Order Birdies raised beds: https://shop.epicgardening.com Raised garden beds are the #1 method I currently use to grow a ton of healthy, epic produce in my garden. But I made A TON of mistakes when I started my raised bed garden, so I figured I’d share them with you so you can hopefully learn from my mistakes instead of making them yourself.
A few good soil mixes:
– 1/3 perlite, 1/3 coco coir, 1/3 compost
– 1/2 topsoil, 1/4 compost, 1/4 grass clippings, straw, leaves, etc.
SUPPORT EPIC GARDENING
→ Buy Birdies Raised Beds: https://shop.epicgardening.com
→ Buy My Books: https://shop.epicgardening.com/collections/books
→ Support Directly: https://www.patreon.com/epicgardening
LEARN MORE
Epic Gardening is much more than a YouTube channel:
→ 2nd Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/epicurbanhomestead
→ In-Depth Articles: http://www.epicgardening.com/blog
→ Daily Podcast: https://apple.co/2nkftuk
→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/epicgardening/
→ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/epicgardening
→ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@epicgardening
→ Discord Server: https://discord.gg/cuXxvKRwKN
→ FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/epicgardening/
→ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/epicgardening
→ Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/epicgardening
DISCLAIMER
Epic Gardening occasionally links to goods or services offered by vendors to help you find the best products to care for plants. Some of these may be affiliate links, meaning we earn a small commission if items are purchased. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. More info on our process: https://www.epicgardening.com/disclaimer/
I hope sharing these mistakes helps you avoid them! If you like my raised beds, you can join the email list for upcoming pre-orders here: https://shop.epicgardening.com/
I think a lot of first time urban gardeners don't realize that you can't just take the topsoil from your yard and plop it in a raised bed an expect it to grow vegetables. Most yard topsoil is either nutrient-exhausted (because all we grow on it is grass and it's never replenished by fallen decomposing material) and/or contains too many contaminants.
Rich natural soils take hundreds if not thousands of years to make by nature alone; you have to make your own if you're planning on gardening where natural soils have been scoured by urbanization.
How do you buy a car if you don’t go to a dealership? Do you own a car?
Tweak to placement advice for harsh-summer gardening (I'm up in northern Utah where the winters are icy and the summers are dry and scorching, and this year in particular the heat wave and drought was absolutely brutal): Give your bolt-prone or otherwise more heat-sensitive plants more shade than typically suggested for them. I had FANTASTIC success this year with a bushy indeterminate tomato closer to the sunny side and kale behind it, the kale has lasted all season without any significant wilt issues and produced SO well, possibly the best out of anything in the garden this year with the possible exception of the amaranth (which has also been protecting my chard and spinach from the full force of a particularly hot and dry alpine-desert summer by being tall and shady).
More generally, if you're dealing with difficult conditions for something you want to grow (in my case, leafy greens in a scorching desert without a drip irrigation system or very much free time to spend hand-watering, but this is the abstraction level that's applicable in a lot of directions), consider microclimates. A little extra shade can mitigate heat, a thermal mass like a large rock or a wall can mitigate cold weather and extend a short growing season, a slope or hill can mitigate slow-draining soil while a sunken area can gather more moisture — I've seen plants grown so far out of their hardiness zone, in terrible soil conditions for their native preferences that it almost looks like magic, with a good understanding and application of microclimates.
All very good tips. I would also add to the last tip how important it is to rotate your crops from one to the next, and marking what you planted in each bed facilitates that. Plants have nutritional needs specific to that species, along with diseases that can persist through the year, especially in warmer climates.
A couple of examples: corn or potatoes use a lot of nitrogen compared to other crops, while legumes put nitrogen back into the ground, so rotating these into the same bed will help balance the nutritional quality of the soil.
As for diseases, tomatoes can contract viruses from a variety of external sources, and those viruses may persist in the soil for more than one season, which could infect your newly planted tomatoes as soon as you put them into the ground. Rotation will greatly decrease this potential threat to a new crop.
Thank you This will be first container gandering set up
Fellow San diegan, here! Grew up around my moms garden and I’m looking to start one at my home in east county. The dirt is very dry and lacking nutrients. Any tips for turning this into good soil for cultivating veggies and herbs? Should I do different mixes for different plants? Sorry for so many questions! I’ll be watching more of your videos now that I know you’re in a similar part of the world!
Thank you !! I’m really getting the good ideas as I started with lime tree, guava, persimmon, mango, banana, pomegranate and mandarin they’re still babaies. I planted curry leaves plant as well but it’s a matured one than any other plant.
Thank You for sharing.
Thank you for all the valuable information
Btw. The reason you build facing south is because the sun shifts towards the south during summer. So with a building in the way, they’re going to be in shade more often
I do not think use addressed drainage issues with your metal containers?
Love the planters, but you don't ship to Texas.
My container beds will be short because I am short. I do want th know what w how to add hog wire in center of beds for vine type plants so it dosent fall over
Great tips! Thanks for sharing!
Com- POEST ???? LMAO – AMERICAN ACCENT! HAHAHHHAHA
Gardening is a very expensive hobby
Build your garden on the wrong side of the house???? What a stupid statement. . .
Why do you need a raised bed? Why not plant direct on the ground?
Thank you! You confirmed I did the right thing. My beds are 2ft high and I have 1ft of small logs sticks straw wood chips and topped it with compost. Next soil and hoop tops!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Birdies beds i have ordered 8 from you so far! getting more next year.
I'm really surprised theres so many thumbs down for this video, all of the tips are bang on. I think I've made all of the mistakes here at one point or another and they really are mistakes. Before I planted up my current garden I watched the ground for a whole year, taking note of where and when the sun falls month by month, 1st and last frosts, cold spots, wet spots, prevailing winds, where the slugs hide, where the birds perch, what pests are active and when. You might think its nonsense or overkill but when you've redesigned your garden as many times as I have you know it's worth the effort. He made a good point on planting dates. For things like carrots that's really important. You can't often see them, but leave them too long and they become woody and a little tasteless. There really isn't such a thing as too much effort, it just has to be balanced with time availability. As I always say, it's not about whether you make mistakes, but what you do about them that defines us. Remember, "you only truly fail when you give up" (Albert Einstein).
Great. Thank you.
I needed tjis video. Tk
You have a Loquat tree, I am jealous!!!
I put in my first raised bed and then set my wheelbarrow next to it with a couple inches of space to spare. Then I put in my second raised bed, etc. I like having my wheelbarrow right there when I'm working in the beds.
I do appreciate your helpful tips, it pure gold. thank you sooo much from the south of France