Why Raised Garden Beds?
The best way to approach starting a new garden is to focus on the five most important variables that are 90% of the battle behind growing nutrient-dense food in your backyard raised garden beds.
- Soil – soil is the most important part of gardening and farming. If your soil is chemically balanced, biologically active, and has good structure, your plants will be healthy and resilient.
- Crop Selection – choose vegetables that grow well in Colorado. Forget things like artichokes and brussels sprouts unless you’re an expert grower. Start with leafy salad greens, summer squash, and of course, tomatoes.
- Spacing – know how much room to give you plants, but consider spacing tightly to reduce your garden area, reduce weeding, and maximize your yield per square foot.
- Timing – Knowing when to plant in Colorado is critical. Plant cold season crops in early April, plant warm season crops in late May, and consider planting cold season crops again in early August.
- Irrigation – Keep your soil consistently moist. Don’t over-water your soil so it’s always wet and muddy, and don’t let it dry up completely.
Urban Farm Co – Colorado Gardening
Raised garden beds are a great option for gardeners in Colorado, because they help control these five variables that are critical to success.
There are many advantages to raised beds:
- Allow you to fill gardens with an ideal soil mix without having to deal with amending the clayey or rocky existing soil.
- Allow you to use easy spacing methods for planting. I suggest a square foot method for easy spacing.
- Easier to attach trellises, drip irrigation, and season extension.
- Less bending and stepping on soil.
- Warm up faster in the spring.
- Look better in landscapes.
Gardening should be simple, fun, and nutritious! If you learn how to get the basics right, you’ll have delicious veggies coming out your ears.
