Organizing Raised Bed Garden

I had to revamp our garden this year, so I decided this would be a great opportunity to share the process if you are interested in organizing your raised bed garden. Below is how I organized this raised bed and other information about companion planting and you can see my end result. Let's begin.

We have done a vegetable garden for years now. It had been a relaxing and enjoyable experience for us. The kids don't really help, but they enjoy the food that is produced from our family garden.

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Before Raised Bed Garden
Easy Vegetables to use for the Outdoor Garden
Plants that grow well together.
Plants that do not grow well together.
Supplies for the Raised Bed Garden
How to assemble this raised bed garden
After Raised Bed Garden.

Before Raised Bed Garden

As you can see, it is not a big garden, but it produces a lot of food throughout the season. We only have a space for a 4-foot by 4-foot area. Here is the before picture.

Easy Vegetables to use for the Outdoor Garden

I first made a list of the plants I wanted in the garden. Below, I describe where I placed them on the tiered garden bed. From experience, these were easy to grow and maintain:

Swiss Chard - should be planted in the lower part of the raised bed tier.
Spearmint - should be in its pot because it is a weed and will spread through your entire bed.
Romaine Lettuce - does well for the lower part of the raised bed
Banana Peppers - plant near the top part of the raised bed
String Beans - plant near the top mart of the raised bed
Tomato plants - plum, cherry, beef steak, etc... - for the top part of the raised bed only.

Because it was early in the season, I could also find these veggies. I am so excited to see how they turn out.

Broccolini - I have no clue how this one will grow. We shall see. After I planted them, they didn't thrive as much as I would have liked, so I did not do them again.
Kale - I planted it on the bottom tier of the raised bed. They worked well and came back repeatedly when I cut it 1-2 inches from the bottom of the plant.
Sweet Peppers - plant near the top part of the raised bed.

It's essential to determine where a plant can be planted with other plants (also known as companion planting) for the best possible growth. This helps repel pests and attract beneficial insects, like bees and butterflies. Below are plants that grow well together and those that do not.

Plants that grow well together.

Carrots work well with tomatoes, leeks, rosemary, sage, and chives.
Green beans do well with corn, beans, rosemary, cucumber, peas, potatoes, broccoli, radishes, and other cabbage family.
Lettuce does well when planted next to mint, chives, garlic, beets, and broccoli.
Tomatoes do well when planted near basil, celery, lettuce, parsley, spinach, and onions.

Read more from this article from the Farmer's Almanac.

Plants that do not grow well together.

Beans and onions
Onions and asparagus
Broccoli and cabbage and tomatoes and peppers
Fennel and other plants
Tomatoes and potatoes
Corn and tomatoes
Walnuts and most plants

Read more from this article from Gardenia.

Supplies for the Raised Bed Garden

I buy plants at a garden center that are ready to plant rather than grow from seeds. When I started, this method worked for a few years, but it didn't work for me.

Then, we purchased 19 bags of 1 cubic foot of soil. Why did I buy that many small bags?

The gardening kit needed 19 cubic feet of soil for the entire unit. And we used every last one of them.
The local gardening store was running a really good deal on this site. It was even cheaper than the Wholesale store I go to.
The bags were easier to manage. The large two cubic-foot bags are really hard and heavy to carry.

This is the kit we purchased from Amazon (Affiliate Link). Greenes 4 Ft. X 4 Ft. X 21 In. Tiered Cedar Raised Garden Bed Here is the Soaker kit we used: Miracle Gro MGSPA38100FM Premium Bulk Soaker Hose Kit with EZ Connect Fittings, ⅜-Inch by 100-Feet You can buy both from Amazon (Affiliate Link).

How to assemble this raised bed garden

It was such a great day on Saturday that we started the project.

First, we took apart the old garden. It was quite easy since the older one was falling apart.

Then, we added the soil for the entire first layer.

We need to fill the entire area with dirt before moving to the next level. We used thick liners to help keep weeds out. We cut it larger so as to overlay the sides. Then, we stapled it around the sides of the unit.

Run the soaker hose

Before moving on to the next level, we needed to run the soaker hose under the unit. We figured that the bottom would be where we cap the end to allow for gravity to help the water move. So, we capped the end and ran the hose under the second-level wood before filling in the second level. Then, we did the same thing for the third level before filling it with soil.

Fill in with dirt

After we finished all the laying of the hoses, filing in the dirt, and then capping the end of the hose with an adapter for the actual hose, we cut around the edge of the levels to remove any excess liner. An Exacto knife worked best to do this. We had some extra layers that needed to be cut back, so we used scissors for the corners. We then added the corners by screwing in the caps. That is it.

After Raised Bed Garden.

And here is the final picture. I loved it, and I will enjoy all the vegetables to come.

Note: The baskets hold our cherry and plum tomato plants. This is the first time I am using our vertical planters that I created last summer, so we will see how it works. I shared it on HomeTalk.com. Here is the link if you want to check out how I made it.

All in all, we are really pleased with the outcome and hope the garden survives for many years.

Here is the before and after photo of organizing the raised bed garden: