Common Raised Garden Bed Mistakes (To Avoid)

gardening in raised beds really does have a lot of benefits if you do it right hi I'm gardener Scott and I discuss everything gardening so that you can become a better gardener today let's talk about some common mistakes with raised bed garden [Music] I really like raised bed gardening in fact it's my preferred method because of the many benefits and I've got other videos that talk specifically about those benefits but today I'm going to discuss ten common mistakes that you might be making or hopefully you can avoid if you're starting to garden in raised beds the first common raised bed mistake is making the wrong size bed one of the greatest advantages is being able to access every square inch of this bed my bed is four feet wide so with just a two-foot reach I can cover this entire half of the bed and take care of all of the garden activities that these plants need and then by just going to the other side I've got access here only reaching in two feet now if your reach is less than two feet make a bed that's more narrow you don't have to abide by my recommendations or anyone else make it wide enough so that you can reach the entire bed if it's up against a fence or a wall don't do four feet wide because you can't reach the other side only make a two foot wide bed if it's up against some type of barrier and don't make your bed so long either you saw how easy it was for me to go from that side to this side well if this bed were twenty or thirty feet long and have to walk all the way to the end and then all the way back and consider the height as well I like this tall bed because I I can easily get on my knees and work within it but if you've got some mobility issues or you don't like working on your knees you're free to adjust the heights of the bed to whatever works best for you another common mistake is putting the raised bed in the wrong location many gardeners know about the benefits and think that raised beds are almost magical but they're not magical enough to overcome the wrong spot plants have certain needs like Sun and water and maybe protection from the weather raised beds still need to provide plants with those needs so if you put a raised bed underneath a tree in full shade and your plants don't do so well it might not be because they're growing in a raised bed but because they're growing in the wrong location the third common mistake is having the wrong spacing between the beds you need to think about how you garden and how you're going to garden with raised beds it starts with putting soil in the beds which may be the very first thing you have to do I have my beds about three feet apart so that I have ample room to move my will barrow in and fill the beds and then later that'll be plenty of room to bring in compost and mulch but in the end I've only got two feet of separation because I don't have to move my wheelbarrow in all directions just down a single path and two feet is enough for me to walk between the beds and move from one side to the other if they're too close together I might not be able to walk easily and I probably for sure wouldn't be able to get my wheelbarrow in so considered those kind of factors when you place your beds you can have them as far apart as you want but if you've got them too close together even simple tasks like watering can become quite difficult the next common mistake is filling your bed with the wrong kind of soil for me one of the greatest benefits is being able to choose the soil that I fill my beds with soil that can best benefit my plants but too many gardeners when they're starting a raised bed garden will just build the bed and then take their soil and fill it well my soil test showed that my native soil is lacking in nutrients and your garden is probably the same way so if I were to take this poor soil that I really can't grow much in and then put it into this bed I'm not going to have very good results so as a minimum consider adding organic material like compost to your soil and if you can get better so maybe a blend that's already got the compost and nutrients mixed into it better soil will give you better plants which will lead to better results the fifth common mistake is using the wrong material to construct your bed now I really like the look of wood and that's why most of my beds are made of wood but I realized that it's going to decompose and rot over time so my wood beds at some point will need to be replaced but I live in a very dry region so that breakdown takes a long time if you live in a very wet and humid environment you might want to bypass the wooden beds completely and maybe consider something like these galvanized steel beds I'll never have to replace these at all there are also other materials that you can use as I expand my garden I'm going to be using cinder block and brick and stone materials that I don't have to worry about their decomposition just be aware that you have choices in the material that you use and those choices should represent the conditions within your specific garden the six common mistake is not mulching just because a raised bed has wonderful soil in it that's not reason to forget the mulch and this holds true in the entire garden you should be using mulch at every opportunity after I fill the bed and I've got my seeds or plants in it I'm adding mulch and the mulch stays in place pretty much for the life of the bed mulch has so many great benefits that there are very few reasons you should not be using it so again it's not magical you still need to garden in a raised bed just like you would garden anywhere else in your landscape and that holds true with many other aspects of gardening raised bed gardening isn't that much different another common mistake is not amending the soil sure if you start with a great soil and your raised bed you're off to a we'll beginning but you need to continue to keep your soil alive you need to continue adding organic amendments like compost on a regular basis don't just let it go because of its magical properties treat it just like you would any other section of your garden and don't forget the amendments the eighth common mistake is not having a plan for irrigation now if you choose to hand water that's perfectly fine but you need to anticipate how you're gonna drag your hose and how you're going to access all of your beds and this does play in with the spacing but if you want to use drip irrigation think about how you're going to put that drip irrigation in place long before you actually put the beds in place and I'm not a fan of overhead sprinkler watering because you've got all this pathway space that the water is being wasted on and particularly if you're using the wooden beds well now all that water is no different than living in a very rainy environment and you'll hasten the decomposition of the wood so think about how you water your plants and anticipate raised bed gardening being not much different than a regular in-ground bed ix common mistake is ignoring your pathways now I'm just starting with these raised beds in this space so I haven't gotten to it yet but soon I'll be covering these pathways with a thick layer of mulch probably pine needles or wood chips but I want to keep weeds from growing in this open ground and it makes little sense to spend all your time focused on the soil and the mulch within the beds and not thinking about what's happening on the outside of the beds weeding is very easy once you establish a good raised bed system but it's still hard in open ground so mulch your pathways using whatever material you like you could use gravel or if you want a more formal look you could use brick but definitely cover this open ground so you don't have unwanted plants growing in it the 10th common mistake is a personal preference of mine and it might be new to you but it's not taking advantage of hoops over your raised beds because it's extremely easy quite simple to establish a hoop system and you can see the plastic that I've got over my hoops well right now this time of year it's giving me the opportunity to grow some plants before my last frost date in summer I'll take the plastic off and I'll use some shade cloth on these same hoops to help protect some of my tender plants hoops and raised beds go together quite well and it's something you should definitely consider doing if you want to learn more about raised bed gardening well then consider clicking on one of these links right here and be sure to ask me questions in the comments below I'm gardener Scott enjoy [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Gardener Scott

Views: 1,890,764

Keywords: raised beds, raised bed gardening, raised garden bed, raised bed garden, raised bed, raised-bed gardening, vegetable garden planning, raised garden bed mistakes, raised bed gardening mistakes, gardener scott, gardenerscott, raised garden bed ideas, raised garden bed diy, raised garden beds for beginners, raised garden beds

Id: 7cPi3ixNF-Y

Length: 10min 22sec (622 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 10 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Trucker-George]

Looks like Bob decided to lose the afro.

[u/h00ple]

I thought The Dude was about to tell me how the garden really ties his yard together