re: 2020 Garden Thread

That’s pretty tits man!

That things great. I’m looking to build one this summer as well.

A greenhouse allows you to start seedlings in it early. Inside that green house, if it’s say 38 degrees outside with a wind chill of 30 and there’s no cloud cover it’s probably 70+ inside the greenhouse. Most veggie seeds need to be around 60-80 degrees to germinate that’s why people start seeds “indoors” with grow lights. Well if you use grow lights and don’t do it appropriately, all your plants get leggy (real long and weak) and you basically wasted your seed, time, and effort. I became tired of growing plants in my house, in my garage, or in my sheds. Ran out of room, got tires of water getting every where. My greenhouse is right by my garden so I have a water hose that I just bring into the green house and just water everything, that’s why I have the table tops that are plastic so the water runs through it. Raised beds are not covered. If you wanted to you could grow plants in the green house but it would take up a lot of room, plus I would need a vent and possibly a fan to be able to control the temperature. I’m looking mainly for heat and sunlight so I don’t worry about that. As soon as I can I will provide a description of the greenhouse and the websites I purchased the material from

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Wow! Great setup! Suntuf poly roofing?

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Yes. Very easy to work with.

For height, I would go a minimum of 12". But 18-24" will give plants more room for the roots to really thrive and spread. Plus you don't have to bend down as far.

No more than 4 feet wide. Any wider and you could have issues accessing plants.

Length, that's a personal preference. So are plant types. Tomatoes and peppers are pretty easy and don't take up much room. Bush type cucumbers and beans are also options, unless you plan on building a trellis for vining types to grow on.

Look up square foot gardening. That may be something of interest to you. If you have more specific questions, someone here would be happy to help. I'd guess bluemoons is more of a raised bed expert than me, so I'm sure he'll have some solid info to contribute when he sees this.

Definitely no expert, but I grow in an L-shaped raised bed. Mine is 12x4' on the main section, and 6x4' on the L-shape. The sides are 12" tall and I used a mix of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 compost, and 1/3 vermiculite to fill the beds. The mix was a bit expensive, but my soil is awful and there isn't much locally that I can buy in bulk.

I plant tomatoes, peppers, squash, zucchini, and okra in the main bed. I also have an 8'x12"x12" raised bed along one of my fences where I specifically grow cucumbers.

eta: I'd also recommend looking into the square foot gardening method. I plant loosely based upon that school of thought, and I'm constantly giving vegetables away.

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grow bags.

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These work very well but require a lot of watering in the summer months. Irrigation would be best.

Nice. How did you go about setting up different zones? I have irrigation on my main beds, but I'd like to set something up for my bags this year with sprayers around the bases of the plants (tomatoes).

Depends on a lot of things like others have said.

Where do you live?

How much yard are you ok with giving up for a bed?

Does the area get plenty of light?

What will you actually eat? This is a big one and can make a world of difference in how much you and your daughter enjoy the whole process.

How old is your daughter? If pretty young you may want to plant something she can pick and eat right off the plant. My sons' favorite thing is the crappy blackberry bush in a pot that only produces a few blackberries once a year. The fact that they can pick it themselves and eat it right there gets them pretty pumped up.

I have thought about chunking it a few times because it gets neglected and I could use the pot for something else but I can't bring myself to do it since they love it so much. It will go in the ground this year and I will start tending to it so it will actually start producing a decent amount.

The zones take a little time to dial in to get everyone watered well. I have snaked 1/2" poly tubing I have a combo of drippers, sprayers, and now soakers. The variable GPH emitters really help dialing in for just the right amount of water per plant. I have some roses on the deck that are water hogs but also some potted herbs that only need a bit. The variable emitters are the way to go for me.