Raised Bed Vegetable Garden Tour

It is late Spring here at Rocky Hedge Farm and of course, that means a lot of gardening, flower planting, and so much more outside activities are going on. I built raised vegetable garden beds last year, added a few perennials but I have plans for a lot more this year.

Raised Bed Vegetable Garden Tour | May

Early mornings as the sun rises is my favorite time to be in the garden. The birds are chirping and the wind rustles through the still overgrown trees and brush. But, it’s peaceful and quiet.

I currently have eight raised garden beds that I made last year from cedar picket fence boards. Cedar is known to be long lasting and these have held up very well!

Raised Bed Vegetable Garden Tour | YouTube Video

Two of the garden beds are filled with green beans. That is one of my families favorite vegetables, and I like that they are easy to can, easy to cook, and enjoyed by all of us. Our favorite way to eat them is sauteed with garlic and onion!

Which also means there are a lot of onions in the garden. I have two garden beds filled with onions, and once those are harvested, I will re-use the bed for a fall vegetable crop, quite possibly more onions. They are so easy to plant and grow, you can read a post I wrote called, how to plant and grow onions.

Slate Garden Markers

Last year, I ordered slate garden markers and I shared a post called, Slate Vegetable Garden Markers. They were an option that I knew I could re-use each year, and so far the onions are the only vegetables with a hanging slate tag. I did just order some metal garden stakes for the tags to hang on. This way I can simply re-use them each year without having to find more sticks.

Raised Garden Bed for Tomatoes

Last year, I also made a trellis for growing my tomatoes. It worked so well, that I am using it again this year. It helped with keeping the tomatoes growing straight up and kept them off the ground. I am so far behind on getting all of my tomatoes planted, but I hope to get them in this weekend as well as getting the trellis string up.

Perennial Vegetable for the Garden

If there is a vegetable we love as much or more than green beans, it would be asparagus. There are several of us in the family that can each a bundle at each meal. So, this year I started a garden bed just for asparagus. It takes a couple of years before it is ready to harvest, but I look forward to the day that we have a large harvest!

I also got some strawberry starts from my sister-in-law, and I will have one raised garden bed just for them. Strawberry plants multiply rather quickly, and I imagine that I will be able to harvest from those next year.

Flowers in the Vegetable Garden

Several years ago, I had a vegetable garden that I dearly enjoyed. It had a mix of perennials, annuals, herbs, and vegetables. It created a beautiful space to work in, and I also had a lot of pollinators. I started adding a few perennial shade beds last year, but this year I have added more. Last fall, I planted the first peony bulb in the garden, and it was so nice to see it come up this year.

Cut and Come Again Flowers for the Vegetable Garden

One of the easiest flower types to add to the vegetable garden is cut and come again varieties. I have planted the past few years, but this year I decided to do a lot of Cosmos. I share a post on the blog that details how to plant them from seed, called How to Plant Cosmos From Seeds.

Cut and come again flowers are great for the garden because they provide an endless amount of bouquets for our home in the summer. I am trying to plant flowers so that when one type stops blooming, the others will start. That is how it will be with this bed because once the Peonies finish blooming, it won’t be long before the Cosmos start.

What’s Next?

We just recently got the most adorable ducks and chicks so, I will be adding a coop to this space, and I can’t wait to share that with you all! I also have a shade garden that I will be planting around the coop, and I will be sharing a post on some of my favorite shade perennials, hopefully soon!

I still need to add a few more garden beds to this space because I have sweet potatoes to plant along with a few other varieties of vegetables.

I need to clear out a few more trees and some brush. There is to much shade on some areas of the garden, especially where the Locust tree is, so that will be coming down.

There is a lot to do, but this space has come a long way from what it used to be.

Happy Gardening!