Peter Shepperd - Advanced Raised Bed Gardening: Expert Tips to Optimize Your Yield, Grow Healthy Plants and Take Your Raised Bed Garden to the Next Level

Gardens are not made by singing Oh, how beautiful, and sitting in the shade.

Rudyard Kipling

This is the second in a series of books designed to help guide the reader along the gently winding path from novice to competent gardener. The first book called Introduction to Raised bed Gardening was a bit of a cheat. Not that the information it contained was not pertinent or achievable, but precisely for the opposite reason. I knew that once you had discovered the pleasures of growing your first few plants and vegetables, it was doubtful that you would not want to expand on that knowledge. Gardening is like that. You cautiously dip your toes in the water, and the next thing you know you want to tear your clothes off and swim naked through the vast sea of information the subject has to offer.

This book is designed to build on your existing skillset but never at a pace that becomes too academic or difficult to understand. I don't believe that gardening should ever become so complicated that it falls outside the ordinary person's reach. It has, after all, been practised for thousands of years by very ordinary people, and I don't see why it should now become the preserve of a handful of so-called experts. I have been gardening successfully for more than a decade, and all of my experience was gained from trial, error and the helpful guidance shared with me by those who had travelled the path longer than I had.

Gardeners, you will discover, are a funny breed. It is one of the few occupations where those who practice it are not only happy to share their knowledge, their time and their seeds and cuttings but also seem to delight in doing so. Perhaps it is because they recognise just how generous nature has been to them or perhaps it is just the simple and slow pace of life that nature dictates that makes them this way. I now try to share some of that wealth of information with you, confident in the knowledge that you too will pass it on somewhere down the line.

In this book, I will be sharing ways to expand your raised bed gardening to a different level. We will explore design in a little more depth as well as considering a far more comprehensive range of plants to grow. Whether your ambitions are just to augment your homegrown supplies or to dive right in and try to grow all of the vegetables you and your family consume, at the end of this book you will have all the knowledge you need to achieve your goals.

Figure 1. Grow more food in less space.

Hopefully, the first book in this series has already demonstrated just how productive this type of gardening can be and what a fantastic yield you can achieve in a relatively small space. Now we will consider ways to expand on that yield and also to bring in a whole range of more advanced crops that you might once have considered too difficult to grow yourself. You should have overcome that initial lack of confidence by now and be eager to build on that foundation that the first book laid for you.

Figure 2. Extend your growing season with winter crops.

Another aspect we will be looking at will be expanding your season so that you can reap the benefits of winter crops that are so often ignored by the small-scale gardener. These provide a vital harvest at a time when so many gardens lie idle or only support a cover crop. All of this new information I will endeavour to convey in the same simple terminology that I hope dominates this entire series. I want this to be a gradual and enjoyable learning experience rather than an attempt to overcomplicate what should not be an overly complicated subject. Gardening, at the end of the day, should be a pleasure. One that helps sustain you and your family and the environment at the same time.

Layouts

A t this stage, I am working on the assumption that the reader has read the Introduction to Raised Bed gardening book or has had a season or two of gardening under his or her belt using the raised bed method. The fact that you have chosen to push on and expand your knowledge demonstrates that you have found that the method works and hopefully have become as enthusiast about raised beds as I am. It is a very practical method, and if it would only cause me to lose weight or stop losing hair, it would, in my opinion, be perfect.

Now it is time to move forward and turn your garden into something of a small farm. The temptation at this stage is to just cram in as many raised beds as possible and get growing, but I would urge a little patience here. Now that the whole concept is no longer new, you can start to consider not only the practicalities but also the design features that you most value. We have looked at some of the materials that beds can be made of in the last book. In this book, we are going to look at some more of these and also at some more daring designs. As always, good design starts on paper before it is put onto the ground.