Vegetable Gardening
Can Be Easy
by Shawn Studer
Many families would like to start a vegetable garden in their back yard, but most never even try, because they believe it requires a lot of hard work. They’re right—digging, tilling and weeding can be time-consuming. However, a raised bed approach offers a time- and labor- saving solution with many benefits.
The Advantages of
Raised Bed Gardens
Building smaller, raised bed gardens on top of our area’s poor soil and filling
them with potting mix will reduce any gardener’s workload now and in the future. A regular garden requires till- ing, composting and fertilizing directly into the soil, which uncovers tens of thousands of dormant weed seeds, just waiting to be exposed to the light. They begin to sprout, producing a weed patch instead of a vegetable garden. Gardeners using the raised bed ap-
proach avoid the labor-intensive effort of scraping off the sod and digging into the soil. Even better, a raised bed on top of the soil eliminates 99 percent of the weeds. The wind blows, of course, and bird droppings are inevitable. But on average, one weed per square foot in the loose, raised bed soil instead of 100 means that they’re a snap to pull out.
Healthy Soil
Means Healthy Plants
Organic gardeners know that healthy plants resist bugs and diseases natu- rally, and the key to vigorous plants is healthy soil. Synthetic fertilizers are like an electric shock to a plant, causing it to grow too quickly. The resulting growth is not only spindly and weak, but also the first thing that pests and diseases attack. Using weedless potting mix and incorporating organic fertil-
CEDAR RAISED BEDS!
izers creates perfect garden soil from the very start and allows plants to grow at their own pace.
Maximize Small Gardens with Productive Crops
Small gardens are especially suited to our area, because so many families have a big house and a small yard. Most homeowners or apartment dwell- ers don’t have room for even a 20-by- 20-foot garden. Those who do own a large yard usually have lots of trees and not enough sunlit space to support a healthy garden. Small gardens can yield a great return when planted with crops that are not only highly productive in a limited space, but also more expensive at the grocery store. For example, everyone loves fresh corn, but a 3-by-8-foot bed may grow only 20 ears of corn. At 50 cents per ear, the garden produces a mere $10 crop for the entire summer. Instead, choose plants that occupy less
space and offer an ongoing harvest, such as tomatoes and peppers. Avoid plants like head lettuce that mature, are harvested and leave a space in the garden layout. For a larger harvest in less room, grow vertical climbing plants like peas, green beans and cucumbers, instead of bush varieties. Try gardening the easy way.
Think small and smart and you’ll eat well throughout the grow- ing season with a raised bed garden.
Shawn Studer blends a life’s passion with the unbridled growing ability of Southern California. The Instant Organic Garden affiliate can be reached at 760- 707-6200 or shawn@instantorganicgar-
den.com. Visit InstantOrganicGarden. com/contact-us/shawn-studer-san- diego-ca or
InstantOrganicGarden.com.
See ad below.
natural awakenings
June 2010
37
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52