New raised beds

For years now I’ve been reading about Mel Bartholomew’s concept of Square Foot Gardening and, seeing as how we want to promote urban ag, this appears to be the most feasible option.This method provides flexibility based on the space you have available to grow crops. My brother-in-law and fam. built a great raised bed in their garden last year. It was 2’x4’ with a bottom and was raised on almost 5’ legs so no one had to bend over. It was hugely successful and the kids loved bringing food in from their garden. So for the past couple of weeks I have been preparing my new raised beds. In total, I’m going to have 5 beds—3 4x8x8 and 2 4x4x8.

I ended up laying out weed blocker first and then putting the beds on top and then adding hay. Not only does this look tidy but this should theoretically solve the weed conundrum. I also put a 3' fence around the perimeter to allow for the chickens to still roam around the yard without destroying the beds. Nothing gives me more pleasure than working in my garden while the chickens run around scavenging for bugs and getting stung by yellow jackets. I used hog panels that were sitting around the yard and then synthetic chicken fence to finish it. I even rigged a little gate. Well worth the time and expense.

My plans for the new beds are as follows:

Bed 1 (4'x4')

· Garlic—8 to 12 cloves per square ft for a total of 128 to 192 . Galrlic is planted when the kids go back to school (normally Sept. but I’m shooting for Oct) and is harvested when school lets out in May. This is why I’m planting on the far bed so I can just plant it and forget it.

Bed 2 (8'x4')

· Kentucky pole beans—8 per sq ft for a total of 32 plants. These will be trellised

· Shirofumi soy beans—a.k.a. edamame. 2 plants per sq ft for 8 total plants

· Basil—2 purple & 2 sweet basil

· Dinosaur Kale—1/sq ft (4 total)

· Georgia Collard Greens—1/sq ft (4 total)

· Swiss chard—4/sq ft (8 Bright Lights; 4 Red; 4 Yellow)

· Carrots

· Beets

· Radishes

Bed 3 (8'x4')

· More of the same

· Broccoli (only when it gets cold…broccoli does not do well with heat)

Bed 4 (8'x4')

This is going to be my dedicated salad/greens bed. Greens grow really well in New Orleans in the fall and winter so I’m planning on this bed being fairly productive.

Bed 5 (4'x4')

· Summer squash—1/9 sq ft

Pictures of the process:

1. Nothing like some fresh chicken poo to get the beds ready for the new crop

2. I amended the soil with my own compost and the chickens are helping mix it all together

Taken from my shower.

This gives you a good idea what I mean with the squares. For example, the first 4 squares each have 8 Kentucky pole beans planted.