A Few Points About Building Herb Gardens
A Few Points About Building Herb Gardens
A viewer recently asked me about how to get started building a 4’x8′ herb garden, so I thought I’d wrap a video around my answer. In this video I share my views on raised bed gardens, on buying soil from garden centers, and a bunch of other issues related to new garden builds.
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Thank you so very much for doing this! It makes me feel very special. š Bubbles, white flies, humming birds flying in front of the camera! What a day for you! Long story short, I may have to create a raised garden only because bamboo has invaded my yard to the point where the stalks have grown tangled underground. The landscaper was supposed to plant only black bamboo, which is not as invasive, with the rubber sheeting down in the soil, but obviously it didn’t work, or I got cheated. I’m not even sure if I could dig holes in it to put the mulch and seeds, etc. I will definitely cover it with sand to prevent too many weeds though. I have access to tons of that! I will watch this stream repeatedly and continue to plot until I think I have come up with something that works for my particular space. Thank you again for the info and for doing this video!
Similar to Marian below I use raised beds because my back yard is heavy wet clay. The other reason I used raised beds, I share my small backyard with canine family members. Luckily their leg cocking height is just below 10 inches, so my raised beds are right at 1 foot. This keeps the pups from peeing directly on the plants. Inner beds are lined with landscape plastic to keep any contaminants from seeping into the ‘controlled’ garden soil.
Even if my soil was not clay the soil stays overly wet/moist throughout the year even during extended hot periods in summer. The wetness is due to grade which cannot be changed. Plants that do perform well with wet feet (nearly all North American garden plants) would not perform well with the constant moist conditions.
Ideally my backyard would be large enough to divide to keep dogs on one side and garden on the other, my soil would NOT be clay and the grade would be perfect to provide enough but not too much rain water to the plants. But since I do not have the ideal conditions – I improvise with raised beds.
To one of Greg’s points the beds DO dry out faster than if I had planted at ground level, but in my case this is a benefit rather than a negative. In my situation the plants in the low raised beds benefit from the wet conditions below the beds and receive adequate water from the wet of the clay below the beds.
Love your vids Greg – and how OPPOSITE your conditions are compared to mine.
Have you noticed any loss in beneficial insects due to the sand at this point?
YEP………..
So we moved into a house which has garbage from 50 years or more under the dirt. We have tried different spots though out the property get a couple of inches down and run into all kinds of stuff. So my thinking is to build up on top of the mess.
You have a raised bed to improve drainage. My drainage motto: plants up water down. The greater the drainage problem in your garden the higher your raised bed needs to be. Water will wick approximately 16 inches. In the rainy wet season I want dry, well draining, aerated soil. During a drought I want a low raised bed that has access to ground water. As an experiment, find the wettest area of your garden and double the height of the raised bed. Add twice as much organic material and logs to that bed. I believe if you raise the height of your raised bed in a wet part of your garden you will improve the garden soil and plant production.
Hey Greg, do you have any companion planting videos other than your potato/peas video? If not could you look into doing one, especially for those of us with limited space… What can be grown with the ātypicalā easy garden veg (tomato, carrots, peas, beans, zucchini, beets, strawberries, etc)?? Yes there is info out on the web about this but Iād love to hear your take and see what seems to work in our climate… thanks
I want raised beds because I’m old and can’t kneel down anymore!!!
Why I use raised beds? Because I control the soil… I use weed free mixes. They are small and next to the house so I can water if needed.
My reason for a raised bed is … my ground is decomposed granite.Ā It looks like gravel.Ā Also I put hardware cloth under my beds because of voles … and I found out if they can’t get in under the bed they will go over the top … so I had to make my beds at least 12 inches tall!!Ā And yes, water is an issue here in Colorado, soĀ I mulch my beds.
My beds are low except on my slight hill where they need to be taller to work with the land. I use black landscaping fabric on most raised beds because of cold at nights early on. I almost never have to water, even in dry seasons in south central PA. First tomatoes days ago, large pepper yesterday. Yea!
Rabbits in the north (zone 1) love the little green shoots that are hiding under the mulch in early spring. I have to do slightly raised beds as well because of the clay soil in this area. The clay soil sets up like concrete and is very hard to work with, easier to raise the bed a bit.
Your channel is brilliant & inspiring, thanks so much for all the content.
The repetition & attention to detail makes for a great learning experience.
I agree, raised beds are mostly ridiculous.
Thanks for this video. You made me smile talking about the critters eating your garden. My Dad lives in Philadelphia, which has a very extensive park system throughout the city. His apartment complex started a community garden. Well, all the animals–opossums, squirrels, and deer–magically appeared once the plants began to raise their heads above the ground and ate all of the garden. I remember him saying, laughingly, "they must have thought we set out a buffet for them!"
If my yard’s soil were found to have a lot of toxic heavy metals, such as lead and arsenic, I would definitely make a raised bed and probably with some kind of bottom.
There were no bubbles. Did you try a volunteer mushroom? Ha, great video!
A great place to get perennial herb plants is in supermarket fresh food sections. I got a small 4 inch pot of living thyme and rescued 36 individual thyme plants from it. This is much better value than the Ā£2.50 you would pay for an individual thyme plant at my local garden centre.
Hey looks like decent weather in your neck of the woods and NO FLIES š . You are doing well.
So think outside the box!
I made a slanted raised (4ft) huglekulture bed with loose branches infrastructure. It can create inconsistent unleveled surface, but that can mean microclimates.
I dug deep and added the logs and food scrapes, therefore potatoes etc rose up. Along the sides are shaded and even garden snakes and lizards reside.
On top of the slant I put a covered compost bucket which drain into the depths at a slower rate, but can also be watered and avoid surface evaporation. It took about 3 days of hard labor to make, but I expect it to last. I do wonder how far the compost run-off and wormwaste travels.
There is a real benefit of raising a bed for pests, non-bending etc but it should be stated that it has cons.
Im still loving the sand between your beds,I had to use a weedeater between the beds yesterday,I need to use some thing.I have some rotten hay but at night time it becomes a bed for the dogs.I try and keep them out of the garden,any way great video,I think you really helped the viewer out a lot.
I couldnāt agree more. My raised beds arenāt raised anymore and the lumber just gets in the way. Also plant lavender away from the bed, like in a rock garden, because it can grow like crazy.
It’s so nice to not see you battling the ice and snow!
It looks like spring finally arrived at your place! Thank goodness. š
Most people (that I know personally) have raised beds so they don’t have to bend down. Some people have issues with their body
Catching up on some of your older podcasts & I’ve heard you mention how mint spreads & to plant it away from your garden. Just thought I’d comment that for a lot of minty varieties, they don’t actually spread by the roots as much as the seeds dropping everywhere – so if you prune flowering portions of these plants before the seeds are fully formed or dropped, you can keep their spread under control
I have raised cinder block beds that are capped. Expensive start up but worth every penny spent!!!! I sit on the edge and plant, weed etc. Also, I controlled the soil content. This year with all the rain here in Chicagoland I would not have a garden period as it would have drowned. Iāve done it both ways, raised beds have so many advantages especially as I age.
Why I use raised beds – my back yard is heavy wet clay, basically a clay swamp. I could not plant much where my garden beds are if they were not raised. The other advantage of raised beds – not at far to bend over. Arthritic knees don’t like deep bends or kneeling. LOL
Wow! You got peopleās attention with your opinions on raised beds. I can totally see the point you are making about them. I do however use raised beds after about twenty years of in ground. My garden further north in the province thrived in ground and I enjoyed it. Where I am now is a subdivision built on a heavy clay, weedy old slough. I have found (with raised beds) itās much easier to work the soil, it dries out and warms earlier in the spring so I can get into it about a month earlier. Clay has a heavy nutrient content and although Iāve always added compost, grass clippings, leaves, etc I feel like the raised beds require more fertilizer. I suspect the nutrients move out of the root zone with watering to some degree. I switched to drip watering from over head spray when I switched to the raised beds. It seems to require less runtime with the drip to get water just to the plants I want. Definite pros and cons to both methods. We all do what works best. As youāve said you speak in generalizations on these topics. I think thatās all that can be done with gardening. So many factors affect the best practice for each area. Keep doing what your doing. You put out great content.
Actually in hot climates sinked beds work better than raised. Brad Lancaster out of Tucson Arizona has some very nice garden series about gardening in hot climates and water harvesting..totally worth watching and very inspiring!
14:55 That’s what I do. Not raised beds but permanent beds with solid borders
Raised beds for me meant I had to watrer every day. I have lowered them all to soil is just above surrounding soil levels. Thanks Alf
Araised garden bed is great for those that need help getting up from the ground. As we age we get all kind of pains, gardening brings more pleasure without pain.