Plant 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 best to plant your raised bed.

Planting a raised bed: what to look out for

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 large and lush the initially tiny seedlings or seedlings can become. For example, a single zucchini or pumpkin plant can take up almost a square meter of space on a nutrient-rich raised bed. But you should also allow this space, after all, numerous fruits can often be harvested from a zucchini or pumpkin plant. However, if the plants are too close together, they compete very fiercely for light, water and nutrients, thereby hindering each other's growth. Plants that are too densely planted are also often poorly ventilated and tend to fungal infestation.

Ideal types of vegetables for the raised bed are therefore those that produce a large harvest with just a few plants, be it courgettes or cucumbers, which produce fruit throughout the summer, or lettuce and herbs, from which the leaves can be harvested continuously. Swiss chard and rhubarb are also among these grateful plants that produce new harvests over a very long period of time. Plants such as bush beans or corn have a relatively large amount of space and are therefore not suitable for a raised bed. Equally impractical are very tall vegetables such as tomatoes or runner beans. On the other hand, it is advisable to grow small tomatoes in raised beds. However, taller growing vegetables or berry bushes can be planted in deeper beds up to a height of approx. 40 cm.

Tips for planting raised beds summarized:

• Location requirements of the planting must match the raised bed location
• Do not plant too densely and prefer vegetables with a high yield per plant
• Plant high-growing vegetables only in deeper raised beds
• Create available space cleverly

Planting raised beds: Planting plan according to heavy, medium and weak consumers

Using the right material is important when filling the raised bed. If you take care, a freshly filled raised bed offers a huge nutrient reservoir. The top layers are good soil and compost and the organic matter inside the raised bed slowly decomposes and becomes available to the plants as well. Therefore, in the first two years, the raised bed should preferably be planted with so-called "heavy feeders", i.e. plants that have a high need for nutrients. Those types of vegetables that have a certain, but not too great “hunger” for nutrients are referred to as “medium eaters”. They are mainly planted in the second year together with some heavy feeders and in the third year.

If the raised bed is already less nutrient-rich and has perhaps even lowered a bit, then the time has come for the "weak eaters". They provide good crop yields even when there is a shortage of nutrients. This typical process is important to avoid nutrient leaching and prevent harmful nitrate storage in lettuce or spinach when grown in soil that is too nitrogen-rich. If only weak consumers are planted in the first or second year, it is possible that some of the valuable nutrients are not absorbed by the plants and are washed out into the groundwater with rainwater or irrigation water. After three to four years, the raised bed has usually lowered quite a bit and can be filled with matured manure or compost. Then the game starts again: first heavy, then medium and then weak consumers.

Nutritional Requirements - Culture List:

• "Heavy eater" (1st/2nd year): all types of cabbage except kohlrabi, cucumber, potato, pumpkin, leek, celery, zucchini
• "Medium Eaters" (2nd/3rd year): endive, fennel, kohlrabi, chard, carrot, radicchio, radish, beetroot, sugar loaf, strawberry
• “Weak Eaters” (3rd/4th year): beans, peas, garlic, radishes, salads(lettuce, iceberg, lettuce, lamb's lettuce), spinach, onion, herbs

Planting 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 will also yield the largest possible harvest. The principle is to plant plants with deep taproots next to plants with shallow root systems so that the plant neighbors do not have to compete for nutrients and water. Tall plants next to narrower ones make ideal use of the space in the bed. In addition, many plants, especially strong-smelling herbs, emit scents that repel various pests. The strong basil scent keeps pests from joining tasty tomato plants. You can read more about ideal crop rotation and pest-repelling plants in raised beds in this article.

The principle of first planting heavy, then medium and lastly light-consuming plants is also part of the theme of mixed cultivation. From the many different factors of the mixed culture, conclusions can be drawn about good or bad neighborliness of plants. The following table tells you which plants go well together and which do not get along so well:

Green Cross: These species encourage each other
Red Cross: These species do not get along
No Cross: No interspecies effects; can be grown next to each other without any problems

Pre and post culture

Plants such as fennel or Chinese cabbage, which are only sown or planted late, offer the opportunity to plant a fast-growing, early-maturing, so-called pre-culture in their "place". On the other hand, after early clearing vegetables that are harvested in July or early August, for example, fast-growing, so-called "follow-up crops" can be sown or planted again. Lettuce, spinach and radishes (early varieties) are very suitable both as pre- and post-culture. The terms pre- and post-culture can also be used in relation to the previous year's crop and the crop that followed. In this case, special attention should be paid to the fact that plants from differentPlant families and with different nutrient requirements follow one another. For example, it is not advisable to plant strawberries after potatoes, as both crops have a high need for potassium.

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

Planting raised beds: planting plan - examples of mixed cultures

Alternative: If planning a mixed crop is too time-consuming and if you have at best several beds available, you can only grow one type of vegetable per bed each year and then one each year select a new type of vegetable. This way you only have to consider the nutrient requirements (heavy, medium, light) of the plant and the plant families.

1. For the first planting of the raised bed, select a number of highly consuming vegetables.
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 get along with each other and, if necessary, select other types of vegetables.
   Especially when gardening in narrow raised beds, where roots come into direct contact with each other, no plants should be planted next to each other, slowing each other down in their thriving.
4. Not when planting for the first time, but otherwise very important: Check whether the planned planting does not come from the same "sensitive" plant family as last year's harvest or the year before last and, if necessary, choose plants from other families. Particularly with cabbage plants, 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 planting. You can find out more about reproduction diseases and how to prevent cultivation problems in raised beds here.
5. Combine early and late maturing plants
   While the early maturing culture grows quickly and needs a lot of space, it is not yet harassed by the late maturing plant. If the late-ripening plant starts 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.

Planting raised beds in winter: green manure or winter vegetables

When the raised bed or any other vegetable patch is harvested in the fall, most home gardeners think the work for the gardening year is done. But if the bed lies fallow all winter, many nutrients can be washed out and carried into the groundwater, especially on sandy soils, with the precipitation of late autumn or winter. This is a pity and can be avoided in a relatively simple way with winter planting. 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. You can find out more about edible winter planting in raised beds here.

If that doesn't appeal to you or if you want to give the bed extra fertility, you should opt for green manure. Plants that are not harvested are referred to as green manure. As they grow, they store the nutrients in the soil, and as they rot, they slowly become available again in the spring for new planting in 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, such as radish or buckwheat, will naturally die and decompose in winter. Hardy green manure plants such as sainfoin or clover must be turned over in February, but remain on the bed. Green manure plants often also have a very pleasant weed suppressing effect. If you sow them early enough, they can even flower, making them an important food source for bees in the fall.

When choosing green manure, however, one should not lose sight of the plant families. For example, the popular green manure crops mustard and oilseed radish belong to the cruciferous family and should therefore not be sown in beds where cabbage plants are planned in the future. If you already have a complicated planting plan and have difficulties in arranging plant families, we recommend Phacelia as green manure. Their plant family does not belong to any known vegetable species, which is why there can be no negative influences. The cover crop is often sown quite late and therefore does not reach its full size. However, if it is sown early in the summer, care should be taken with the raised bed, noselect high-growing crops such as buckwheat.

Tips on location and crop rotation summarized:

• Legums such as field beans, lupins, vetch and clover are particularly suitable for low-nitrogen soils, as they enrich the soil with nitrogen. In the following year neither peas nor beans should be planted.
• For nitrogen-poor clay soils, French pea, crimson clover and lupine are excellent soil conditioners.
• If you don't grow cabbage for reasons of taste, the cruciferous radish and mustard are ideal as green manure. They grow very quickly, making them ideal for suppressing weeds, and their mustard oils are effective against harmful nematode species.
• Yellow lupine is recommended for acidic soil.
• In the case of complicated crop rotation (types of cabbage and legumes), it is best to choose phacelia (bee friend) as green manure.

In the case of late clearing vegetables (such as pumpkins), there may not be time to sow green manure. Then the raised bed can be covered with leaves or grass clippings. Fruit tree foliage is 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 formation of humus.

Benefits of winter planting summarized:

• Prevention of nutrient leaching
• Soil loosening
• Nutritional Fortification
• Weed Suppression
• fresh vitamins (salads, spinach)

Tip: If you want to help out with an organic fertilizer in addition to green manure, you can use our Plantura organic tomato fertilizer for vegetables in the raised bed. This has a three-month long-term effect and ensures active and he althy soil life in the raised bed.

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