Part I: Raised Bed Gardening/Square Foot Gardening at Not A Lot of Plot

Posted on 25 January, 2012 by Jen Rothmeyer (Em)

A woodpecker resting on a tree at Indian Creek Nature Center

A woodpecker resting on a tree at Indian Creek Nature Center.

Several weeks ago I attended Not A Lot of Plot at Indian Creek Nature Center and I learned so much. I figured I’d share some of the tips and tricks from the first session, Raised Bed Gardening, which discussed raised bed gardening, square foot gardening, and vertical gardening – three topics that are very near and dear to my heart.

Deb Walser is a pretty well known master gardener in Linn County. While I couldn’t even begin to name all the various things she is involved in, she is probably most well recognized for being on the Expert Hour with 600 WMT with other master gardeners. My favorite? She’s a vermicomposter. You probably saw that coming.

Deb was giving the class on raised bed gardening during the event.

Raised Bed Gardening – The Class

Deb discussed a little about the master gardener program and about the challenges that gardeners face when they are attempting to create a traditional garden – all the plowing, the tools required, the watering needs, and the back aches. I can tell you from my experience, that is very reminiscent of traditional gardening. You start the year by tilling the garden and it never really gets easier.

Square foot gardening and raised bed gardening is nothing like that. Once the beds are in place, you will rarely have to put a full shovel into the dirt! (I amend my beds every year with a little more fresh compost, but I never have to root around). Deb referenced the book by Mel Bartholomew called All New Square Foot Gardening as she discussed the concepts. She discussed the benefits of square foot gardening (such as extending the season, better use of space, easy harvesting) as well as where and how to create your square foot garden and raised bed. Location, location, location! Then she discussed what you put into your raised bed.

Deb shared ideas for extending the season, interplanting to have more crop, and vertical gardening as well. On the topic of interplanting, she referenced the book Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening by Louise Riotte. Deb went over the water needs in a raised bed and harvesting information. She referenced PM 534 from Iowa State Extension for more information on harvesting in our area.

Learn More

Want to learn more about square foot or raised bed gardening? You can ask questions of me in the comments or you can attend the Winter Gardening Fair being held at Kirkwood. On Saturday, February 18th, the following class will be held:

Raised Bed/Square Foot Gardens—Wil Carew, LCMG
Get off the ground, save your back and start gardening closer to your hands and eyes. Wil leads this class to get you started with the benefits of raised beds, covering the principles, examples of beds, construction techniques, trellis/cloche use, and protecting crops from critters. Square foot gardening in a raised bed will increase your season, decrease weeding, and save time. Benton 322

Wil Carew is another compost-loving master gardener and I bet he’ll do a great job with this class.

Talk To Me

Do you have raised beds or do you use square foot gardening?

Tomorrow I will continue this mini-series with Part II: 15 things I’m Doing Next Year in My Raised Bed

About Jen Rothmeyer (Em)

Creative and well-organized, Jen moves through life with a sense of humor and desire to live life to the fullest. She works hard and believes in excellence, but she plays hard and believes in happiness as well. Her ultimate goal is to experience life with kindness, grace, and best of all: fun.
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  • Diane

    I would love to have raised beds, the cost of getting them raised though and having to buy the soil is well beyond our gardening budget!! My garden produces all I need but it is hard work I have to agree. Diane

    • http://www.emsun.org Jen Rothmeyer

      Diane – we were able to get the cinder block for very inexpensive on sale and the compost was free at our local Solid Waste Agency – without those two items, we wouldn’t have been able to afford it either!

      I really can’t recommend raised bed gardening enough. It is so much easier on my back, my knees, and my planning! And square foot gardening is even better. Such a smaller space to maintain, less weeds, less watering. Much more effective!

      I hope that you can find a way to be able to afford the raised beds. :)

      • Diane

        Top soil here is VERY expensive as we have discovered. I have not seen cinder blocks, but blocks here again are not cheap. Wood would be out of the question as it would not last.  I have a bad back and it would be ideal for me but……  I have one raised bed in the garden which was due to a tree coming down, the trunk was cut into wide slices to go around the main trunk which was cut into a mushroom. Just filling that nearly broke the bank!
         Diane

        • http://www.emsun.org Jen Rothmeyer

          That all makes me VERY sad! I almost think that we all need to buy a block and ship it to you for your next birthday! (Can you imagine?)

          Do you have a picture of the tree? That sounds delightful.Do you compost your own scraps and yard waste? I get so much fill just from that!

          • Diane

            Now I have seen the blocks I recognise them, you have a different name from what I know. They seem to change name from country to country.  If we only had a small garden it would not be a problem, but my veg garden is quite big. No problem, I will keep it going as it is and we manage to live off it all year round. To see the unfinished raised garden see 
            http://lifeincharente.blogspot.com/2011/08/going-going-gone.html this spring I will be planting it out, it should be fun. I am thinking lots of lavender (very French) as it is in a very hot place with sun all day.  After a bad drought last year I am also thinking what survives well :) ) Diane

  • http://www.anutinanutshell.com/ Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell

    I’m not sure about the initial set-up for these, but I know I’d really appreciate them when they were done! It sounds so much better!

    • http://www.emsun.org Jen Rothmeyer

      I think total it took us a day and a half to drive to the store, load up the cinder blocks, take them home, lay out the hardware cloth and cut it, and put down the cinder blocks. Then a half day to fill them. I do know that I sweat a lot and I didn’t even do the majority of the work!

  • Imac

    Hi Jen, thanks for your visit and nice comments.
    Afraid Im not a gardener, but great info.
    Like the look of your meals earlier post.
    Now thats something I enjoy – food,lol.
    Of course Photography is my lead for enjoyment and with an Artist for a DW helps me quite a lot.

    • http://www.emsun.org Jen Rothmeyer

      Is there any way I could convince you to become a gardener? (Said with a smile.) Thank you for the compliment on the meals. I really, really enjoy food myself.

  • Daisy

    I don’t have much time or space to garden, but this sounds like a great idea.  Interesting post.  Thank you for visiting and commenting on my blog.  

    • http://www.emsun.org Jen Rothmeyer

      You’re welcome! Make sure you keep reading if you want to learn more about square foot or raised bed gardening. There will be another post tomorrow.If you have any questions, let me know. I’m a font of information. :) I have 0.2 acres and I produce tons and tons of food off of it. It’s a tiny space!

  • http://percolatingtoday.blogspot.com/ Lesa

    Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and commenting on the post about the vintage apron.  An apron was my first sewing project when I was 12 and I highly recommend apron-making for a beginner.  A friend of mine will be visiting in February and she wants sewing lessons.  I hope she likes aprons!  

    I enjoyed your article on various gardening methods.  I raised worms under my kitchen sink for years and hardly anyone found out!  As well, I kept meal worms in my refrigerator for my old toucan.  Shocking!  Raised-bed gardening has worked for me here in  Florida where we have a problem with nematodes, complicated by my desire not to use harsh chemicals to get rid of them.  

    Thanks again for stopping by and I’ll be back to read your adventures!

    • http://www.emsun.org Jen Rothmeyer

      You’re welcome – and thank you!

      I get very overwhelmed by patterns. I pull it out and just cringe and close it back up. Any advice?I’m so happy to hear about another vermicomposter! Or were you raising worms for pets? I, too, have been known to have super worms or wax worms in the fridge. I have a bearded dragon and a red-eared slider turtle.I’m going to admit something that embarrasses me – nematodes gross me out. There you go. A confession. :)

  • http://www.livelearnwithsally.blogspot.com/ Sall Bishop

    We’ve put some raised beds in our alley, the only place in the back with direct sun, and have high hopes for a bumper crop.  In the two seasons we’ve had them we’ve had minimal success.  We remain hopeful, enjoying the effort as much as the outcome. 

    • http://www.emsun.org Jen Rothmeyer

      I’m really interested in what could be causing you to not have great crops. You should check out  my photos tomorrow of our set up! What kind of growing medium do you have inside your raised bed?

  • Pingback: Part II: 15 things I’m Doing This Next Season in My Raised Bed | EmSun