Planting a raised bed: planting plan, mixed culture & green manure

Whether strawberries, potatoes or lettuce: A raised bed can be equipped with many plants. Here are tips on how to best plant your raised bed.

Planting a raised bed: What to look out for in principle

In principle, the location of a raised bed must be taken into account. After all, most raised beds are not mobile, so the planting must be adapted to the conditions of the raised bed location. It is also particularly important not to plant the raised bed too densely. It is often underestimated how big and lush the initially tiny seedlings or seedlings can get. For example a single one zucchini- or Pumpkin plant

Takes up almost a square meter of space on a nutrient-rich raised bed. This space should also be granted, after all, many fruits can often be harvested from a zucchini or pumpkin plant. If the plants are too close, however, they compete very strongly for light, water and nutrients and thus mutually hinder each other's growth. If the vegetation is too dense, the plants are also often poorly ventilated and are prone to fungal attack.

Ideal vegetables for the raised bed are therefore those that produce a large harvest with just a few plants, be it zucchini or cucumberthat produce fruit all summer long or Pick salads and herbs from which leaves can be continuously harvested. Even Swiss chard and rhubarb are among those grateful plants that keep producing new harvests over a very long period of time. Plants like French beans or maize require a relatively large amount of space with a long harvest-free standing time and are therefore rather unsuitable for a raised bed. Very tall vegetables such as tomatoes or are just as impractical Runner beans. On the other hand, it is advisable to be of short stature Tomatoes in the raised bed to grow. In deeper beds up to approx. 40 cm high, however, taller vegetables or berry bushes can be planted.

Tips for planting raised beds in a nutshell:

• The location requirements of the planting must match the raised bed location
• Do not plant too densely and prefer vegetables with high yields per plant
• Only plant tall vegetables in deeper raised beds
• Clever allocation of available space

Plant raised bed: planting plan according to heavy, medium and low consumers

In the Filling the raised bed it is important to use the right material. If care is taken, a freshly filled raised bed offers a huge reservoir of nutrients. The upper layers consist of good soil and compost and the organic material inside the raised bed slowly decomposes and also becomes available to the plants. Therefore, in the first two years, the raised bed should preferably be planted with so-called "heavy eaters", i.e. plants that have a high need for nutrients. Vegetables that are somewhat, but not too great, “hungry” for nutrients are referred to as “medium eaters”. They are mainly planted in the second year together with some heavy eaters and in the third year.

If the raised bed is already less nutrient-rich and has perhaps already sunk a bit, then the time for the "weak eaters" has come. They deliver good crop yields even when there is a shortage of nutrients. This typical process is important to avoid nutrient leaching and health-damaging Nitrate storage in salads or spinach, if these are grown in soil that is too nitrogen-rich, too impede. If only weak eaters are planted in the first or second year, some of the valuable Nutrients are not absorbed by the plants and are washed out into the groundwater with rain or irrigation water will. After three to four years, the raised bed will usually have sunk quite a bit and can be topped up with matured manure or compost. Then the game starts all over again: First strong, then medium and then weak consumers.

Nutritional requirements - list of cultures:

• „Heavy Eater“ (1./2. Year): all Types of cabbage except Kohlrabi, cucumber, potato, pumpkin, leek, celery, zucchini
• „Central Eater“ (2./3. Year): endive, fennel, Kohlrabi, Swiss chard, carrot, Radicchio, radish, Beetroot, Sugar Loaf, strawberry
• „Weak eaters“ (3./4. Year): Bean, pea, garlic, radish, Salads (lettuce, iceberg, lettuce, Lamb's lettuce), spinach, onion, Herbs

Plant raised beds: mixed, pre- and post-culture

Mixed culture

The mixed culture aims to combine the different plants with their different requirements in such a way that space, nutrients and root space are optimally used. Ideally, this combination also results in the largest possible harvest. The principle is to plant deep taproot plants next to plants with a root system close to the surface so that the neighbors do not have to compete for nutrients and water. Large plants next to narrow ones make ideal use of the space in the bed. In addition, many plants, especially strong-smelling herbs, give off scents that drive various pests away. The strong basil scent prevents pests from joining tasty tomato plants. More about the ideal Crop rotation and pest-repelling plants in the raised bed you can read in this article.

The principle of planting first strong, then medium and lastly weakly consuming plants is also part of the mixed culture. From the many different factors of mixed culture, conclusions can be drawn about good or bad neighborhoods of plants. The following table tells you which plants go well next to each other and which do not get along so well with each other:

Green cross: These species are mutually beneficial
Red Cross: These species do not get along
No cross: No inter-species effects; can be grown side by side without any problems

Pre- and post-culture

Plants like fennel or Chinese cabbagethat are sown or planted late offer the possibility of planting a fast-growing, early-ripening, so-called preculture in their "place" beforehand. On the other hand, after early clearing vegetables, for example already in July or the beginning August are harvested, well again fast-growing, so-called "secondary crops" sown or planted will. Salads are suitable both as pre- and post-culture, spinach and radish (early varieties) very good. The terms pre- and post-culture can also be used in relation to the previous year's culture and the subsequent culture. In this case, it is particularly important to ensure that plants from different plant families and with different nutrient requirements follow one another. For example, it is not advisable to Strawberries after potatoes to plant, as both crops have a high need for potassium.

Planting a raised bed: step by step to the planting plan

Planting a raised bed: planting plan - examples in terms of mixed culture

Alternatively: For whom the mixed culture planning is too time-consuming and for whom, at best, several beds are available, that can also only grow one type of vegetable per bed each year and then a new type of vegetable each year choose. In this way, one only has to consider the nutrient requirements (high, medium, low-consuming) of the plant and the plant families.

1. For the initial planting of the raised bed, select some of the high-consumption vegetables you want.
2. Check whether the location requirements (shade, sun, sheltered from the wind, etc.) of the selected species match the location of the raised bed.
3. Check the mixed culture table to see whether the planned species are compatible with one another and, if necessary, select other vegetables.
   Especially when gardening in narrow raised beds, where roots come into direct contact with one another, no plants should be planted next to one another that slow each other's growth.
4. Not for the first planting, but otherwise very important: Check whether the planned planting is not enough comes from the same “sensitive” plant family as the harvest last or penultimate year and choose possibly. Plants from other families.
   With cabbage plants in particular, it is important not to plant them in the same location for as long as possible and, in the case of very small gardens, to take a break from cultivation for a few years after cultivation. You can find out more about reproductive diseases and how you can prevent growing problems in raised beds here.
5. Combine early and late ripening plants
   While the precocious culture grows quickly and requires a lot of space, it is not yet pressurized by the late-ripening plant. If the late-ripening plant begins to need more space, the early-ripening vegetables are at best already ripe and can be harvested. An example would be radishes next to lettuce. As soon as the head of lettuce reaches a certain size, the radishes are harvested.

Plant raised beds in winter: green manure or winter vegetables

When the raised bed or any other vegetable patch is harvested in autumn, most hobby gardeners think that the work for the gardening year is done. But if the bed lies fallow all winter, especially on sandy soils you can use the Precipitation in late autumn or winter washed away many nutrients and carried them into the groundwater will. This is a shame and can be avoided in a relatively simple way, namely with winter plants. Classic winter salads such as endive, frisée and Lamb's lettuce or spinach can be sown or planted in autumn and provide fresh vitamins in winter. More about the edible Winter planting in the raised bed can be found here.

If that doesn't suit you or if you want to give the bed special fertility, you should go for one Green manure decide. Plants that are not harvested are referred to as green manure. As they grow, they store the nutrients present in the earth and as they rot, they slowly become available again in spring for the new planting of the raised bed. In addition, catch crops loosen the soil with their roots and sometimes even enrich it with nitrogen (legumes). Those plants that are not hardy like Oil radish or buckwheat, naturally dies and decomposes in winter. Winter hardy green manure plants such as sasparsette or clover have to be plowed up in February, but remain on the bed. Green manure plants often also have a very pleasant weed-suppressing effect. If sown early enough, they can even bloom and thus provide an important source of food for bees in autumn.

When choosing green manure, however, one should not lose sight of the plant families. For example, the popular green manure crops mustard and oil radish belong to the cruciferous family and should therefore not be sown in beds where cabbage plants are planned in the future. Phazelie is recommended as a green manure for those who already have a complicated planting plan and difficulties with the agreement of plant families. Their plant family does not belong to any known vegetable species, which is why there cannot be negative influences. The green manure crop is often sown quite late and therefore does not reach its full size. However, if it is sown early in summer, you should be careful not to select a tall crop such as buckwheat for the raised bed.

Tips on location and crop rotation summarized:

• Legumes like the are particularly suitable for low-nitrogen soils Broad bean, lupine, Vetch and clover, as these enrich the soil with nitrogen. In the following year, neither peas nor beans should be planted.
• For low-nitrogen clay soils, flat peas, Crimson Clover and lupine are excellent soil improvers.
• If you do not grow cabbage for reasons of taste, the cruciferous oil radish and mustard are ideal as green manures. They grow very quickly, which means they are ideal for suppressing weeds and, thanks to their mustard oils, are effective against harmful nematode species.
• If the soil is acidic, yellow lupine is recommended.
• With complicated crop rotation (cabbage types and legumes) it is best to choose Phazelie (bee friend) as green manure.

In the case of late-clearing vegetables (for example pumpkin) it may be that there is no more time to sow green manure. Then the raised bed can be covered with leaves or grass clippings. Fruit tree leaves are best suited for this. Oak leaves, on the other hand, should only be used in limited quantities because of their growth-inhibiting tannins. The soil cover promotes soil life and contributes to the build-up of humus.

The advantages of winter planting summarized:

• Prevention of nutrient leaching
• Soil loosening
• Nutrient fortification
• Weed suppression
• fresh vitamins (salads, spinach)

tip: If you want to help with an organic fertilizer in addition to green manuring, you can use ours for vegetables in the raised bed Plantura organic tomato fertilizer excellent to use. This has a three-month long-term effect and ensures active and healthy soil life in the raised bed.

WeiYou can find more inspiration on the subject of “raised beds” here on our Pinterest page: