlum
i agree, im expecting more this season, added yard compost to my beds all offseason
Posted on 2/8/16 at 10:36 am to Ignignot
Whatever soil you get, put a little bit in a ziplock bag and send off to the LSU AgCenter to analyze. If you buy your soil bulk from a garden center, the pH could be jacked up, or the nutrients off. If you know what kind of fertilizers to use right off the bat, it will help limit bad production. I bought a yard of soil and filled my boxes, that first garden didn't produce jack. I found out my pH was way too high and had to treat with sulfer and ammonium sulfate for 6 months to get the pH down. Most plants don't absorb certain nutrients with a high pH.
LSU AgCenter Soil Testing Lab
LSU AgCenter Soil Testing Lab
Posted on 2/8/16 at 10:52 am to OleWarSkuleAlum
quote:
They need approximately 2 inches of water weekly per plant and I also restrict water at certain times to induce "heat" shock. I'm not sure the milk jug will give me the exactness I'm looking for, but thank you for the suggestion.
Yall are a lot more scientific with this garden stuff than I am. After 60 years of gardening, I just check to see if they need water or not. Although, when I was raising watermelons and cantelopes commercially, I did have drip tube irrigation under the plastic. Too many plants and too big of a garden for that many milk jugs!
Posted on 2/8/16 at 11:01 am to LSUlefty
Get a good garden soil to start off with from a nursery, but raised beds lose fertility quickly because of the low amount of soil that is actually there. Be careful using manure as a supplement because it will cause salts to build up in the soil. Get your soil tested as has been suggested.
Here's the recommendations for plating times and fertilizer.
Here's the recommendations for plating times and fertilizer.
Posted on 2/8/16 at 11:04 am to Canvasback
quote:
What is the best time of year to plant a Raised Garden Bed?
Depends on your location. I'm in Virginia and if I planted a raised garden bed when yall do down there, I would be wasting my time. Frost and snow would kill it. I usually plant my garden on May 15, plants and seed. Now if I could get my hands on some of those maters that RogerTheShrubber grows up there in Alaska, I would be in high cotton. He has such a short growing season that he plants the Alaska Beauty variety of tomatoe. Fast growing and early producer. From the time he puts the plant in the ground, two weeks later he has ripe maters. And he only has about three weeks of time before frost gets em.
Posted on 2/8/16 at 11:21 am to LSUlefty
I put cotton gin trash in my small garden. Cheap if you have a gin nearby, my family's gin used to give it away.
Posted on 2/8/16 at 11:33 am to White Bear
Gin trash used to be easy to get until the garden soil companies started buying it all. You can still get some but you have to be ready when it's ready or they'll snatch it up.
Posted on 2/8/16 at 2:38 pm to pointdog33
How do you buy garden soil in bulk? Is it packaged or do they just unload it in your truck?
Posted on 2/8/16 at 2:49 pm to LSUlefty
Nurseries or garden center will have it or know which way to point you. They can load your truck with bulk loose soil, not in bags.
In BR Clegg's, Louisiana Nursery
Lafayette Materials, Gotts
In BR Clegg's, Louisiana Nursery
Lafayette Materials, Gotts
Posted on 2/8/16 at 3:39 pm to pointdog33
Nurseries have garden soil they will sell by the 1/2 yard ( you haul) however my experience is it is mostly composted saw dust & wood chips, in 2-3 years it will decay to very little.
But it is a good starting point, just add compost, manure and keep building from there.
Also on size.. keep your raised bed to no wider than 4' wide.
But it is a good starting point, just add compost, manure and keep building from there.
Also on size.. keep your raised bed to no wider than 4' wide.
Posted on 2/8/16 at 6:17 pm to OleWarSkuleAlum
quote:
The hardware cloth will hold all the weight of the soil and like 4 jalapeño plants in a 3'x5'x10
not by itself....you tack the hardware cloth to the bottom of the box frame and then nail some slats underneath to give the hardware cloth support...
Posted on 2/8/16 at 9:50 pm to OleWarSkuleAlum
This is the hose bib timer I have used for over ten years and they last pretty good if you disconnect them in freezing weather. LINK
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