Raised Bed Garden Maintenance

A little maintenance on the garden boxes will prolong their usefulness.

We began our garden project seven years ago with a few seeds in an unused flower bed. The next year we built three raised bed boxes measuring 6 feet by 4 foot each. We decided to not use treated lumber because we didn’t want to take the chance of any chemicals leaching into our food. To hold it all together, a few deck screws were used through the end of the boards. Nothing fancy and it’s served our needs all ever since. As the dirt has settled, we can see where the bugs have eaten away between the grain of the boards beneath the soil line. Last summer, we noticed some warping now that the boards are no longer the same width all the way down. The wood is also becoming brittle.

Two of the beds announced their need for attention with a pop as the screws pulled through the end board. Those protruding screws leer from the ends of the board menacingly and I don’t like the look of it. Once the dirt start falling out the opening, it was the final straw. A simple 2 x 3, which was cheaper than the 2 x 2 I had in mind, made a nice mend and I was able to reuse nearly all the deck screws and add just a few more from the odds and ends bin.

Making Sawdust

The minute I carried the 2 x 3 down to the garden, laid it across the beds and produced a hand saw and power drill, the children had a dozen questions about my intentions. We each got a turn making saw dust. My inquisitive kids, who aren’t concerned about a little dirt or using power tools, are the reason this is a family garden. Alex, the youngest, just couldn’t comprehend how the wood was turning into sawdust with each stroke of the saw. “It’s like when you snip a big piece of paper and have those small paper slivers left over,” I explained. With a pair of scissors, that boy can turn a single piece of paper into a small mound of fiber in a matter of minutes. Emily “the fearless” wanted to show that board the power she wielded, gripping the saw with both hands. Katie was most interested about how a saw work and why we didn’t need to plug it in.

Power Problems

The existing splintered wood and reused screws meant I would be doing to the power screwing. I plugged in the drill and nothing happened. Now this is turning into one of “those projects.” I try the other nearby outlet. I try the outlet on the deck and we are in business… if only I had an extension cord that would reach. This is the moment I wished I knew where the GFI reset was for the outside outlets. I seem to remember one on the outlets in the garage and after I moved enough things out the way, I tried it to no effect. I opened the circuit breaker but didn’t see anything labeled appropriately. This is when I recalled a second, smaller break box in the basement I hadn’t thought of in years. Peering inside, everything was in order but I reset two breakers anyway. It took so much effort to get this far, I might as well. Near by, behind an extra piece of sheet rock leaned against the wall, I found the outlet that was going to set this project back on track and with a push of the button, I headed back outside.

Building Raise Beds

One day, we’ll be forced to replace the existing boxes. I’d like them to last ten years and I think it’s doable. When it comes time again, I use a corner post initially because it’s a more solid design. Aesthetically, they are bare, non-obtrusive wood in the backyard. Nestled among the wooden deck posts, you hardly notice them. Functionally, they hold the dirt in place and give the plants a reasonable depth of soil for rooting. It didn’t take much thought or effort to assemble them so the time could be better spent cultivating out tasty crops. Each box is assemble from two ten foot boards. Each board was cut once to produce two six foot boards and two four foot boards. the thought of having to assemble raised boxes is not something that should hold you back from creating you own backyard garden.

The First Lettuce Harvest

The tender leaves of the first lettuce harvest.

The lettuce that survived the winter has a jump on all the other plants of the garden. Check out my first harvest. While not enough to feed the entire family, these will make a nice single person salad. Since this is a leaf lettuce variety, we like to harvest the leaves beginning at the bottom of the plant at leaving a few at the top. The plant will continue to produce new leaves. When the plant finally bolts in the summer heat, you’ll notice our talk, stalky lettuce. But what we remember is the number of meals we made in between.

Rouge lettuce grows between the garden beds.

Don’t let the organized appearance of our three garden boxes fool you. Seed still grows wherever it falls. I’ve noticed more lettuce coming up among the radishes even after we thought we’d transplanted it all into a single bed. Meanwhile, these two happy plants thumb their noses at the very idea of mingling with the other lettuce in an organized assembly of greens. They’ve found enough soil between the garden boxes to make a comfortable home and I don’t feel the need to get a trowel. This isn’t a high traffic area and the look delicious right where they stand.

Potato spouts hint at the spuds beneath the soil.

Elsewhere in the garden, these potato sprouts have arrived. We didn’t intend to plant potatoes last year. Our compost pile yields all kinds of mystery food. When they sprouted last year, I transplanted the little spuds in the bed and left them alone. I didn’t really know when or how to harvest them but since their just roots, the winter here isn’t a problem. I pleased to see their happy in their garden bed and hope to get my first taste of garden fresh potatoes this year. I’m told they could ruin me from all store bought potatoes. I’m okay with that.

Weeds From The Winter

This bumper crop of weeds needs harvested.

With the arrival of our seeds, it was past time to assess the condition of the garden. After providing a home to lettuce, broccoli, radishes, and potatoes that over-wintered, a number of weeds decided to take up residence, and while I thought I was keeping them at bay, I was only fooling myself. Now, manual labor was the only way to rehabilitate out precious garden boxes.

Since each bed already had some vegetables growing, the hand cultivator would be my tool of choice. Bent over, kneeling on the ground, sifting through the dirt, and banging as much of the soil from the weeds roots as I could, it took 2 days to recover our 3 garden plots from the clover, spurge, purple deadnettle, and dollar weed.

My daughter chanting “I see London. I see France. I see daddy’s underpants” should have clued me to the fact my shirt was riding high and my pants were riding low. That evening, the sting on my lower back provided a warning from the early season sun. I won’t make that mistake again so easily.

The increasing sunlight and warmer temperatures of early spring have prompted the surviving broccoli to flower.

Right up until the real cold of winter set in, we were harvesting lettuce and broccoli. Both of these survived the mild winter and we are greeted with secondary broccoli shoots beginning to bloom.

In the heat of last year’s summer, we let the lettuce go to seed. As we weeded, we discovered my new lettuce shoots. The children were more than happy to poke their finger in the newly cultivated soil and organize homes for these sprouting plants in a single garden box. Afterwards, the kids would make sure each plant got a healthy sip of water straight from the rain barrel. The water is still frigid considering a week ago it was frozen. By the end of the weekend, we had an entire 6 foot by 4 foot garden plot packed with tender lettuce that came up on its own.

Katie and Emily take a break to admire the finely weeded lettuce bed.

In the photo, you’ll notice the empty chicken wire used to climb our snow peas. This bed was their home last year but we rotate crops between the three beds to help keep the soil healthy and thwart the insects.

You’ll also notice Katie and Emily are sitting on some garden soil we purchased to help top off the beds. It will all be in the garden soon enough.

At the corner of the house, you can see our two rain barrels which manage to stay full even though they only collect rain from a small overhang on a bump out from the kitchen. The barrel in the rear sit on top of two tiers of concrete block which elevates it enough to get our watering can beneath the spigot but doesn’t provide enough water pressure to use a house. The second barrel is destined for a home on the other side of the house.

Two out of three garden plots weeded.

After swinging the cultivator over and over, pulling gently to remove all the rooted weeds, we are winning. There are more food plants than weeds and it should be much easier to maintain the beds for the rest of the year.

Backyard Family Garden

A backyard adventure full of plants and animals