Raised Bed Gardening in My Vegetable Greenhouse

April 6, 2019

Raised Bed Gardening in My Vegetable Greenhouse

Delicious homegrown lettuces and herbs are growing beautifully inside my vegetable greenhouse and will be ready just in time for Easter.

Not long ago, we constructed 16 wooden garden boxes to fit the entire length and width of my vegetable greenhouse. Raised bed gardening allows good drainage, prevents soil compaction, and provides protection for those plants that may otherwise get trampled. Once the boxes were complete, they were filled with soil mixed right here at my Bedford, New York farm, and planted with a selection of vegetables that were started from seed earlier in the year. Planting in the vegetable greenhouse is a great way to ensure I have fresh, organic vegetables all year long.

Here are some photos.

: I use this greenhouse from late fall to spring until the outdoor garden beds are ready for planting. Now that all the raised beds are installed, it’s time to properly fill a couple of them with soil.

: The outdoor grounds crew put temporary plywood boards on top of the raised beds so the soil can be wheeled in without disturbing the footpaths.

: Ryan started these lettuces from seed. It’s now crucial to get them into the ground, so they’re ready for the upcoming Easter. I always serve fresh vegetables from my gardens at all my holiday gatherings.

: Here is Chhiring shoveling our topsoil and composted manure mix into a wheelbarrow. No matter how great the topsoil is, always use compost in the gardens and be sure to add fresh amounts every year.

: The raised garden boxes are made of oak. Oak is a hardwood meaning its wood fibers are denser than others. Oakwood is remarkably strong, heavy, durable and resistant to fungal attacks.

: It takes quite a bit of soil to fill these raised beds appropriately. Chhiring brings in one wheelbarrow at a time.

: Once the beds are filled, they are moistened with an even, fine spray to settle the soil. More soil is added to “top it off”. Over time the soil will settle an inch or two more and should be amended.

: Do you know the difference between raised beds and garden planters? Raised beds do not have bottoms; they are open to the ground, which allows plant roots to go further down for available nutrients. It is a great way to plant.

: Chhiring moves onto the next bed.

: By raising the soil level, raised garden beds can also be easier to maintain – they help reduce back strain when bending over to tend the bed – just be certain the bed is narrow enough so all areas can be reached without stepping on the soil.

: Using a Tine Weeding Rake from Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Gavin carefully rakes the soil evenly over the beds and removes any organic debris. This rake is great for tine weeding as well as cultivating in tight areas. https://www.johnnyseeds.com/

: Ryan measures each bed to assess how many rows of each vegetable can be planted in the space. He takes into consideration the number of plants and the size of the vegetables when mature.

: This is Johnny’s Notched Cedar Planting Board. It is a handy guide for sowing and transplanting. One edge of the board is beveled for leveling and smoothing the soil before planting, while the other edge is notched every six-inches to accurately space the transplants.

: Ryan carefully places the potted plants where they will go. This may take some time, but it is always a good idea before digging the holes so they can be positioned where they look best.

: Each plant is given adequate and equal amounts of space to grow.

: Here they are all positioned in nice, neat rows. The trick is steady, uninterrupted growth. That means rich soil, plenty of water and space, and good fertilization once they are in the ground.

: Ryan begins by digging the hole for each plant – it is very easy to plant in raised beds because of the light, fluffy, well-drained soil, which encourages vigorous plant growth.

: The holes are approximately twice the size of the container.

: And then the plant goes deeply into the ground – about half the stem should be buried.

: Our NYBG intern, Zoe, helps to plant the lettuces from the other side of the bed. Zoe is part of a group of students from the New York Botanical Garden School of Professional Horticulture. Through its two-year program, the NYBG combines academics with hands-on training, externships, field trips, and special lectures to prepare its students for positions in both the public and private sectors. Zoe will be with us for several months.

: Lettuce, Lactuca sativa, is a cultivated plant of the daisy family, Asteraceae. Lettuce is a fairly hardy, cool-weather vegetable that thrives when the average daily temperature is between 60 and 70-degrees Fahrenheit. This greenhouse is completely temperature and humidity controlled, so they will develop beautifully.

: Our parsley was also started from seed indoors. This parsley, Petroselinum crispum, includes an organic selection flat leaf variety – it will also grow well in this raised bed.