Thursday, November 4, 2010

Raised Beds on Corner Lot

As a rule of thumb, if you see a picket fence, look for a veggie garden. The house is on a corner, so this veggie garden may not qualify as a "front" yard garden, but the raised beds are right out there for everyone walking on the sidewalk along the avenue to see. The first two photos are from October 2009; the third one from October 2010. To do justice to this garden, I would prefer to have photos from the height of the growing season, but even at this marginal time of year, you can see the variety of things that are being successfully grown in the two raised beds on the south side of this house and the change from one year to the next. What are those strings for?



4 comments:

Mark Kreider said...

The string... I was thinking perhaps it was a grid to aid the gardeners with the proportion of the harvest they wanted. Plant 2 squares of chard or 4 of red lettuce. But I think Amy may have hit upon it. The string would keep birds away from planted seed and from the young shoots... maybe, much like monofilament strung from pole to pole on a dock keeps the gulls away because it makes them unsure.

Janice Kreider said...

I've thought of a 3rd possibility--keeping cats out. But the strings don't seem close enough for that.

Oregon Coast Gardener said...

Hi Janice,
It's a "square foot" garden. Look into the book by Mel Bartholomew. He developed a planting system that is quite popular with beginning gardeners, I have recommended it many times as it breaks things down nicely. He tells you how many of each plant per square foot, like this many of lettuce, or this many of garlic. And it looks tidy.

Janice Kreider said...

The Oregon Gardener is probably on to the answer! Square foot gardening could help prevent too many plants growing thickly together and not thriving.