Desert Meadows Park in Arizona: Community Garden Plots

The post Garden Bed of the Month – May Community Garden appeared first on Durable GreenBed.

Contact us to get a quote, and see if you qualify for our Non-profit community garden discount. 

These are the 6 key features of Durable GreenBedTM that make it a good choice for your school or community garden:

1. Extreme Durability—–The Faswall® woodchip/cement composite that forms the Durable GreenBedTM panels was developed in Europe over 65 years ago. It is a proven way to preserve wood fiber so it lasts for decades. We have recently unearthed Faswall® panels after 25 years underground and they have minimal degradation. The rust-free aluminum brackets have a tough baked on architectural grade paint.
   This all adds up to a raised bed that will not have to be replaced for many years.
2. Non-toxic—–There is nothing toxic in the Durable GreenBedTM panels to concern the food crop gardener. The wood top rail is finished with a plant oil based stain with natural pigmentation.
3. Breathable—–The Durable GreenBedTM panels are permeable. Roots get needed air and beds can drain. Evidence that the oxygen exchange through the GreenBed panels contributes to greater plant vigor.
4. Beautiful-—-The Durable GreenBedTM system creates a beautiful border that adds an attractive feature to your community garden that you don’t get from utilitarian wood boxes. It has a unique, natural look not duplicated by any other raised bed kit on the market.
5. Quick Set-Up—–45-90 minutes to assemble (depending on size and provided the site is prepared). Kit is precut, predrilled, and prefinished for accurate, fast installation.
6. Made in the USA——Preserving good manufacturing jobs in America.

Our 2’ high Durable GreenBedTM kits are available for your ADA garden area.

There are two options for the Community, School, and Church Garden program:

Option 1: Purchase Kits 4×8, 4×12, or 4×16 Durable GreenBed kits. 1’or 2’ high.

Option 2: Order custom beds, with panels and brackets to meet your needs:

Durable GreenBeds at the Oak Hill School:

A common request is to make the Durable GreenBeds less than 4’ wide.

• For small children,  beds that are 3’ wide allow shorter arms to access the middle of the growing area.
• 2.5-3’ wide beds are also often used up against a fence where you only have access from one side only.

Here are a couple of examples of what is possible:

The post Starting a School Garden: Durable GreenBed is Perfect for Schools appeared first on Durable GreenBed.

Used by the LC Kitchen restaurant with executive chef Vijay Sadhu.

Chef Garden Beds painted  Durable greenbeds at Regent Properties in Dallas, Texas, to match the campus color scheme.

They are located at Legacy Central Corporate Campus in Plano, Texas home of Samsung. 

-Urban Dirt Company designs, builds, and maintains culinary gardens for restaurants and corporate campus site in North Texas.  www.UrbanDirtCompany.com

#culinarygarden #chefgarden

The post Garden of the Month – February Chef Garden appeared first on Durable GreenBed.

Square Foot Gardening is an exciting new way to grow more food in small spaces, not only for the average gardener but to also improve health, ergonomics, space use, and even food security among populations in need around the world.

The benefits of square foot gardening

For the backyard gardener, or even the newbie to urban homesteading, this perennial method is your perfect food-growing option for more than just a few reasons:

• Grow as much food within a small space as you would with some traditional row-planted gardens
• Compact 8-by-4 foot or 4×4 raised bed garden makes for easy access
• No need for a big yard – grow food on patio, balcony, or smaller plot
• No weeding at all (with the right setup using weed-free soil mix)
• Less work and strain on the body
• No negative effects or damage to the yard
• Incredibly easy – ideal for new gardeners
• Save money with minimal management by sourcing your own food

Steps to Square Foot Gardening

1. Set up your Raised bed

First, build (or buy) a 8-by-4 foot raised bed box (bottom lined with weed barrier landscaping fabric if you want less weeds and you’re building on top of other soil).

2. PUT IN YOUR PREFERRED SOIL

Fill it with fertile potting soil (part peat moss, compost, and vermiculite, or another mix of your choice – preferably weed free).

3. LAY OUT YOUR GRID

Overlay a square foot grid atop your box for plant spacing, then plant your seeds.

4. GET GROWING!

GROWING ON THE GRID

It’s these grids that create the magic of the whole concept, and which in turn help to make the whole endeavor of gardening this way so easy.

It’s simple: certain vegetables are planted in certain amounts (the number depending on the plant) within each square, at their ideal distances from one another. This then maximizes each plant’s space and nutrient use while crowding out weeds as a living mulch, allowing you to grow more veggies in a small space, and even boosting plant health through companion planting (which we’ll get to later).

Depending on the type of vegetable, herb, or even fruit that you are planting, one only plants so many seeds or seedlings within each square in a continuous grid-like spacing – while the actual grid itself helps to measure and keeps your rows looking neat!

Find out all the details here:

Your Ultimate Guide to Square Foot Gardening

1-PER-SQUARE PLANTINGS

Simply form one hole in the center of the 1-by-1-foot square of your choice, and plant your seeds (or transplant your seedling), keeping in mind the seeding techniques and layout guidelines that you’ll find later in this article.

• Celery
• …

2-PER-SQUARE PLANTINGS

Plant these seeds side by side within the square, at the recommended seeding distance with an appropriate support trellis.

• Cantaloupe
• Cucumbers
• ..

(UP TO) 4-PER-SQUARE PLANTINGS

Plant these in a square with each seed or plant forming one of the four corners. They should be placed at equal distances from each other and from the border of the grid, with one hole close to each corner of the square space.

As noted, some of these veggies do not necessarily have to be planted 4 per square. If you want to grow a little less food, you may do so.

• Basil
• Garlic (for growing larger bulbs)
• Kohlrabi…

(UP TO) 8- OR 9-PER-SQUARE PLANTINGS

Plant these in a grid- or square-like pattern within the square space (i.e. 3 plants long by 3 plants wide, forming either a square or a square-shaped ring border, simply making sure that they are equidistant from one another and the border of the grid.

Like with 4-per-square plantings, don’t feel pressured to plant that many of each vegetable if you don’t necessarily want that much food!

• Green beans (bush or pole)
• Beets
• …

(UP TO) 16-PER-SQUARE PLANTINGS

Plant these in a grid or square pattern within each square space (i.e. a maximum of 4 plants long by 4 plants wide). Make sure they are equidistant from each another and the border of the grid to avoid crowding.

If you don’t plan to thin or pick any of these vegetables for quite awhile, plant less if you like – you might prefer to use the 8- or 9-per-square spacing method. This will allow their root size to grow larger without leading to bolting or disease.

• Carrots
• Parsnips
• Radishes

(UP TO) 2-PER-4 PLANTING SQUARES

The veggies in this category need LOTS of space to flourish, and a more complex arrangement of the square grid method is required than for other crops.

Depending on the number you wish to plant, just make sure they have ample space from one another and the sides of the grid.

• Broccoli
• …

WHAT ABOUT PERENNIAL VEGETABLES?

Unfortunately, some vegetables simply aren’t ideal for the square foot garden, namely perennials that require more space to grow. The foliage of these plants grows too large and creates too much overshadowing to grow in a companion planting style close to other veggies in a garden.

These include:

• Artichokes
• Asparagus
• Rhubarb

The ferns of full-grown asparagus would fall over onto other plants, as would the growth of artichokes and rhubarb. You’ll have to keep these separate!

The post Square Foot Gardening – What is it? appeared first on Durable GreenBed.

The post Eco Friendly Raised Garden Beds appeared first on Durable GreenBed.

#CommunityGarden The Yachats Demonstration and Community Garden (YDCG) is preparing for the growing season with help from the Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund, the “Old Retired Guys” and Lincoln County Master Gardeners.

On March 26,2019 volunteers came together to replace aging one-foot-high raised garden beds with eco-friendly, ergonomic, two-foot-high Durable GreenBed Kits, which will last for 20-25 years and are capable of withstanding all weather extremes.

The post Yachats Demonstration and Community Garden (YDCG) appeared first on Durable GreenBed.

How do handle the poor and rocky soils of the Oregon Coast?  Deep raised garden beds with great soil! Master Gardeners of Lincoln County in Yachats, Oregon.

This is  the Yachats Master Gardener demonstration garden.

Installed March, 2019.     (3) 4x8x2’ tall Durable GreenBed kits and (2) 4×16’x2’ tall beds with a unique central divider creating two 4×8 sections. 

The post December Garden Bed of the Month appeared first on Durable GreenBed.

Architectural raised beds add beauty and function to any home. Raised landscaping beds can be used for flowers or vegetable plantings, making for attractive entry or backyards with varied heights.

Create an eye-catching practical raised bed by building this durable raised bed garden from our kits, or design your own with custom raised beds. 

1′ and 2′ panels.  

The post Architectural Raised Beds appeared first on Durable GreenBed.

The post October Garden Bed of the Month appeared first on Durable GreenBed.

Raised Greenbed in the Median Strip in Seattle.  #CityGarden

This raised garden bed makes maximum use of a small space.  Living in Seattle, in a lot that is very shaded, this gardener wanted a space for summer vegetables.  Using a 4×8 stepped raised garden bed from Durable GreenBed, she makes maximum use of her small median strip between the sidewalk and the street.  The raised bed in two levels allows for maximum light for all of her plantings, and by using raised beds, she’s got quality soil in an area notorious for sandy, poor quality soils.   

Squarefoot Gardening techniques

Using squarefoot gardening techniques, she’s maximized her yields, growing snap peas,  4 varieties of tomatoes, basil, chard, kale, lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini and beets.  

Tomatoes ripen faster

With the added sun and warmer soil from the raised bed, tomatoes, which are notoriously late to ripen in Seattle’s short growing season, are ripening already at the end of July, and yields look to be really great.  She’s thinned the tomatoes to allow for larger ones, and will put in much stronger, taller cages next year.

The post July Garden Bed of the Month appeared first on Durable GreenBed.