Raised Garden Bed 2019

One of my new favorite hobbies is giving my green thumb a go.  In the past, I've been known to scorch a plant or two.  I'm happy to report that each year I improve on my plant knowledge.  My biggest take aways from last years raised garden bed are the following:

#1 Don't plant too early or too late
#2 Don't overcrowd the garden

In regards to not planting too early, you want to ensure that the last frost has occurred in your area.  Being in the Midwest, Missouri specifically, this can be quite difficult to pinpoint.  I'm shooting for the first part of May this year, just given the fact that we had snow a couple weeks ago.  You also don't want to plant too late.  I promised my husband this raised garden bed last year for Father's Day and unfortunately I didn't end up getting it made until mid-July.  This meant that the plants I started from seed in February weren't planted outside until mid-July as well.  I came to find this was way too late to plant, although we did get a couple of cucumbers out of the deal.

I also learned not to overcrowd the garden.  By overcrowd I mean that I had two gigantic tomato bushes that towered over everything else causing my other vegetables not to get sunlight.  I also put cucumbers in this tiny space.  They climbed on to EVERYTHING making a canopy over the other vegetables, again causing them to not grow due to lack of sunlight.

Here's a picture to show just how full the bed was:

Tomatoes and cucumbers are overtaking EVERYTHING!

In 2018 I began growing my plants from seed in February.  This year I jumped the gun a bit and began in January.  I upped my inside grow game and purchased a heating pad.  The plants began germination in just a few days.  This year we tried to grow:

• Tomatoes
• Peanuts
• Carrots
• Brussels sprouts
• Bell Peppers 
• Cucumbers
• Watermelon

Sadly, my watermelon all died again.  I'm not sure what the secret to growing watermelon is yet, but I will keep trying until I get the hang of it.  Peanuts are something new to me and I have to admit, I had no idea that peanuts grow underground (like potatoes).  I'll be building separate planters for both the peanuts and the cucumbers before transplanting them outside.  To grow peanuts, all you do is take an unroasted peanut out of the shell and put it in soil.  Both the peanuts that I planted sprouted very quickly.  I read that peanuts usually produce around 40 peanuts per plant and will usually be ready to harvest in the fall.

We had a lot of success planting our tomatoes as a "bush".  To do this bury 3/4 of the tomato root and stem into the ground.  Have the plant leaves (top of the tomato plant) at an angle going upward out of the soil.  You will plant 4 tomato plants to for a cross shape.  Then you will place a tomato cage over top of them and they will begin to grow upward forming a tomato bush.

I am excited for the day to come to bring these plants outside.  More updates to come!

Want a raised garden bed of your own?  Check out my tutorial from last year here.