New Member from Central Maryland USA

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Hi Folks: I am glad to have found a forum where I can find answers to problems and learn tricks of the trade from other gardeners. I have been doing suburban small gardening for about thirty years varying the different vegetables but with tomatoes a main character over time. The last three years I have repurposed old dimensional lumber to make raised garden beds though I have moved them twice already not being happy about surface water flow and too much shade. We are coming off a winter that was colder and wetter then recent winters and just this passed week we had two nights of upper 20 temps. I have planted successive plantings of lettuce, arugula and spinach starting the first week in March. Ground temperature stayed below forty and I didn't get any germination for three to four weeks. Last week I planted some organic Russian Fingerling Potatoes, some I put in raised beds and the remaining I laid into trenches. I plan on using straw and grass clippings as the taters sprout above the soil to cover the growing potatoes. I spent an hour trying to get the avatar for this forum to come up correct and I rotated the photo over and over and got every angle except upright. So I'll just leave it as is until I find something else. Thanks for letting me join and I look forward to learning and hopefully contributing.

Mike Love
 
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Hi Mike! I'm new here as well, and pretty new to gardening myself. Sounds like you already know what you're doing. Are "raised garden beds" literally like...garden beds that are raised?! LOL. Never heard of doing this, but like I said, I'm new to the gardening world!
 
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Hi Abigail: I have found a number of benefits of raised bed gardening 1) starting with the soil, you yourself create the ideal of mix that can include soil from your yard, compost (if you haven't started composting you should), some kind of material like perlite or vermiculite to increase aeration and helps retain moisture and nutrients. 2) being raised above your soil line they increase your drainage. But here is a more organized and articulate description that I think will help.

http://homesteadrevival.blogspot.com/2011/03/benefits-and-construction-of-raised.html




Hi Mike! I'm new here as well, and pretty new to gardening myself. Sounds like you already know what you're doing. Are "raised garden beds" literally like...garden beds that are raised?! LOL. Never heard of doing this, but like I said, I'm new to the gardening world!
 

zigs

Cactus Grower, Kent.
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Welcome to Gardening Forums
 

Pat

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Hi Mike, Welcome to the group. We are in the same neck of the country. This winter has been very hard for our area. I lost a house plant I had set out to get some sun last week when that cold rain came in and the temps dropped so low.

I hope it does not get real hot fast here as it tends to do, the ground has been so cold I hesitate to put my plants in the ground.
 
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Hi there Mike and welcome to the forum! Great to have you here (y)

Sorry to hear you've been having problems with your avatar, I've fixed it for you now :)
 

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