How to Get Your Raised Bed Gardens Ready for Spring

My favorite time of year to work in the garden is early spring, which is right after our raised beds have been built but before anything starts to develop. I know this might sound strange to you. A fleeting moment of perfection, full of promise, and a blank canvas just waiting for the gardener's vision is the scene of raised beds that have been filled to the top with rich soil that is moist and crumbly, that is free of weeds, and that is ready to plant.

When raised beds are properly prepared, the most challenging aspect of gardening is also completed. And the more thoroughly the garden beds are prepared beforehand, the less labor the gardener will have to put in throughout the growing season, and the more probable it is that the gardener's vision will be realized.

Tips

When gardening with raised beds, there is one fundamental rule that you should always attempt to follow: you should never step on the soil that is contained within the raised beds. The most significant benefit of gardening in raised beds is the creation of loose, airy, and well-drained soil, which encourages robust plant growth. If you step on the bed, the soil will become compacted, which will decrease aeration and slow down the activity of beneficial microorganisms that live just below the soil's surface.

This is important if you plan to use the bed for growing vegetables. (The width of our raised beds is a total of four feet.) If you are required to tend the soil while standing on the raised bed, you can place a long board across the bed and "walk the plank" while doing so. It would be ideal if the ends of the board could be laid on top of the sides of the raised bed because this would relieve some of the strain that was being placed on the soil.

1.    Green manure cover crops.

It is standard practice to grow cover crops known as "green manure" either between crop rotations or during the winter months in order to replenish the soil with organic matter and give a nitrogen-rich fertilizer. These cover crops ought to be turned under a few weeks before the bed is replanted before they go to seed. This should be done before the cover crops go to seed.

There are a few different approaches one can take when turning under a cover crop. You can trim the crop down to within a few inches of the earth using either a grass whip, shears, or a weedeater. Compost the trimmings or use them as mulch and save them for future use. After that, the leftover stubble can be cut up and buried with the help of a home. Because you don't want to cut into the bed edges or push the sides outward by the digging movement, using the hoe along the sides of the bed might be tricky for gardeners who are growing their plants in raised beds. Despite the need for considerable caution, this can be accomplished.

Some gardeners choose not to bother turning the stubble beneath because it requires less effort on their part, and they do not want to damage the soil. They instead plant seeds in the spaces between the stubble. The cover crop root clumps will eventually be dismantled by the young seedling roots as time passes.

Another method for turning undercover crops is to smother the cover crop by covering it with a thick layer of mulch and then covering the mulch with a sheet of black plastic. This method does not place any stress on the sides of the raised bed and is, therefore, an advantageous method for turning undercover crops. This technique has the benefit of decomposing the cover crop without requiring the user to chop it down or deal with the stubble, and it also prevents the underlying soil from being disturbed in the process. This strategy, on the other hand, requires patience. It may take two to three weeks of sunny weather, which raises the temperature beneath the sheeting and effectively smothers the cover crop in order to get the desired result. This will take significantly longer if the weather is chilly.

2.    Inspect for needed repairs.

During the winter, the soil in raised beds tends to become damp and heavy. This additional weight can cause the corners of the beds to buckle, and it can also cause the center of long spans to bow outward. Because any kind of repair will inevitably churn up the soil, now is the moment to take care of any issues that have been piling up before you start planting seeds or transplanting seedlings.

It is possible for raised beds that have their corners screwed or fastened together to have a loose corner at some point. When this occurs, you will typically need to remove a few inches of the earth in order to be able to bring the four corners of the structure together. We have had success in the past using coated deck screws for repairs on cedar beds, namely for the purpose of mending the corners.

The majority of raised bed garden kits that are available for purchase include corner structures that are designed to resist coming loose. For the purpose of ensuring that the corners stay put together, the makers utilize designs such as mortise-tenon, half-lap with through pin, interlocking hardware, and winged brackets.

There are two different approaches that can be used to rectify the situation in which the sides of your raised beds lean outward in the middle of long spans. You can secure the bowed side of the bed to the stake by first installing a stake on the interior of the bed. This might go on for one or two whole seasons. A more effective strategy would be to draw in the bowing side of the bed and attach it to the straight side of the bed. Use flat aluminum material with a thickness of 12 inches and drill a hole for screws in each end. Attach this bar to the top edge of the lower boards (assuming the bed is two boards high), or bend the stock to a 90-degree angle and screw it to the inside of the boards. Alternatively, you may use this stock to make a crosspiece and attach it to the top edge of the upper boards. It is common practice to incorporate cross-supports or center pins into the design of manufactured raised beds in order to prevent bowing.

You can use a wood treatment that is safe for the environment on raised beds made from untreated wood in order to protect the wood from damage caused by the sun, moisture, and fungi.