‘raised vegetable garden beds’ Articles

How to vegetable garden in January, garden ideas for the month of the year when the weather can be dark, bleak and cold. Let us be honest, the inclement weather of winter gardening does not encourage us to do much in the vegetable garden.

The garden soil may be frozen or too wet to work and is best left alone and preferably not even walked on. Instead of working with your spade revisit your vegetable garden design perhaps incorporating a raised bed garden especially if your garden is too heavy to work or has sandy soil that does not hold water and nutrients. A raised bed vegetable garden involves planning, preparation and work in the first year but all that work pays for itself in the subsequent years.

Revisit your vegetable garden layout and rotation system to ensure the same crops are not grown in the same beds year after year which will help prevent disease build-up.

It is not too late to order garden seeds so take out your seed catalogues and choose the vegetable seed varieties that you intend to grow and put in that order.

As part of your disease prevention plan clear up any remaining crops that are now over.

Should the ground be workable incorporate as much compost and / or well rotted manure as you have available when digging over your vegetable plot.

Remember that slugs, snails and mice will still be looking for a feast so be vigilant around any growing or stored vegetables.

Brussels Sprouts

Carry on harvesting Brussels Sprouts and remember that they do not just have to be boiled or steamed, there are many ways to cook sprouts.

It pays to stake or earth up Brussels sprouts to prevent wind rock or the danger of them being blown over. There is nothing worse than going down to the vegetable garden or garden allotment and seeing Sprouts lying on the ground getting full of soil and grit not to mention being chewed by slugs.

To prevent the spread of grey mould and brassica downy mildew remove yellowing leaves.

Unless you are growing an F1 hybrid that matuers at the same rate along the haulm pick the largest sprouts from low down first.

Rhubarb

Should rhubarb be in the fruit or vegetable gardening section? Whatever your preference January is the time to start forcing rhubarb by placing a large container over the crown to encourage the fresh shoots to grow. Excluding light by use of a bucket, dustbin or made for purpose forcing jar will mean that you will be eating delicious young rhubarb much earlier in the year.

One more thing you can do for extra warmth is to put manure or straw over the top.

Chicory and seakale can be forced using the same method.

Broad Beans

Sow broad beans in January in pots and put them in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse to have broad beans ready to plant out in spring. Protect from mice.

Onions

If growing onions from seed rather than sets (small bulbs) sow now in a heated propagator and they will be ready to plant out in March. Remember that onions grown from seed need a long season to reach maturity.

Growing Potatoes

Order seed potatoes from a reliable source that can guarantee virus free stock.

Vegetable Plants to Harvest

A selection of vegetable plants that can still be harvested in January include:

• Brussels Sprouts
• Parsnips
• Celeriac
• Sprouting Broccoli
• Turnips
• Leeks
• Swedes
• Jerusalem Artichokes

Warm Your Soil for Early Sowings

Polythene sheet and bought or homemade tunnel cloches and are perfect to cover the soil in preparation for early sowings of Lettuce, Radish, Peas, Broad Beans, Spinach, Salad Onions.

Stored Vegetables

Place mice controls near stored vegetables.

Regularly check stored vegetables and remove any rotting or mouldy specimens.

Vegetable Seeds to Sow in January

The thought of vegetable planting brings optimistic thoughts of the warmer and longer days to come. Vegetable garden planting time can be closer than you imagine by starting vegetable garden seeds in January for planting out in February.

Here are some suggestions of vegetable garden seeds that can be sown under cover in January:

• Lettuce
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Radish
• Spinach
• Salad Onions
• Turnip

Raised Bed Vegetable Garden

If you intend to grow your vegetables using the raised bed vegetable gardening method, January is not too late to start or complete the build of your raised beds.

See also:

How to Vegetable Garden in December

How to Vegetable Garden in February

Building a raised garden bed is not difficult but does require a little thought and some work with a spade and fork.

When starting out learning how to vegetable garden, raised bed vegetable gardening may be something that the beginner leaves until they are certain that they wish to vegetable garden in the longer term. However raised bed vegetable gardening can be achieved quite simply by using pots and containers that are stood on a hard landscaped surface. In fact a great method is to use recycled boxes, tins or anything suitable that comes to hand as long as they are put in the right location. The vegetable garden layout is important to plan so that the vegetable plants are not shaded all day long.

If you have land available to you in your back garden or perhaps garden allotment then the deep bed method of creating a raised vegetable bed is ideal.

As with container vegetable gardening vegetable garden planning is essential for deep-bed vegetable plots before a spade or fork is put into the ground. Draw out your raised vegetable garden beds on paper, drawing in the beds in the best shape to suit your plot and also pleasing to your eye. The shape may be square, oblong or triangular but do make sure that the maximum width does not exceed four feet as this is the ideal width for a gardener to work from permanent paths at either side of the bed without having to step on the soil. Also do not be tempted to make the beds too long. Remember that you
need to walk around them to work from the other side.

When you are happy with your design mark the beds out on the ground with string and pegs or use the special ground marking spray that is stocked by good garden shops.

Now begins the hard work. Take the time and trouble to double dig the bed. As the name implies this entails digging two spits deep and incorporating well rotted manure and / or compost. Do not miss out this step. It cannot be denied that this is hard work but it only has to be done this one time and you may only be storing up trouble and even more work in the future if the work is not done now. For example, just below the soil surface you may have a “hard pan” of earth and if that is the case your plant roots will never be able to penetrate it and you will have poor resulting crops.

You will find that the above will result in your soil level now being six to nine inches higher than when you started. You can leave it at this but a neater and more practical solution is to edge the beds with wooden boards that ideally have been pressure treated with preservative. This forces the preservative deep into the timber but if this option is not open to you because of availability or expense then alternatively paint the boards yourself with a wood preservative that is recommended for garden use in close proximity
to plants.

You do not have to be a master joiner to do the woodwork. Cut pointed corner pegs (and supporting pegs for the length if the beds are long) and hammer them firmly into the ground so that the height above ground matches the height of your boards. Nail the boards to the outside of the pegs
and the job is done but remember to paint the ends of the boards with extra preservative if you have made any cuts.

The boards can be any height to suit you. Higher boards will give you the space to top up the prepared bed with good quality top soil and compost.

Once finished the raised vegetable garden beds should not be walked on otherwise you will compact the soil which defeats the object and negates all the hard work you have done. Put a plank across when doing a job that cannot be easily completed by working from either side.

As a crop is cleared from your raised bed garden replenish and revitalise the soil with good well rotted compost before replanting. Follow this regime and you will keep up the fertility of your vegetable garden bed without having to dig that plot over again.

Building a raised garden bed is well worth the effort. Raised vegetable garden beds using the deep bed system have been estimated to double and even triple crop yields compared with traditional vegetable gardening methods.

 Growing in raised vegetable garden beds is not new but has grown in popularity in recent years and is something that anyone looking at how to vegetable garden should consider. 

Otherwise known as the deep-bed system this method of growing vegetables has many advantages although initially, if done properly, there is quite a bit of work involved and some cost. The good news is that after the first year there is not such a cost or so much muscle work involved. 

As the name suggests, a raised vegetable bed in a way is like a container vegetable garden being elevated above the normal soil level. The difference is of course that this container does not have a solid base. Part of your first years work is to break up and prepare the base soil which in effect becomes your subsoil. 

So what are the advantages of building a raised bed garden? 

• Most of the work is done in the first year. Thereafter it is a matter of keeping the fertility of the soil built up.
• The soil tends to warm up quicker enabling earlier sowing. 
• Being raised and the soil being a good quality and structure the seed bed dries out quicker so giving more time to work on the vegetable bed. 
• Generally the vegetable bed or beds can be worked on for more days of the year than conventional garden beds. 
• Because of the deep soil and well maintained fertility level it is possible to plant closer together and yet still achieve very good crop yields. 
• The vegetable plot is easily maintained by having access from either side via permanent paths. 
• The soil in your nominated vegetable plot may not be of the best quality but with a raised bed garden you can prepare the normal surface which becomes your subsoil and fill up the bed or beds with quality top soil and / or compost. 
• With the raised vegetable bed method vegetable garden planning becomes important and encourages the vegetable gardener to plant in shorter rows and smaller blocks. This avoids a glut of any one vegetable variety at any one time. 
• The increased depth of cultivated soil makes a raised vegetable bed ideal for root crops such as carrots. 
• For those who find it difficult to stoop down to work on a conventional vegetable bed, building a raised garden bed to suit yourself can be the difference in being able to vegetable garden and not being able to do so. 

The raised planting bed can be any shape to suit your garden; it does not have to be oblong but can be square or even triangular. The main point to remember is that you want the bed to be practical to work with which means that it should not be more than four feet wide. 

Raised vegetable garden beds are highly recommended and the preparation work of the first season will reap the reward good vegetable crop yields for years to come.