Backyard Raised Beds

Besides growing produce at a community garden, I also grow food in three raised beds in my backyard. A schematic for my 2012 raised beds is below. Click on the image for a larger version. The beds are aligned vertically north to south. The schematic and photo are viewed from opposite ends.

The radishes already have been harvested. The spinach was an heirloom variety from which I got about one salad before it bolted. More potatoes and onions filled the radish and spinach holes.The giant red mustard is bolting right now before reaching maturity. That is too bad. It adds quite a zing to salads.

Giant red mustard that overwintered this year in my backyard.
It bolted in May and was pulled to make room for the corn.

The garlic is Bogatyr and an unknown variety of softneck garlic. If it ever stops raining, the garlic bulbs will dry out and I can harvest them. Probably not until mid-July at earliest. The onions in the middle bed are a globe onion mix. The onions in the west bed are Red Long of Tropea.

Onions grown in my backyard in 2011, including
the torpedo shaped Red Long of Tropea.

I have had to seed and reseed the corn three times. Started too early. I get too excited when there is a warm spring day. It happens so infrequently that it forces me to take leave of common sense. Several more weeks of dreary, damp, dark weather bring me back to reality.

The east plot will be for watermelons. I am starting two varieties from seed: Saskatchewan and Golden Midget. Last year, I was unsuccessful growing watermelons in the middle raised bed. There is a big-A maple tree in front of the west bed that starts blocking the sun by about 3 p.m. The sun doesn't make it over the roof of the house until 10 a.m. So for the middle and west beds, full sun is four or five hours at best. The east plot gets more sun in the afternoon, so hopefully there will be better production this year. I did not build the raised beds or plant the trees in the yard. If I were going to build raised beds, I would not plant any trees in front of them, let alone a maple.

These are the nine watermelon starts I will plant in the east raised bed.
The four in front are Saskatchewan. Golden Midget are in the back.

 

Updated After Planting

 

The deed is done.