In principle, the same work is done in a raised bed as in a conventional soil bed. Here, too, your plants need careful care so that they grow splendidly and a rich harvest is possible from spring to the first frost.
A small shovel helps with planting
Basic equipment for gardening in raised beds
If you mainly garden in raised beds, you need different basic equipment. Long-shafted devices such as spades etc. are of little use here, small hand-held devices are usually sufficient instead.
These tools come in handy
It makes sense to purchase these handheld devices:
- With a hand shovel and flower fork, seed grooves can be made and planting holes dug.
- Use a hand rake to loosen the substrate between the plants.
- The substrate can be pulled smooth with a hand rake.
- You need a gardening knife (also called a hippe) with a curved blade for harvesting and removing diseased/dead plant parts.
- If you are cultivating shrubs or trees, you need pruning shears.
- A watering can/hose is needed for watering.
- Cloth, leather and latex gloves protect against injuries and dirt.
Useful accessories
In addition to the basic equipment mentioned, the following utensils are useful: tying cord, wire, weed fleece, (21.70€) transparent cover film, various support rods made of wood or bamboo and weatherproof labels for writing. A bucket or mesh basket is useful for collecting and transporting plant remains, crops and small tools.
Work to be done in the raised bed
If the ground is still frozen in a normal vegetable garden, you can start the gardening season in the raised bed from around February. Especially in layered beds, it is still warm enough for growing vegetables, despite the winter cold. With the help of a foil cover, gardening is possible almost all year round.
gardening in spring
From March / April you can sow the following types of vegetables in the raised bed: radishes, spinach, chard, lettuce, carrots, parsnips and root parsley. Furthermore, herbs such as parsley, garden cress, chervil and salad herbs such as rocket and Asian salads (e.g. mizuna) are relatively insensitive to cold. After watering, cover the seeds with white fleece (no foil!) so that the seedlings are protected from the cold.
gardening in summer
Heat-loving vegetables such as peppers, chillies and tomatoes are only put into the bed after the ice saints. Plant early cucumbers, courgettes, aubergines and pumpkins at the end of May at the earliest, preferably at the beginning of June. From June you can also plant kohlrabi, broccoli, summer salads such as romaine lettuce and fennel. You should harvest the spinach now, otherwise it will start to shoot.
Gardening in the fall
From August, autumn vegetables such as late broccoli varieties, green and Chinese cabbage, radicchio and endives are planted in the bed. You can also sow or plant spinach again. From September you should also keep an anti-freeze fleece handy, because then the nights can get colder again.
gardening in winter
Even in winter, the raised bed does not have to lie fallow: cold and frost do not bother, for example, leeks, broccoli sprouts, parsnips, rocket, parsley and celery. Cover the bed with a white fleece and harvest it by February so that you can start the new season straight away.
tips
With a classic layered raised bed, fertilizing is basically not necessary during the first three years.