Small space landscaping can certainly be a challenge for mobile homeowners. However, just because you have a small yard, doesn’t mean you can’t have a great outdoor space. Check out these 8 great ideas to help inspire you. all images courtesy of Pinterest. Make a Statement with Succulents Succulents are probably not the first thing… 8 Cool Small Space Landscaping Ideas For Mobile Homeowners
Say hello to some of our favorite perennials—three for sun and three for shade—that flaunt their color for weeks (or even months).
Spring is definitely my favorite time of year, not just because we are coming out of the dark days of winter, but because it is a time to freshen up and make changes inside and outdoors. This year I decided to make a big change in my yard by planting a cutting garden in my...
28 Best DIY raised bed garden ideas: easy tutorials & designs to build raised beds or vegetable & flower garden box planters with inexpensive materials!
Pretty much anything you can grow in-ground can be grown in a raised bed, including cut flowers. Here's how to design your raised bed cut flower garden!
How to make your garden grow for you.
A raised bed garden offers many advantages to in-ground gardening; the choices are limited only by your creativity. Here's some inspiration.
Raised flower beds are a great option, no matter what your outdoor space looks like. Raised bed gardening is not only an easy way to add color to your landscaping, but it can be a fun way to try out new plants. Here are 10 eye-catching raised flower bed ideas to consider.
If any backyard furniture deserves an award for being highly utilitarian, the raised garden bed is a top contender, and you need raised garden bed plans
Once you have assembled your Vego organic gardening raised beds, the next task is filling the raised garden beds before planting. One of the most common questions we get from new gardeners is how to fill a new raised bed and still save money. There are many different methods out there that work well! From our experience, the Hugelkultur method is the easiest and most cost-efficient method to use. Summary Hugelkultur is the process of layering organic garden waste inside the raised garden bed, before adding soil to save on costs, in addition to attracting and preserving moisture. Of German origin, hugelkultur translates to “mound or hill culture.” It is especially applicable in areas where soil retention and drainage are poor, which is typical of soils found in urban areas. The materials used include large rotting logs, sticks and other debris that are layered with grass clippings, coffee grounds, compost, and other organic matter. As the material breaks down, it creates a flourishing environment for beneficial fungi and microbes that mimics the natural landscape of a forest. There are many advantages to the Hugelkultur method, including soil quality improvement, minimal maintenance, and water retention. The Hugelkultur Method to Fill Raised Garden Beds To create a bountiful garden bed, organic matter such as rotted hay, plant waste, and compost is added to the soil. Wood debris decomposes slowly, making it a stable source of organic matter. The optimal kind of wood used is one that is starting to rot, which can be obtained from branches cut from a dead tree or logs from an abandoned wood pile. This organic matter will decompose over time, and plant roots will travel deeper into the raised garden bed soil to obtain the nutrition. It will also work as a big sponge, retaining water to maintain an ideal moisture level. In the Hugelkultur method, for filling a raised garden bed, the large pieces are laid at the bottom as they will take the longest time to decompose. In the picture above, the piling logs may take up to 5 years before the base sponge breaks down into rich, wonderful raised garden bed soil. The smaller pieces are placed on top of the larger pieces to fill space, such as branches and sticks, and then grass clippings, leaves and kitchen scraps. Compost and topsoil are on the top two layers for your raised garden bed so you can start planting as the organic matter beneath decomposes. Some Considerations While Filling a Raised Garden Bed Using Hugelkultur Method Pests: Something to be aware of are termites, especially if you live in a wooded area with a high termite distribution, which can be attracted to the large amount of buried wood. However, most termites tend to live in dead trees that are still standing, rather than buried logs found in hugel beds. Garlic can be grown for pest control. Make sure to be vigilant against pests such as slugs, snails, and pill bugs. You can use organic pest control such as beer traps if slugs become a problem. Various Hugelkultur Methods: The classic method requires you to dig a deep trench around 2 meters and fill it with large logs, adding progressively more logs until it becomes mound-shaped. Most gardeners dig a shallower trench that is about 1 meter. Vego raised garden beds provide a convenient alternative that only requires you to fill the container on the ground with the appropriate contents. They provide structural integrity through an enclosed terrain that is easy to manage and will last for many years, making it the perfect framework. That way, you don’t have to spend time digging a trench or placing a fence around it, which can be burdensome and labor intensive. Additionally, it is more aesthetically pleasing than just a mound on the ground, which is unsightly to some. Wood Type: The right type of wood is important to consider. Hardwoods are recommended as they break down more slowly and hold water longer. However, softwoods are also acceptable. The woods that work best include birch, alder, maple, cottonwood, willow and oak. Avoid allelopathic trees like black walnut, red oak, and sycamore, as they contain chemicals that inhibit plant growth, as well as rot resistant trees like black cherry and black locust. Preparation: Be sure to add a fresh layer of compost on top prior to planting. The combined layers of organic material above the wood should be as deep as the wood base. This means a 30" bed can have up to 15" wood in it, while a 15" bed will have 6" wood to allow enough space for the growing medium. Moisture Levels: Maintaining moisture is an important aspect of hugel garden beds, as dryness is a commonly reported issue. Therefore, it is important to shift the soil into crevices to eliminate any dry pockets. One way to accomplish this is to continuously water the bed during construction to make sure there are no gaps. You should also use a good quality organic mix soil, which improves water retention. productarticletag_emailll[email]emailll_productarticletag Hulgelkultur Method Advantages Using the Hugelkultur method for filling raised garden beds has many advantages and has been proven to work. If you are seeking to cut down on costs, or looking for a sustainable gardening technique, then this method is for you. The vertical nature of the mound helps maximize surface area, which is useful in compacted, urban areas. Therefore, it is a method that is suitable for farmers, gardeners, and homeowners. Cost Efficient: Buying bags of soil from a store is quite costly, which can amount to over a hundred dollars for large garden beds. The Hugelkultur method turns garden and kitchen waste into useful material for filling raised garden beds, allowing you to save a substantial amount of money. You can also repurpose fallen tree branches or dead branches cut from trees instead of carting them away or burning them. The organic waste will decompose over the years, enriching the soil and providing steady nutrition for plants to use. Environmentally Friendly: When branches are burned, gasses and nutrients are released into the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming. By retaining them in the ground, they undergo carbon sequestration, a process that reverses CO2 pollution and mitigates climate change. Water Retention: Hugelkultur tends to hold water very well since the garden waste works as a sponge to hold moisture, releasing rainwater into the soil during dry seasons. This allows gardeners to save on water costs by reducing the frequency of watering. In addition, you don’t have to worry about overwatering your plants to the point they become waterlogged, which is detrimental to root growth and can choke out oxygen. Soil Temperature: While compost is decomposed by bacteria, hugel beds are primarily decomposed by fungi. As the organic matters decompose, they will heat up and create a microclimate under the plants, and warm the raised garden bed soil, which can be very helpful in colder climates. Soil Improvement: Hugelkultur also creates a mini biosphere consisting of microorganisms, fungi, and insects, emulating the natural landscape of a forest, with its spongy, nutrient rich soil teeming with microorganisms. Because the soil is naturally aerated, it employs a gardening technique known as no-till gardening. Plants grown in this manner are more resilient to disease, pests, and environmental stressors. They are also more flavorful due to the abundant nutrients. Minimal Maintenance: Although the initial setup takes some effort and preparation, there is not a lot of maintenance involved in these garden beds once they have been constructed. You only need to minimally maintain the garden bed by occasionally adding a couple inches of compost and fertilizers to the top to replenish it. They also require minimal weeding compared to conventional beds. Below is diagram for Hugelkultur in our Extra Tall 32" Raised Garden beds. You can use the same concept to fill your 17" tall garden beds or any other beds. You can build the garden in a sunny or shady location. Hugel beds are very versatile and can support many types of plants, including vegetables, herbs, and fruits. Make sure to match the plant to the appropriate growing conditions. Vegetables grow best when exposed to full sun. Greens like lettuce and spinach and root crops like carrots and beets will tolerate partial shade. You should try to plant a wide variety of crops, including both perennial and annual plants, as diversity offers more opportunities to harvest and results in a more plentiful yield. It is important to note that root vegetables such as carrots may have difficulty growing in Hugelkultur beds due to the depth requirement of at least a foot of soil. Tubers like potatoes can also disrupt the structure. For more detailed information, consult plant tags and garden catalogues for the climate requirements of other plants you plan to grow in your Hugelkultur garden. productarticletag_article[academy/difference-between-garden-soil-and-raised-bed-soil,academy/how-much-soil-do-i-need-for-a-raised-garden-bed,articles/how-deep-should-raised-garden-beds-be]article_productarticletag
Looking for garden landscaping in Cheltenham? We offer a complete design and build service to transform your garden. Contact us for landscaping including patios, decking, turfing and fencing.
Learn which three mistakes you should avoid when building a raised garden bed in order to find long-term success for your kitchen garden.
If you’re looking for some classic perennials for a cottage garden, the options really are endless. Cottage gardening is so relaxed and easy, that’s really
Spring is definitely my favorite time of year, not just because we are coming out of the dark days of winter, but because it is a time to freshen up and make changes inside and outdoors. This year I decided to make a big change in my yard by planting a cutting garden in my...
A raised bed garden offers many advantages to in-ground gardening; the choices are limited only by your creativity. Here's some inspiration.
For the last 5-10 years gardening with raised beds has seemingly been the most popular method of backyard gardening. It has been purported to solve…
For a decorative and long-lasting bed, brick is a good choice. Here's how to make a sturdy brick raised bed for your garden.
For the last 5-10 years gardening with raised beds has seemingly been the most popular method of backyard gardening. It has been purported to solve…
Pretty much anything you can grow in-ground can be grown in a raised bed, including cut flowers. Here's how to design your raised bed cut flower garden!
Pretty much anything you can grow in-ground can be grown in a raised bed, including cut flowers. Here's how to design your raised bed cut flower garden!
I have a picket fence garden. I love my picket fence garden. It's quaint. It's cute. It screams cottage, and I love pretty much anything that screams cottage. It also happens to be home to my Princess Diana clematis entwined birdhouse, and I love my Princess Diana clematis entwined birdhouse more than a person should love anything that's made out of a chunk of wood. I also have a greenhouse garden. I love my greenhouse garden. It's my newest garden, and this year it really came into its own. Right next to my greenhouse garden you can see part of my vegetable garden. I actually don't love my vegetable garden at the moment because a good portion of the plants are smack in the middle of a strike. Apparently they are protesting a hostile work environment, ( a massive grass invasion and fertilizer neglect), and while we've attempted several sit down negotiations, so far neither of us is willing to budge and do what is required of us to get our relationship back on the road to productivity. And by neither of us, I mean me. But enough about my sad squash and pumpkins. I really want to talk to you about my very favorite garden of all. The raised bed herb garden. I love my raised bed herb garden beyond all reason. Raised bed gardens are easy to take care of. They are easy to irrigate. They are also extremely easy to weed, not that I have any recent, first hand experience on that front. Things have gone a bit downhill since the wedding a month ago. Very far down a very big hill. It all still looks pretty good from a distance....but up close it would definitely not pass the garden club smell test. The herb garden has a few herbs....rosemary, parsley, several mints, thyme, dill and sage, as well as some onions and jalapenos, but the vast majority of the plants are annuals, and the vast majority of the annuals are zinnias. Did I ever tell you the final zinnia count? Out of the eleven hundred and ten zinnia seeds I planted, eight hundred and sixty eight made it into the garden. Yes, I counted. Several times. Not all of them germinated in the greenhouse, and then quite a few more just shriveled up and died for no apparent reason before they made it in the ground, which actually didn't hurt my feelings even a little bit because it was all I could do to find eight hundred and sixty eight spots to plant my zinnias let alone eleven hundred and ten. Oh, and then there are a few of these poor little fellas out there, too. I still count them among the living, but I'm beginning to think a mercy killing just might be in order. Our low tonight is supposed to be thirty five, so I'm all of a sudden feeling a bit sentimental about my zinnias and all their garden friends. It won't be long before I wake up one morning to find they've gone to the great zinnia farm in the sky and that will just be sad. Most of the perennials I've planted in the raised beds have not been able to survive our harsh winters above ground, but a few have not only survived...they've gone completely over the edge of sanity. The Monarda. Is. Out. Of. Control. I originally planted four different colors, but the only survivors were the fuchsia/magenta-ish fellas you see here. Over the years, they've gone from a four inch pot to reach out and grab you size, and every year they expand by leaps and bounds. They truly need to be dealt with sometime soon, as they have blocked off all the paths that surround them, but I have a hard time messing with a plant that has that much vim and vigor. You can see them off to the right in the photo below. They now take up almost all of their 4x8 foot beds. All this to say, raised gardens are the cat's meow, and if you have ever tossed around the idea of a raised garden bed or two, or ten, I say take the plunge. You won't be sorry. So, speaking of gardens, Country Living just announced the finalists in its Blue Ribbon Blogger Awards, and it just so happens that a blog y'all might be familiar with is a finalist in the garden category. Rumor has it that the author of this particular blog is pretty darn excited and honored and humbled at this turn of events, and has been seen walking around in a bit of a daze since this information came into her possession. Country Living just happens to be the one and only magazine she subscribes to, and she currently has the most recent three issues sitting on her coffee table. There's also a slight possibility that during the short period of time that she let her subscription lapse several years ago, she may or may not have stolen borrowed two issues from the waiting area of her local Department of Motor Vehicles. A panel of judges will be picking the winner in each category, but in the meantime, Country Living is holding a Reader's Choice contest on their website. The Reader's Choice voting is already underway, and will continue until September 15th. Readers can vote once a day. The problem is, the author of the aforementioned blog is a bit uncomfortable asking her readers to pay a visit to the Country Living page to vote for her blog. She's not totally sure just exactly what her problem is, but for whatever reason, it is just a bit awkward for her. After talking it over with her BFF, who very sweetly (or not) said, "Oh, get over yourself. This is cool!", she decided to post the link to the voting page in case any of her readers feel like popping on over and placing a vote. She has also decided to refer to herself in the third person for this portion of her blog post, because she feels that it somehow eases the awkwardness she is feeling just a teensy little bit, but she hopes that by doing so, she does not cause any form of confusion for her readers. She herself is very easily confused, so she is always a bit sensitive to others who occasionally find themselves in that same boat. In addition, she has visited the voting page several times during the writing of this post, just to make sure that her blog is indeed one of the finalists. She is a bit worried that she might discover that she dreamed the finalist part and that would take the awkward thing to a whole new level once she hit the publish button on her blogger dashboard. She would also like to thank the readers who nominated her blog for the Blue Ribbon Awards. She knows of two readers who did so, and thinks that it's just about the nicest thing ever. Have a truly delightful Labor Day weekend!
For those of us with poor or difficult soil: raised bed gardens are a wonderful choice. Learn how to create a gorgeous raised bed garden here!
