Building a Timberframe Raised Bed
This is the third installment in the 5×5 Garden Challenge Series. Every Wednesday I’ll be posting about the challenge, covering topics that will help all the new gardeners get started. If you haven’t heard about the challenge head on over to the 5×5 Challenge Website, we’ll also be putting up a page here that pulls in all the 5×5 Challenge posts.
This past weekend, Mr Chiots built a raised bed for my 5×5 Challenge garden. Since I’m starting the garden on sod, I figured it would be best to build up and add soil on top. We debated making a simple raised bed from lumber yard pine, but then Mr Chiots got involved. Since he took a timberframing class a few weeks ago, he decided to use the techniques he learned to make the raised bed a little more decorative.
While we were on a hike last week, we found a downed pine in the woods. Instead of heading out to the lumberyard to buy lumber, he decided to use his Alaskan Mill to mill the lumber for the raised bed. This way he could make them nice and sturdy.
We have to put a few pegs in it to hold it all together, we’re thinking of using some small sapling instead of wooden dowels. Building a raised bed doesn’t have to be this complicated, it can be as simple as connecting four boards. You can even have the friendly people at your home improvement store cut it for you.
Have you ever gardened in a raised bed? Do you have any advice for newbies doing so?
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Grow What You Love to Eat
This is the third installment in the 5×5 Garden Challenge Series. Every Wednesday I’ll be posting about the challenge, covering topics that will help all the new gardeners get started. If you haven’t heard about the challenge head on over to the 5×5 Challenge Website, we’ll also be putting up a page here that pulls in all the 5×5 Challenge posts.
I had high hopes of getting the raised bed build for my 5×5 Challenge garden, but the rain conspired against me. So this week we’ll talk about vegetables.
For the 5×5 Challenge I’m going to be growing the Rainbow Kitchen Garden from Renee’s Garden seed. It contains: zucchini, tomatoes, scallions, beans, and lettuce. These are all vegetable that I love. If you don’t like any of these, feel free to choose the 5 vegetables that you like.
The point of growing your own food is to grow things that you love. If no one in your family loves tomatoes, don’t grow tomatoes. That being said, if you’ve never tasted a homegrown tomato before, it’s completely different than a store bought tomato and you might actually like it. The same goes for most vegetables.
Which vegetables do you love and which vegetables do you dislike?
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Starting a Garden on Sod
This is the second installment in the 5×5 Garden Challenge Series. Every Wednesday I’ll be posting about the challenge, covering topics that will help all the new gardeners get started. If you haven’t heard about the challenge head on over to the 5×5 Challenge Website, we’ll also be putting up a page here that pulls in all the 5×5 Challenge posts.
Chances are, if you don’t already have a garden area, you’ll be starting from scratch for the 5×5 Challenge. I decided to start my garden in the lawn since I thought some of you might be dealing with the same issue. I chose an area in the middle of the yard, away from any large trees and in an area that gets a good amount of sun.
Next up was laying down some kind of mulch to start smothering the sod. It doesn’t have to be really thick, one layer will do. You will want to overlap layers if you don’t have a sheet as big as your garden. You will also want to extend your cardboard out beyond the 5×5 area just a bit, four or five inches on each side will do. This is done to kill the grass around the edges of the garden. If it’s hot enough in your area already, you can use a piece of clear plastic to kill the grass.
This cardboard won’t be staying down, though you can do that if you want. It should do a great job of killing the grass by the time I want to get my garden started. I thought about putting some chicken litter under the cardboard, thinking the heat from the fresh manure would provide extra heat and kill the grass faster, perhaps I’ll go out and do that tomorrow.
Weighing down the cardboard with rocks is a good idea, I even added a full watering can on top because it was really windy yesterday. It should be interesting to see how long it takes for the grass to die.
If you are starting from sod, I’d highly recommend building a raised bed for your garden. This will make it much easier than digging out the sod. There will be a post about how to build an inexpensive, easy raised bed in this series. I want to make sure this garden looks really nice since I can see it from my kitchen window and it’s right in front of the main entrance to the house.
If you live in a southern climate, you can already be seeding some of your plants. If you have questions, head on over to the discussion forum and hook up with other gardeners in your area.
Have you ever turned sod into a garden?
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Choosing the Right Site for Your Garden
This is the first installment in the 5×5 Garden Challenge Series. Every Wednesday I’ll be posting about the challenge, covering topics that will help all the new gardeners get started. If you haven’t heard about the challenge head on over to the 5×5 Challenge Website, we’ll also be putting up a page here that pulls in all the 5×5 Challenge posts.
The first thing to consider when you decide you want to garden is your site. Depending on what you want to grow, you will need to determine if you have full sun, partial sun/shade, or shade. So what do each of these terms mean? Most vegetables appreciate full sun, so finding a full sun location will be the best option. All is not lost if you don’t have full sun, you can still grow vegetables, just not everything you may want to.
FULL SUN: receives at least 6 hours of direct sunlight. This doesn’t mean that there is sun in this area all day long, there can be some shade during part of the day. Six hours is the minimum amount of sun that most full sun plants will tolerate. Areas that get direct sunlight all day will need watered more often. Some plants can take full sun, but many are fond of some shade as well.
PARTIAL SUN / PARTIAL SHADE: receives 3-6 hours of direct sunlight. Most plants that are labeled partial sun/shade need protection from the hot afternoon sun as they can be sensitive. These plants will often wilt in the heat of the afternoon.
FULL SHADE: less than 3 hours of direct sunlight, generally with some filtered sunlight in addition to this. These plants generally don’t like the hot afternoon sun, so morning sun is best for them.
All sun is not created equal. As a general rule, morning and early afternoon sun are better than late afternoon sun. Often plants will appreciate a little shade in the afternoon, particularly in hot areas and in the heat of the summer. When you are determining the amount of sun you get, keep in mind the time of the year. If it is winter and the sun is low, the shady area will be larger than it will in the summer.
Another thing to consider in your garden placement is the location of any large trees. Large trees will not only cast shade, but they will also send their roots into your garden and suck up your water and nutrients. Back in Ohio we had large trees surrounding our garden and were constantly battling them. It’s not a deal breaker if you have large trees, just be aware that you’ll need to add extra compost and water.
When trying to decide where your garden will be, think about the proximity to the door you use most often. If you have to walk by the garden daily, you’ll be more likely to notice weeds that need pulled and tomatoes that need harvested. Having the garden close at hand will make harvesting and using the vegetables easier.
Plants are pretty resilient and will take less than perfect conditions. Don’t be too worried about making sure you have everything just right. Start with what you can and work from there. If you have full sun, great, if you’re on the border, give it a shot. If you can find a space away from trees, fantastic, if not, give it a try but make sure you watch for dryness and consider fertilizing a little more. Having good soil will help overcome a few of the other negatives, so make sure you focus on that. Next week we’ll talk about getting your garden area ready to plant.
If you’re a new gardener, what questions do you have about where to place your garden? If you’re an experienced gardener, what advice do you have for newbies just trying to figure out where to plant.
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The 5×5 Garden Challenge
After putting in a long day of coding yesterday, Mr Chiots got the 5×5 Challenge website up & running (a big thanks to him). Over there you will find: a forum for questions (if you want to be a regional mentor let me know so I can add you as an admin), badges for your blog/website, and some general info. Of course we also started a facebook page.
This challenge is all about encouraging new gardeners. If you’re new to gardening we hope this challenge encourages and teaches you. If you’re a seasoned gardener we hope you use this challenge to encourage new gardeners and pass along your knowledge or maybe to try something new. Each Wednesday, the 5×5 Challenge update will be posted here on Chiot’s Run. Next week we’ll start at the beginning, getting your plot ready to go. Your homework for this week is to find a spot you think will be perfect for your 5×5 plot. Try to find a nice sunny location away from large trees. If you have a shady garden, you can go with shade tolerant vegetables instead.
If you have no garden area, get 5 large containers to grow in. For those of you who will be container gardening or gardening the ground (these plants will do OK in the ground as well), this week we have a giveaway of the Container Kitchen Garden Collection from Renee’s Garden. Comment below for your chance to win.
Have you ever grown vegetables in containers? Which vegetable were you most successful at growing?
