Raised Beds vs. SWCs?

[teribeth]

We're considering doing a major overhaul of our side yard and converting it to a huge garden area. It gets a lot of sun light but right now the soil isn't in great shape. We had been thinking of doing raised beds but now I'm wondering if it would be worth my while to build a bunch of self-watering containers. It gets hot here in the summer and I'd

Comments

[angelchrome]

For lower maintenance I personally would put in the raised beds, then put in soaker hoses and a timer. Even self watering containers require alot of watering, and quite importantly the soil temps in containers can be very changeable which will affect performance for many different types of plant. Just my 2p.

[teribeth]

Yeah, that's a good point.

[robby]

With garden beds, even raised beds, you shouldn't ever have to water every day. The idea is to water deeply every 3 or 4 days, and use mulch on top to help retain moisture. I garden in zone 9B, with 100 degree plus temps in the summer, but never water every day.

[teribeth]

I tried doing that and my well established plants were okay with that but any seedlings got fried pretty quickly. It was also ridiculously dry here until last weekend - I was kicking up clouds of dust in some areas of my yard/garden. I replanted the seedlings in SWCs and they've been doing just dandy.

[matanai]

I think it's a perfect area for raised beds. Also, if you have some particularly thirsty plants (like tomatoes) that require more than other plants in the garden, you can fill a wine bottle (beer bottle works too but is small) and jam it down near the roots (careful not to jam it directly INTO the roots) and then refill that whenever it gets empty, so you can selectively water.

I think in a hot area, containers would be more susceptible to higher temperatures because they're more open to the air, similar to how potted plants don't overwinter in colder zones where if the contents were directly planted into the ground they would have lived.

[teribeth]

I'll have to try the wine bottle thing the next time I have one handy. I foresee it emptying out almost immediately, but we'll see.

[matanai]

Yeah, I had to refill mine every other day or so, but it kept me from having to whip out my sprinkler and watering half the yard, since it was just my tomatoes that needed it.

[rangerharkness]

You have a nice space here and raised beds would be great. As soon as I read your question first thing was a soaker hose makes life easier. Which is the advice offered by angelchrome and second idea was mulch so agreeing with robby. The only other thing would be height of the bed make sure your going to be comfortable with the height, or build up to the point where you don't have to kneel or bend over. Love forwad to seeing the finished product. Even a before and after shot.

[teribeth]

Aw, but soaker hoses mean we have to fix the sprinkler system. ;-)

[mallt]

& if you're getting rid of the patio you might be able to use the bricks to edge your raised beds.

[teribeth]

The bricks are all being relocated to a new patio but I'm definitely keeping an eye out for cheap cinder blocks and the like.