Making the most of your raised bed garden Growing Guide - The Food Project

8/8/2019 Making the most of your raised bed garden Growing Guide - The Food Project

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Growing GuideMaking the most of

your raised bed garden

Build-a- GardenProgram


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The Food Project 2 of 28 Spring 2007

Pledge to the Community:

By receiving a raised bed garden from The Food Projects Build-a-Garden Program, I am accepting the responsibility to take care of it. I will

be rewarded with fresh food of my choosing and the benefits of gardeningfor years to come. I will share what I cannot use myself and share the ideaof gardening with my family and community.

Congratulations on your new garden! We know you are eager to getstarted so we have tried to provide some helpful information about planning,planting, watering, pest control and fertilizing. A thorough reading of thisguide should be very useful.

This garden has been brought to you by The Food Project, a non-profitorganization that brings together diverse groups of youth to produce healthyfood for residents of the city and suburbs and to provide youth leadershipopportunities. Most importantly, The Food Project strives to inspire andsupport others to create change in their own communities.

The Food Projects Urban Education and Outreach program supportsneighborhood gardeners by building safe gardens for residents andorganizations of Boston. Focused on Boston, its goals are to increase foodproduction, to allow more people access to local, healthy food and to providesafe and successful gardens for all.

If you have any suggestions about how to make this guide better, wewould be very happy to hear them. We want this to be as useful to you andfuture gardeners as possible.


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Table of ContentsRaised Bed Gardens ................................................................................................................ 4Locating a Raised Bed Garden ............................................................................................... 4Square Foot Gardening........................................................................................................... 5Garden Planning...................................................................................................................... 5Planting Your Garden............................................................................................................. 6Square Foot Planting Guide

Beans Bush......................................................................................................................... 9Beans Pole .......................................................................................................................... 9

Beets....................................................................................................................................... 9Broccoli................................................................................................................................ 10Cabbage............................................................................................................................... 10Carrots................................................................................................................................. 10Cauliflower......................................................................................................................... 10Collards............................................................................................................................... 11Cucumbers........................................................................................................................ 11Eggplant.............................................................................................................................. 11Garlic................................................................................................................................... 11Kale...................................................................................................................................... 12Lettuce................................................................................................................................. 12Melons................................................................................................................................. 12Onions ................................................................................................................................. 12Peas...................................................................................................................................... 13Peppers................................................................................................................................ 13

Radishes .............................................................................................................................. 13Spinach................................................................................................................................ 13Summer Squash.................................................................................................................. 14Winter Squash .................................................................................................................... 14Swiss Chard........................................................................................................................ 14Tomatoes............................................................................................................................. 15

Caring for Your GardenWatering and Mulching..................................................................................................... 15Weeding .............................................................................................................................. 16Feeding the Soil.................................................................................................................. 16Pest Control ........................................................................................................................ 17Lead in Soil ......................................................................................................................... 18

And Please ............................................................................................................................. 19AppendicesPlanting Schedule.................................................................................................................. 21Seed Information Chart......................................................................................................... 22Compatibility Charts............................................................................................................. 23Sample Garden Layouts........................................................................................................ 24Blank Garden Worksheets .................................................................................................... 25Notes and Questions............................................................................................................. 26


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Raised Bed GardensWelcome to your new 4X8 raised bed garden. Raised bed gardens can be constructed out ofmany materials. The youth and the staff of The Food Project have built this one for you outof sustainably managed local wood from Orange, Ma and filled it with clean, nutrient-richcompost. There is a layer of landscape fabric beneath the compost to provide a barrier fromthe soil, asphalt, grass, or rock below the raised bed. Whether you are a seasoned gardener orfirst-timer, we hope you will enjoy growing healthy, fresh food for yourself, your family andfriends for many years in your new raised bed garden.

There are many advantages to gardening in a raised bed, particularly in urban areas. Inraised bed gardens, the soil warms up quickly in the spring, and water drains easily. Becausethe garden can be tended from the edges, the soil does not become compacted by peoplewalking in the garden so seeding, transplanting and weeding are easier. Plants like the loosesoil, and since there is plenty of space for the roots to grow, the garden can be planted moreintensively than a traditional backyard garden. This means you can grow more vegetables insmaller spaces.

Raised beds can be constructed over a variety of surfaces, and since we use landscape cloth tocreate a barrier between the garden soils and what lies beneath, raised beds make it possibleto grow safely even on land that is contaminated with lead and other heavy metals.Depending upon the severity of the winter and your own inventiveness, the garden can beused year-round by using a cold frame or hoop house. Most people grow their vegetablesfrom mid April through late October.

Another advantage of a raised bed garden is that you do not need many tools to help youplant and care for your garden. The only things you will need are a bucket, a cup, a handtrowel, and a shovel or hoe. Other helpful equipment that may be found around your houseare spray bottles for pest control and popsicle sticks for labeling your plants.

This guide contains specific information on how to plant and grow a variety of vegetablesthat are well adapted to our Boston climate. We have included information on where toplace the raised beds, planning which crops to plant and when to plant them, watering,caring for the soil and getting rid of pests. There are many ways to plant a garden, so feelfree to experiment and try other methods. Talk to other gardeners in your neighborhood andsee what is working for them. Attend Food Project workshops and gatherings and networkwith Food Project staff and other gardeners on our Build-a-Garden Blog(http://blog.thefoodproject.org/). Read gardening books, magazines, and seed catalogues.We have included a list of them as well as other helpful resources in the back of this guide.Of course, the best teacher is trial and errorso roll up your sleeves and have fun!

Locating a Raised Bed GardenMost crops require at least six hours of direct sun in the summer, so it is important to siteyour garden in a sunny area. Observe your yard during different times of the day todetermine which spot gets the best sun. If you are doing this in the spring, remember toaccount for trees that may block light once the foliage appears. Another thing to considerwhen deciding where to locate your garden is use of the surrounding land; you will probably


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not want the raised bed in the middle of your childrens play area or adjacent to a busysidewalk where ripe tomatoes might tempt passersby. It is helpful to have a source of waternearby or you may find yourself having to carry water which can get tiring in a dry summer.Some afternoon shade may benefit the garden by helping to conserve soil moisture.Buildings and fences do a better job of providing that shade than trees or shrubs since thelatter will compete with the garden for water. However, gardens should not be located in thedrip line of buildings or structures that have lead paint on them, as the lead can contaminatethe soil in the garden.

Square Foot GardeningThe Food Project recommends using the square foot method to plan your garden. MelBartholomew, who developed this type of gardening in the late 1970s, discovered that thismethod could produce a greater harvest in less space with less work. In square footgardening the plants are arranged in blocks instead of rows. Each block contains a differentvegetable, herb or flower. By using this technique you can easily clear and replant squaresthroughout the season without disturbing other areas of the garden.

You will notice that we have marked off the sides of your raised bed into one-footincrements. When you are ready to plant, take a stick or handle of a garden tool and lay itacross the bed from a mark to the one directly opposite on the other side of the bed. Push itlightly into the soil until it leaves an indentation in the soil. Continue marking the soilaround the bed until you have formed a grid pattern on the soil. Now you are ready to plant.

The number of seeds or plants that are placed in each square depends how large the plant

grows and how much space it needs to develop properly. Small plants, such as carrots, donot require much room so you can plant 16 carrots in a square. Collards require one squarefor each plant; and a large tomato needs 2-3 squares.

Once your garden is planted, you can easily follow the progress of a single square, see whenweeds invade and remove them, determine when to water individual plants and see anypotential pest problems. We hope that by offering this method, we can help you grow a largeamount of produce in a compact garden space and to save time on garden maintenance. Formore information on plant spacing see pages 9-15.

Garden PlanningStart by thinking about what you want to eat and make a list of all the fruits, vegetables andherbs. You can include flowers as well. If your list is long, you may want to choose to growonly the crops that are particularly well suited to growing in small spaces (small plants,quick growing plants, things that can be grown on trellises, plants with a high yield), and useyour local farmers market for cabbage, winter squash, melons and corn. Using the SquareFoot Planting Guidein this manual, determine how many squares each type of plant requiresand how tall it grows. Now make a sketch of your raised bed garden, or use the one at theback of this manual. Be sure to include the grid of 32 squares on your map if you draw yourown. If you can, identify north on your garden plan.


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Now it is time to make a map of what you are going to plant in your garden. To determinewhat goes in each square or group of squares, start with the shortest plants that you want togrow. Place these in the squares on the south side of your garden so that they will not beshaded by the taller plants. The plants that are of medium height should go in the centersquares, and the tallest plants should go in the squares on north side. Make sure to block outseveral squares for large plants, such as tomatoes or summer squash. If you want to eat lotsof a certain vegetable, you can plant two or three squares with it. Label everything on themap of your garden so you will remember. If your garden has a trellis on one side, show onyour map what climbing plants, such as pole beans, cucumbers, or peas you plan to grow on

the trellis.

The last step of the planning process is to determine how many individual plants can beplanted in each square. This information is contained in the Square Foot Planting Guide.Write the number (for example, 4 plants for lettuce, 16 for onions, 1 for collards) on the mapnext to the name of the plant.

Planting Your GardenThere are two ways to get plants in your garden by putting in seeds (direct seed method) orby putting in small plants that you have grown indoors or purchased (transplant method).Certain plants, such as peas and carrots, do not transplant well and should be direct seeded.Others, such as eggplant and peppers, that require a long, warm growing season should be

transplanted as seedlings into your garden. With some plants, such as collards and squash,you can either direct seed or transplant. You can find this information in the Square FootPlanting Guide.When you plant your garden, try to stay outside the raised bed so that youdo not compact the soil by walking or stepping on it. If you need to get to the center of thebeds and cant reach from the side, lay a plank across the soil frame and kneel on it.

Direct Seed: Most of the seeds we distribute are donated, so they are at least a year old. Ifseeds are kept dry and well preserved, they will continue to sprout for several years.However, some may be duds so we recommend that you plant several seeds in each holethat you make to ensure that enough will come up. If you dont see a seedling after thesuggested germination time, plant some more seeds.

To determine how deep to plant the seeds, refer to the seed packet or the Seed InformationChart. Planting depths usually range from 1/8 inch to 1 inch. If you find yourself in the

garden without access to this information, you can follow these general rules: in coolweather, plant a seed deep enough so that 3 more of the same seed could lie on top of it. Inhot weather, 4 seeds should be able to lie on top of it this will help protect the seed fromdrying out as it starts to grow. Cover all seeds lightly with soil, and tamp down gently tobring seeds into contact with soil.

Since you are rarely equipped with a ruler when you go out to the garden, its helpful toknow that the length of your index finger from the first knuckle to the tip is approximatelyone inch. So just use your own finger as a guide.


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Be sure to water the seeds gently right after you plant them. This is best done with a spraybottle or mist nozzle on a hose. Some of the seeds are so small and so close to the top of thesoil that a stream of water from a cup or a hose can wash them away. Keep soil moist notsoaking - as seeds germinate. The compost mix that is in the raised bed dries out fairlyquickly. For this reason, it is important to water the seeds gently each morning until theygerminate. Try to avoid watering in the middle of the day when soil moisture evaporates thequickest.

After the seeds germinate, you might have more than one plant in a single spot. Decidewhich one seems the strongest and thin out the others. Thin your seedlings by gentlypulling out the shoots you dont want or carefully clipping them off with small scissors at thebase of the shoot.

Transplanting: To transplant, dig a hole in the soil slightly larger than the container in whichthe seedling is growing. Carefully pry the entire plant and the surrounding soil out of thepot. If you see a clump of tangled roots at the bottom of the root ball, gently tickle those rootsloose. Set the root ball, roots down, into the hole, and fill it with soil. With vegetabletransplants you can bury the plant up to the first set of leaves; this will keep the seedlingfrom drying out too quickly. Pat down the soil firmly around the plant so that the roots arein contact with the soil. Smooth the soil out around the stem so that the surface of the soildrains slightly toward the plant. This will help the plant collect moisture.

Water the base (not the leaves) of each seedling immediately after transplanting and for thenext few days until they are established, especially if transplanting in mid-summer. Newlytransplanted seedlings often suffer from shock and look sad for a few days but perk up afterthat. To lessen the shock, transplant on cloudy days or early in the morning.

Labeling: Label what you have planted in each square so you will remember the location ofplants. Including the planting date on the label will let you know how long ago you plantedand when you should expect to see the first sprouts.

Spacing Your Plants: When using the Square Foot Gardening technique, plants are spaceddifferently than they are in traditional row methods. Look at the diagram below to see howthis works. If you are planting lettuce, turn to the Planting Guide (page 12) to see how manyheads of lettuce can fit in a square 4. In your lettuce square (represented by the solid lines)


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draw a grid in the soil with your finger that divides your square into 4 equal blocks(represented by the dashed lines). Plant your seeds or transplants in the center of thesesmaller blocks as in the picture below.

Climbing Plants: Vertical crops such as peas, pole beans, and cucumbers like to climb, soplant their seeds in a line underneath the trellis. Train the plants to climb up the trellis bytwisting the main stem through the trellis once a week.


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Broccoli:

Cabbage:

Carrots:

Cauliflower:

Transplant in late April for early crop. Direct seedMay-June for fall crop. Harvest the central headbefore flower buds open. Then enjoy the tasty sideshoots, which the plant produces all summer long.Water regularly throughout the season.

Square Foot Planting: 1 broccoli per square footSeed depth: 1/2 inch Direct seed or TransplantGermination: 4-7 days Height: Medium

Transplant in late April for early crop. Direct seedMay-June for fall crop. Water regularly throughoutthe season.

Square Foot Planting: 1 cabbage per square footSeed depth: 1/2 inch Direct seed or TransplantGermination: 5 days Height: Medium

Carrots can be sown at 3 week intervals from late Aprilto early August. An alternative way to plant is tobroadcast seed evenly over the soil in a square. Withyour fingers scratch the surface of the soil gentlymixing the seeds into the top quarter inch of soil.Lightly tamp down soil so seeds are in contact with it.Thin to 2-3 inches apart after germination. Keep soilmoist and weed-free after planting.

Square Foot Planting: 16 carrots per square footSeed depth: 1/4-1/2 inch Direct seedGermination: 6 days Height: Short

Transplant 4-5 week old seedlings in late April/earlyMay after danger of hard frost has passed. Waterregularly throughout the season. To keep the headwhite, leaves must be tied up around the head as soon asthe heads become visible through the leaves.

Square Foot Planting: 1 cauliflower per square footSeed depth: 1/2 inch TransplantGermination: 6 days Height: Medium


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Collards:

Cucumbers:

Eggplant:

Garlic:

Must be transplanted to develop mature fruit in NewEngland. They need plenty of sun and heat. Planttransplants when the weather has warmed up, in earlyJune.

Square Foot Planting: 1 eggplant per square foot Seed depth: 1/4 inch Transplant

Germination: 7-14 Height: Medium

Can be planted in spring but it is best as a fall crop.Eating quality improves as the weather gets colder. Toharvest greens well into the winter, plant once in earlyJune and again in July as space becomes available inyour garden. Harvest the outer leaves as they mature,and leave the rest of the plant to keep producing. Userow covers or cayenne pepper to discourage flea beetles.

Square Foot Planting: 4 collards per square footSeed depth: 1/4 1/2 inch Directs seed or transplantGermination: 6 days Height: Medium

Break up bulb into individual cloves. Plant the cloves inSeptember/October after other crops are harvested. Coverwith mulch for the winter. The garlic will be ready toharvest next July. For an early garlic treat, be sure to snipoff the curlicue flower buds that appear in May and June.The buds (called scapes) are delicious when grilled, stir-fried or sauted .

Square Foot Planting: 16 garlic bulbs per square footClove depth: 2 inches (pointed end up) Height: Medium

Grow on a trellis to conserve space. If you are notgrowing them vertically, leave two squares for eachplant so that they can sprawl out on the ground. Plantseeds or starts in late May when the soil has warmed upand danger of frost is past. Be careful not to disturb theroots of these seedlings.

Square Foot Planting: 2 cucumbers per foot of trellisSeed depth: 1/2 inch Direct seed or Transplant

Germination: 3-4 days Height: Medium -Tall


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Kale:

Lettuce:

Melons:

Onions:

Enjoy fresh kale from early summer through fall byplanting seeds from late April through July. Harvestouter leaves as they mature, leaving the rest of the plantto keep producing. If the winter is not too severe, kalesometimes produces into the following spring.

Square Foot Planting: 1 kale per square footSeed depth: 1/4 inch Direct seed or TransplantGermination: 5-7 days Height: Medium

Seed or transplant at ten-day intervals starting in earlyApril. When it gets hot, lettuce tends to bolt or sendup its seed stalks before the plant is fully mature. Try touse slow bolt varieties since they will not becomebitter as quickly. During the hottest part of the summer,plant lettuce where it will get some shade.

Square Foot Planting: 4 lettuce per square footSeed depth: 1/8 inch Direct seed or Transplant

Germination: 7-14 days Height: Short-Medium

Transplant or direct seed only after the soil has warmedup, late May to early June. When transplanting, be verycareful not to disturb the roots. Melon vines take up alot of space so grow them up a sturdy trellis or train thevines to grow over the edge of the raised bed andacross your yard. Water regularly till fruits are set,then decrease water. Hope for a hot summer.

Square Foot Planting: 1 melon per two square feetSeed de th: 1/2 inch Direct seed or trans lant

Onions can be started from sets (small bulbs that can bepurchased at nurseries or ordered from seed catalogs) ortransplanted starting in mid-April. If you start with a flat ofseedlings, separate them into individual plants. Keep onionswell weeded and give them an inch of water each week. Thebigger the plants get before the Summer Solstice (June 21), thebigger the onions youll grow.

Square Foot Planting: 16 onions per square footSeed depth: 1/4 inch Set depth: 1 inch Transplant or SetsGermination: 4-5 days Height: short


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Peas:

Peppers:

Radishes:

Spinach:

Peppers need lots of sun and heat to grow well. Theymust be transplanted here in New England. Settransplants out early June. Early maturing varieties willdo the best.

Square Foot Planting: 1 pepper per square footSeed depth: 1/4 inch TransplantGermination: 10-15 days Height: Medium

A very gratifying crop because it grows quickly. Radishescan be sown every three weeks from early April to earlyAugust. To be mild and tender, give them plenty of moistureand grow quickly. Begin to harvest in 3-4 weeks when theroot is the size if a marble. They will split and get very spicyif you let them grow too big.

Square Foot Planting: 16 radishes per square footSeed depth: 1/2 inch Direct seedGermination: 4-12 days Height: Short

Spinach germinates best in cool, moist soil so plant every1-2 weeks from late March through mid May. Sow inAugust for a fall harvest. Spinach will tend to bolt(make flowers and seeds) during the summer heat.

Square Foot Planting: 9 spinach per square footSeed depth: 1/4 inch Direct seedGermination: 7-14 days Height: Short

Peas grow best in cool weather so plant from earlyApril mid May, or plant in August for a fall crop.Snow peas seem to do especially well in the fall.Climbing varieties save space and dont requiresuccessive plantings. Plant them along the base of atrellis and twist the main stem through the trellis once aweek. Try snap pea varietiesfat peas with an ediblepod. They are productive and delicious.

Square Foot Planting: 8-12 plants per foot of trellisSeed depth: 1 inch Direct seed


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Summer Squash (zucchini, yellow squash):

Winter Squash (acorn, pumpkins, butternut):

Swiss Chard:

A good green for the whole growing season. Plant fromearly April until mid-July. Harvest outer leaves as they

mature, and leave the rest of the plant to keepproducing. A few plantings, spaced every two monthswill supply you for most of the season. Red chard ismore resistant to pests than green.

Square Foot Planting: 4 chard per square footSeed depth: 1/2 inch Direct seed or TransplantGermination: 5-7 days Height: Short - Medium

If you just love winter squash and have to have some from your garden, you need toplan ahead. Winter squash really sprawls out and needs lots of room. Plant near theedges of your raised bed and train the vines to sprawl across your yard. Wintersquashes with smaller fruits (such as sugar pumpkins) and gourds can be grown on atrellis. Set out transplants or direct seed after the soil has warmed up (late May-midJune).

Square Foot Planting: 2 winter squash vines in a 1 foot by 4 foot row or under trellisSeed de th: 1 inch Direct seed or Trans lant

Seed or transplant after the soil has warmed up (late May toearly June). Mound soil in center of 3 foot by 3 foot space about4 inches high, plant 1-2 seeds in center of mound. Note: one ortwo mounds usually provide more than enough of squash formost families. Harvest several times a week so fruits dont growtoo big and lose flavor.

Square Foot Planting: 1 squash plant in a 3 foot by 3 foot blockSeed depth: 1/2-1 inch Direct seed or Transplant


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Tomatoes:

Caring for Your Garden

Watering and Mulching: When seeds or seedlings are first planted in thegarden, they will need frequent watering to keep their root systems (but notleaves) moist. Check the moisture level in the top 1-2 of soil; if it is dry, it istime to water. If you have a soaker hose, lay it down in the middle of the

beds and turn it on low for twenty minutes every other day. Water the soildeeply to encourage the plants to develop deep roots. Be careful not to give toomuch water, as the soil we use is highly organic and it can become waterlogged.If you do not own a hose, use a sturdy bucket and a cup as a scoop to water theindividual squares.

The frequency and amount of watering will depend on the weather and the size

of the plants. If it has been rainy, it is not necessary to water as frequently aswhen it has been sunny and dry. After seedlings are established and growingwell, you can water less frequently.

When watering by hand, be sure to pour close to the ground so you do notrupture the soil or create large puddles. This also prevents the leaves fromgetting wet, which can lead to blight and other fungus problems. Water andharvest your garden during the cooler hours of the day preferably in themorning. If the plants look yellow, they are getting too much water; if they

Must be transplanted to develop mature fruit in New England.Transplant outside in late May to early June. Indeterminatevarieties need to be trellised or staked and should be prunedback to the best 2-4 leaders (main stalks) on each plant.Determinate varieties dont need to be pruned, and willsprawl a little more. Withholding water after mid August will

force the vines to ripen more fruit. Removing all young flowerclusters after mid September will help the remaining fruit ripenas well.

Square Foot Planting: 4 tomatoes in a 4 foot by 4 foot blockor 2 tomatoes under 4 feet of trellis

Seed depth: 1/4 inch TransplantGermination: 6-14 days Height: Tall


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look wilted, they are not getting enough. During the midsummer when theweather is usually drier, it might be necessary to water every day. If leafyplants look wilted at midday, but perky again at night and early morning, theyare doing fine.

One advantage of raised beds is that the soil warms sooner, so the beds can beplanted earlier in the season. However this also means that the beds are moresusceptible to drying out. To help conserve moisture, we recommend that you

mulch your garden if you can. Straw, shredded leaves, compost, and driedgrass cuttings can all be used as mulch. Spread the mulch several inches thickover the surface of the bed after the plants have established themselves or putdown a layer of newspaper first and then cover it with mulch. At the end of theseason, this mulch can be turned under to add organic matter to the soil. Alayer of mulch will also help keep weeds in check.

Weeding: Between the time you plant your garden and the time you harvestthe last tomato, most of your time will be spent pulling weeds. Weeding is animportant part of caring for any garden because without control, weeds caneasily over grow and crowd out slower growing vegetables and fruits. The

best way to keep up with the weeds is to spend a few minutes pulling weedsevery day or every few days so that they dont get away from you. That way

the task will always be manageable. If you neglect your garden for severalweeks, you may have trouble finding your crops when you return, and it willtake you longer than a few minutes to make the garden free of weeds again.The most important thing to remember is to remove the weeds before they go toseed and spread more weeds around your garden. (Think of a dandelion.)Another good way to beat the weeds is to use mulch in the garden. (See thesection on Watering for more information on mulching.)

Removing weeds from a raised bed garden is often easier than from traditionalgardens since the soil in a raised bed does not get compacted so roots comeloose easily. It is easiest to pull weeds when they are small as long as you candistinguish the tiny weed leaves from those of the crops you have planted.(Labeling what you plant will help you identify the wanted from the

unwanted.) Weeding is also easier when the soil is moist such as after wateringor a rain storm.

You can remove weeds by hand or use a tool such as a claw, a co-linear hoe or ahula hoe. Just make sure you get all the roots out so they dont grow back. Ifyou use a tool for weeding, be careful not to work too close to the base of thevegetables or flowers so that you do not damage the roots. When handweeding around plants, hold the plants in place as you pull the weeds so thatyou do not inadvertently pull out the plants you want with the weeds. Whenyou are finished, you can collect all the discarded weeds and add them to your


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compost pile.

Feeding the Soil: The most important part of a healthy garden is healthy soil.The soil provides nutrients that are necessary for plant growth. We get thesenutrients when we eat foods that are grown in nutrient rich soil. Feed the soiland it will feed you!

Organic matter is an essential component of healthy soil. It helps dry soils tohold moisture and wet soils to drain, it add nutrients to the soil, it creates airspaces so the roots can penetrate the soil, and it binds up toxic materials in thesoil so that the plants cant absorb them. Adding compost is a good way toincorporate organic matter into your soil. The Food Project filled your raised

bed with clean compost when we constructed it. We recommend that you addmore compost to your bed each year in order to replenish the nutrients and

bind up any particulates of heavy metals that may have been blown onto thebed during the winter. You can come to The Food Projects City Farm Fest thelast Saturday in April to get free compost. You can also create your owncompost using kitchen scraps and yard debris. Please ask us if you areinterested in learning more on how to do this at home.

Pest Control: The best way to keep pests away from your garden is to growhealthy plants since strong, healthy plants tend to fight off invading pests. Inaddition certain vegetables, such as onions, will help to repel insects if plantedaround the edge or throughout the garden. Flowers and herbs, such asnasturtiums and marigolds, can also provide protection from pests.

If pests do find their way to your garden, try these remedies:

o For aphids, mix one teaspoon of dish soap with one quart of water. Spraythe aphids with it once a week, over a two to three week period.

o Forflea beetles, try sprinkling the leaves with ground cayenne pepper.You can purchase a large jar of this at CVS for about 99 cents.

o To prevent cutworms from chewing through the stems of your newlytransplanted peppers, eggplant and tomatoes, loosely wrap the stems ofthe transplants at the base with 2 inch wide strips of newspaper and burythe bottom edge 1/2 deep in the soil. The paper will discourage thecutworms when the transplants are young and dissolve as the plants getlarger.

o In the Northeast, slugs can be a problem for gardeners. They tend to hideunder surfaces and around wood. There are several ways to dispose ofthem. You can pick them off, trap them under a board or melon rind atnight, or you can put out traps made of jar lids filled with beer. The slugswill drink the beer and drown in it. Gritty material, such as sand, spread


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around the base of the plants, will also deter them.o ForJapanese beetles, Mexican bean beetles, Colorado potato beetles, and

cucumber beetles, hand pick the adults and the larva and squish or dropinto a jar of water. Be sure to scrape any egg masses off the leaves as well.It is easiest to capture these pests in the early morning when thetemperatures are still cool.

o Try putting a short piece of a board between your squash plants to trapthe squash beetles. They will hide under the board at night and can be

easily captured in the morning.o If you notice that the leaves on your tomato plants are looking likeskeletons, you probably have tomato hornworms in your garden. You willneed to look carefully to find the caterpillars hiding among the leaves asthey are green and well camouflaged. When you find them, pick them offand dispose of them. They look scary, but they will not bite.

Removing weeds and diseased plants from your garden will also help to keepyour plants healthier and pest free.

Not all insects you will see in your garden are there to eat your plants. Anumber of them are helpful to gardeners because they prey on other insects orthey help to pollinate your crops. Without insects, such as bumblebees, honey

bees, and butterflies we would not have tomatoes, squash and peppers.Ladybug beetles, trichogramma wasps, soldier beetles and lacewings areamong the insect predators that feed on pests in your garden. You can attractthese friendly insects by planting nectar-producing flowers and herbs, such asparsley and dill, around and throughout your garden.

Lead: Lead is a heavy metal that naturally occurs at low levels in the soil.However, soil with higher lead levels can be harmful to people, especially forgardeners and their families who have direct contact with the soil andvegetables being grown. Urban soil was contaminated in the past by lead painton houses and leaded gasoline. Today, it is illegal to use lead in paint orgasoline, but its remnants from past use pose a problem to urban gardeners.

What does this mean for your garden? Since you will be gardening in a newlybuilt raised bed filled with a clean mix of compost and soil, your vegetables willhave a healthy environment for growing. However, lead contamination canoccur over time, if contaminated soil exists nearby.

A partnership between The Food Project and Wellesley College has enabled usto research lead in soil over the past few years. To ensure that your soils healthis maintained, we recommend adding compost at the start of each growingseason is one way to keep soil healthy. Compost dilutes contamination and


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binds the lead so that it is not available to you or the plants you are growing.

How is it judged what a safe lead level is? The Environmental ProtectionAgency declares soil lead levels under 400 parts per million (ppm) to be safe forgrowing crops. Remediation in soil with levels over this value may benecessary.

If you have any questions about lead, please call (617) 442-1322 ext. 12, or stop

by The Food Project office at 555 Dudley Street in Dorchester, MA. We wouldbe glad to answer any questions you might have.

And Please

If you have any questions, need encouragement, have advice, recipes orgardening experiences that you would like to share, we would love to hear

them. Send us your input:

Phone: (617) 442-1322Address: The Food Project

Build-a-Garden ProgramPO Box 256141

Dorchester, MA 02125Email: [email protected]: www.thefoodproject.org

OR

Visit the Build-a-Garden Blog athttp://blog.thefoodproject.org/ Click on the "Build-a-Garden" link on the right-hand side. To post to the blog, email your contribution to the above address.

Seed Catalogs:Seed catalogues are a great place to find good quality seeds, and they are full ofhelpful information. Below is a list of a few seed catalogs that have seeds thatgrow well in New England. You can call to request a catalog. Once you

My gardens lead level after the 1st

year:


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subscribe to one seed catalog you will undoubtedly get many more in the mail.

Fedco Seeds (207) 873-7333 www.fedcoseeds.comHigh Mowing Organic Seeds (802) 472-6174 www.highmowingseeds.com

Johnnys Selected Seeds (877) 564-6697 www.johnnyseeds.comPinetree Garden Seeds (888) 527-3337 www.superseeds.comTurtle Tree Seeds (800) 620-7388 www.turtleseed.orgVermont Bean Seed Company (800) 349-1071 www.vermontbean.com

Other Resources:Crocketts Victory Garden by James U. CrockettHow to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons

Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew

The Vegetable Gardeners Bible by Edward C. Smith

www.umassextension.orgwww.ceinfo.unh.eduwww.cce.cornell.eduwww.uvm.edu/extension

Acknowledgements:The Food Project appreciates the generosity and wisdom of Growing PlacesGarden Project in Harvard, MA and the Kitchen Garden Project, part ofGarden-Raised Bounty (GRuB) in Olympia, WA. They taught us the ins andouts of constructing raised beds that wouldnt fall apart, and they graciouslyshared their growing manuals with us. Some of the words and all of theillustrations in this guide are theirs. We also wish to thank the Boston PublicHealth Commission Disparities Project that supported the creation andpublication of this manual.

Documents

Making the most of your raised bed garden Growing Guide - The Food Project