Since the space in the raised bed is limited, the question arises every year: Which plants should I put in the bed and how do I best use the available space? You can use the following criteria to decide when to plant what.
When planting a raised bed, the crop rotation must be observed
crop rotation
The gardener understands two things by the term "crop rotation": On the one hand, no plants of the same cultivation group (e.g. root vegetables, cucurbits, nightshades, legumes) and from the same plant family are grown every three to four years. Since these are often afflicted by the same pests, the resourceful gardener tricks the little animals with a crop rotation: They then have no chance of multiplying further next year and attacking the plants in even larger numbers. Secondly, "crop rotation" also means that the plants, divided according to their nutrient requirements into high, medium and low consumers, are cultivated one after the other in a three to four-year cycle on a bed.
Example of crop rotation in a raised bed
An example of a good crop rotation on a compost raised bed:
1st year (heavy eaters): courgettes, tomatoes, endives
2nd year (middle eater): kohlrabi (middle), surrounded by lettuce, lettuce and lamb's lettuce, as well as carrots, onions, parsnips and strawberries
3rd year (weak eaters): French beans (middle), summer purslane, lamb's lettuce, carrots, radishes, kitchen herbs (parsley, chives…)
mixed culture
With a mixed culture, you mix plants from different plant families together in such a way that the space in the raised bed is used optimally. The optimal use is firstly a temporal one, in that you start sowing or planting early and sow or plant harvested areas again directly. Secondly, it is spatial if you combine the plants in such a way that you can plant them as densely as possible. For this purpose, the plants should complement each other well above and below ground: in addition to narrow, deep-rooted plants such as carrots, French beans, for example, go well. And thirdly, a good mixed culture helps to keep the plants healthy as they drive away pests from each other.
tips
In principle, any useful plant can grow in a raised bed, but if you want to make the best use of the space and the season, less voluminous and fast-growing plants make more sense than those that take up a lot of space or have a long germination period.