I am considering a raised vegetable garden next year. Every year my traditional garden starts out good and I have high hopes, then something or another happens and I can't take care of it. For several years I have not been able to get down and weed like it needs to be done. Sooo, I stopped by a lady's house in town that had a couple of tables sat out in her driveway and talked with her about it for a little while. I think I'd like to just forget the tilling and go cut a bunch of cedar poles and elevate some type of platform so I don't need to be bending over all of the time. I currently have an area about 15'X30' with deer fence, it could be smaller or larger.
Does anyone have a raised garden that could offer pro's and con's, and do you have pictures of your setup?
Thanks.

My clients do a lot of gardening out of pots and inside. Seems to work for them.

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Forum consigliere

Yeah but I have a fence to keep the animals out.

I just re-read your post, I didn't catch the probable "crop" at first, you're right on as usual.

I think they have a fence to keep the animals in.

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Back to back World War Champs.

My buddy has the very set up you are thinking of in the eastern UP, it is rather simple ( 2 beds approx. 4'x10' rough cedar posts 3' high) and
seems to work well. The only issue I see is that is needs to be carefully tended and seems to get over grown (they may have planted too much as well) and if your wife leaves the gate open on the fence, it does not matter how high it is, it will not work.

Sorry I don't have a photo, but all in all it seems like a good idea.

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always trust your cape...

As long as we have touched on the subject you would be surprised at how many "friends" have offered to help me grow medicine after I was diagnosed with Glaucoma.

Actually I think he meant they grow out of planting pot's not the growing the smoking pot.

Anyway I had a 50X100 foot garden planted all kinds of vegetables in it, it had 4 foot electric fence 3 foot out from a 6 for high horizontal fence with 4 foot 45deg angle poles on top of that with ribbon and pie plates all around it. I've watched the deer stand there and eye the ribbon and then jump straight up through it. After the first 4 years of feed the deer and other wild life I gave up on it and moved to planting pots at the house with 4 foot wire fence around them. It didn't stop the deer right at the house or any other animal, if I only ate them I wouldn't have a problem I guess, 6 foot from the back door. I've had them look in the window at night so I gave up and just go down to the farmers wagon and farmers market now no more feeding the deer, they are still around, no work and pick my own fresh vegetables. But I do like growing my own but not worth it here and would try the raised bed as I can't get down low anymore.

I've also tried the upside down planting pots with no luck.

Gotta be careful trying to second guess a lawyer, are sure it isn't pot in da pot?

Anyway, back to veggies :-)

WE have one about 12x12 and are doing another one this fall (starting it now). I have a large composter and we'll be filling the planter with wood chips, compost, topsoil (left over potting soil from our pots) and tube sand from our truck (in spring). Use it for root veggies mostly==keeps the dogs from watering the plants.

We raise tomatoes, peppers, and herbs in large, raised pots on our RV pad. Each year we dump the soil in the garden and the plants into the composter.

I built several raised beds for my wife (and me) several years ago.
A REVELATION! They are great. They don't have to be tilled with a tiller, and are easy to weed. Weeding is only necessary only once or twice! And, you get MUCH more produce in a given area vs row style gardening.
One is 4 ft wide and 20 ft long the 2nd is 24ft long. I an currently building several smaller ones for next year. All are 20 inches tall. Buy/borrow the book "Square foot Gardening" as it is a great help. I used treated lumber and lined the inside with flashing to keep the treated stuff from leaching into the vegies, and metal screen on the bottom to keep moles out.
I used a mixture of dry manure/straw/vermiculite/compost/black dirt in nearly equal proportions. Plant the vegies in "Patches" instead of rows. The tomatos will grow very tall so be aware to add strong & tall baskets to support them. Water often as raised beds dry out quickly.
We have had problems with critters, but electrified fences fixed that issue. Note: a 15 mile fencer packs a wallop for only 200 ft of fencing. You will not be disappointed. Just like anything else, the more ya put into it, the more ya get out of it.

Vegetable gardens are a good way to relieve stress too!

Married With Children - Vegetable Garden - YouTube

My sister is disabled, lives on her SSI, and is a great gardener. She has a raised bed in a community garden in the downtown area. It's 10X20, I think. She's vegetarian, and manages to raise enough stuff to feed herself through the fall and into the winter, using compact gardening techniques, some of them Native American in origin. One is the "three sisters" technique, planting climbing beans and squash at the base of corn plants, so the beans climb the cornstalk while the squash spreads at the bottom. It's incredible how much produce she gets.

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Oh well, what the hell.

I'm a believer in raised beds, especially if space is somewhat limited.

Amending and tending to the soil is much easier.

The yield that it possible from small containers on my back deck always amazes me.



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I made a raised garden for my wife, 2 feet wide and 24 feet long and 2 feet high. she grew tomatoes and squash and green beans. we have a fenced in back yard but still have to deal with rabbits. We mix garden soil, bagged manure, and fertilize with miracle grow. This year the tomatoes took over and we had summer squash coming out our ears. and the beans needed to be picked almost daily.

Don't crowd your plants, After the plants are showing above the ground I take the time to lay down landscaper cloth to reduce the need to weed; it also helps hold the moister in the soil. I have used the spray that repels deer and rabbits, it works pretty well.

The 2 winter ago I was standing at my back door (before the fence) and watched 4 deer walk across my back yard and make a meal out of my cedar bushes just outside the door, and they watched me watch them. I was thinking 22lr and I would have meat in the freezer. I live in town.

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Carpriver.

2009, are they ripe yet?

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Sure you did

It took a couple years... but we finally started harvesting in 2011.



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A friend says he uses a solar electric fence and smears peanut butter on it in a few places. He watched deer come up and lick the pbutter and would never see that deer again around his garden.
I haven't tried it yet but I'm ready to. Tired of feeding them.

You should google "Straw Bale Gardening" I think it might work for you.

You basically use the straw bales as your soil and make a trellis to support the taller plants like tomatos. Since the straw is sterile you basically have no weeds growing only what you plant.

I read an article about it in a pioneer magazine I picked up seemed intersting.

I have had raised beds for maybe 25+ years - it all started with Mel Bartholomew's "Square Foot Gardening" - check it out on U-Tube or Amazon - loads of great info.

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Lou

For everyone trying to fend off garden destroying deer,there's a product that's a cross between a pulse sprinkler and a motion detector that's getting good reviews on amazon.com.

Those tomatos look delicious! I've never been much on gardening, but if and when I do I want to grow me some of them! Store bought are so bland & tasteless, unless you spend the big bucks on Campari's.

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Lounge Lizard Extraordinaire

There's nothing to it. Some containers and Miracle grow. Water. That's it.

May



June



And there's some tasty stuff hiding under those big green leaves. They eventually turn yellow and red. Yum...

Yes yes! Tomatos & bell peppers...can't be bad!

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Lounge Lizard Extraordinaire

A couple of those 18" (approx) square plastic planters is all we use. They have the water tray on the bottom that the planter sits in, actually snaps into place. Some you can put caster wheels on to move them around.
I put a piece of old towel or T-shirt in the bottom of the planter and into the water tray. Fill with dirt and plant. Water fom the bottom throughout the year. The cloth pulls the water up into the dirt from the bottom.
They sit in front of the garage and get plenty of sun and heat. If there's frost warning early or late in the year,,or hail/wind warning,,I open the garage and push them inside for that time.

No weeding, trim a few times to keep them in check, and pick the vegys off when it's time. The planters have corner braces for stakes to be used if you need to stake & string the wild ones up.
Couldn't be simpler.
Amazing the amount of return from growing veg plants this way. Look at some of the pics others have posted.

End of the season, pull the plants and discard. Dump the dirt into the flower beds. Ready for spring.