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Deep Bed Gardening - Victory Garden Style

We decided to put in a deep bed garden this year, similar to what was very likely here on our property back in the 1940s when families grew Victory Gardens. In deep bed gardening, the soil along the pathways between rows is shoveled up onto the garden beds on either side.  This involves quite a bit more manual labor to achieve than a standard garden, but the benefits of gardening this way should be well worth the effort.


Deep bed gardening has many benefits: the paths between beds stay relatively weed-free; it's much harder for slugs and snails to travel between the garden beds; the soil around the vegetables stays looser, providing for better drainage and allowing roots to grow more easily; and root plants like carrots grow better in deeper soil, where they have more room to grow longer and deeper into the earth.

I covered the pathways with whatever mulching material I could find here on the property.  This year, that meant leftover unused pine bedding from when we brought home our baby chicks. When I ran out of that, I used clean straw from the bales of hay stored by the coop.  Later in the season when the vegetable plants are larger, I plan to mulch around them to help retain moisture and provide extra nutrients to the soil.  Unfortunately, we mowed over our leaves this past fall, but next fall I'm going to rake them up and store them in a mulch pile by the garden.  I have read that leaves make the best mulch.

I had considered doing raised beds, which is essentially the same deep bed garden concept but uses wooden boxes to hold the dirt in place; however, purchasing enough wood to build the containers was just not within our budget right now.  Additionally, I wanted to have the choice of tilling the soil back up next year.  I'm imagining how much the mulch will enrich the garden soil.  Tilling in all that mulch should result in an even better garden next year.



We started planning for this year's garden in January, when we bought seeds, ordered bare root trees, and considered companion planting to determine the layout of the garden.  In mid-March, we tilled up the spot where we wanted to put the garden.  Then we moved several tractor buckets full of compost and manure from the community piles next to the barn, and tilled those in. We also put in a deer fence all the way around the garden area -- an 80x80 foot area that includes a vegetable garden, berry and herb garden, and 8 fruit trees.

We then waited until the first Saturday in May to do the final tilling and to dig the deep beds.  I was really wiped out at the end of that day (I ended up digging all the beds myself, but I have to say I'm quite proud of the accomplishment), and so planting the garden was saved for the next day.



I will have to say it was really hard work to dig these beds.  Even though the soil was loose from being well tilled, it still took considerable effort to dig up the 10 rows of soil.  I made each garden bed 4 feet wide and about 30 feet long.  Each row between the beds is 3 feet wide, which is enough for my wheelbarrow to fit nicely between the rows.


Since planting, the beds have been kept moist and we were rewarded with vegetable seeds that germinated early and have spouted up as new baby plants.


Peas, of course, could not wait until it was time to plant the rest of the garden.  I planted my peas in giant containers next to the garden.

My only disappointment so far is that I chose bare root trees.  Now that they are in the ground, I'm rather sad as I realize how long we'll have to wait to enjoy any fruit from them.  The bare root trees look like dead twigs, but we've been watering them every day in hopes that they will come to life. Among the trees that I planted are dwarf red delicious and golden delicious apples, Bartlett pear, Keiffer pear, persimmon and fig.

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