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Raised Beds:
Here is one example of a raised bed. It is small but productive. I grow our favorites in it.
Tomatoes, green beans, onions, peppers and cucumbers in it. Soil depth is doubled. It warms up sooner in the spring
and has added depth for plant roots to penetrate. The soil has been improved with generous amounts of horse manure and
other organic matter.
You can do the same basic thing for raised flower beds by just addings compost, good topsoil
or a composted manure to a depth of 10 inches to 1 foot above your existing soil level. Then plant your flowers or bulbs.
A Simple raised Bed
| Garden with raised beds |
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| Soil depth is doubled |
| Click to enlarge |
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| More raised beds |
Important Note: Either turn off your popup blocker,
to view flowers, or use the back button rather than the 'close window' button. The pictures enlarge in a popup window.
We have no popup adds, etc.
Other more complex raised beds
The two pictures to the left are from our friends certified organic garden where they grow herbs and vegetables.
These beds increase top soil by about six inches. They are permanent, attractive and help improve their harvest.
The beds are fairly wide which allows a double planing up and down the row but still allows them to reach over and weed, for
example, without stepping on the soil and compacting it. They have a some short fencing to keep the rabbits out.
Don't use boards that are chemically treated.
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Raised beds give roots
room to grow and air to breath.
Jesus also said, “Here is another illustration
of what the Kingdom
of God is like: A farmer planted seeds in a field, and then he went on with
his other activities. As the days went by, the seeds sprouted and grew without the farmer’s help, because the earth
produces crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. And
as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle.” Mark 4:26-29
Who is Apollos, and who is Paul, that we should be the cause of such quarrels? Why, we’re
only servants. Through us God caused you to believe. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. My job was to plant the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God,
not we, who made it grow. The ones who do the planting or watering aren’t important, but God is important
because he is the one who makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work as a team with the same purpose. Yet they
will be rewarded individually, according to their own hard work. We work together as partners who belong to God. You are God’s field, God’s
building—not ours.
Paul, 1 Corinthians 3:5-9
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