Vegetable garden bed prep before winter

[SunnyY]

Hello all,

Am relatively new to gardening and just tried vegetable gardening this year with the Covid at home situation and had reasonable luck and inspired to try more next spring/summer. Looking for some advice from gardening experts here with vegetable gardens. I had two small raised beds with some vegetables that gave few crops. Planning to clean them up when the season is done here in Northern VA and then add some new beds for next season.

Question here is ,
1. is it a good idea to build and prepare the beds with soil for next season now itself so it gets done well and ready for spring? Please suggest
2. Of what we saw as options for beds, cheap wood seems risk free but may break down in few years and good wood seems to have materials that may release harmful stuff into the plants and stone or bricks are long standing... as per advice from home depot. Based on this advise we are looking for stone or bricks to build the beds. But please suggest what works best
3. How to prepare the soil now so it is ready for spring?

Thank you all for your time.

 

[Tjohn]

I find that the biggest drawback for stone or bricks is the habitat they create for insects. As far as preparing the soil,fill the beds with good dirt and then layer a couple inches of compost on top with a layer of mulch on that. You should be good to go in the spring.

 

[Tetters]

Why do you find the need to build raised beds at all @SunnyY? Do you have a garden, and is there an area of soil that you can dig over?
We find these to be a pain in the proverbial, and cannot see any point in them at all - it is a fad as far as we are concerned, and causes more problems than it`s worth.
By the way, welcome to the forum

 

[Meadowlark]

"3. How to prepare the soil now so it is ready for spring?"

The very best thing you can do is plant cover crops suitable for your area. Its getting somewhat late to get them started now. Cover crops build soil, control weeds, fight soil borne diseases, etc. The benefits are significant and are especially important if you plan to garden in the same locations year after year.

 

[Tetters]

@Meadowlark is that what we call 'green manure' - like field beans that need to be dug in before they flower?

 

[Meadowlark]

Yes green manure it is. I use 365/24/7 cover crops in rotation...but not everyone is that extreme .

In summer, I use a lot of cow peas....but I let them mature and then shred them so that they will reseed themselves. Many times I can get "4 generations" of summer green manure for just the cost of a few initial seeds. Tons and tons of green manure.

In fall/winter, I like to use legumes (clovers, vetch, Austrian peas etc.) and cereal ryes such as elbon rye. Depending on your climate, they can thrive all winter bursting forth in spring with "tons and tons" of green manure.

Anyone who gardens in the same location year after year (42 years in my case), can benefit tremendously from the use of cover crops in rotation.

 

[Tetters]

Impressive indeed - especially if you have all the right machinery. The thing is then, that this method works equally well whatever size patch you have to work with

 

[marlingardener]

SunnyY, we have "raised beds" but don't use wood, stone, nor bricks. We simply dig out a path around the bed, adding the path soil to the bed, and have a bed elevated a few inches above the soil line. It drains well, is easy to access, and isn't limited in size by the amount of retaining material you have.
Preparing soil now is better than waiting for spring. Spring weather is notoriously hard to predict, and if you want to mess about in the soil in spring, you may be messing about in mud or a light snowfall! Just mark out your beds, add compost and perhaps a little composted cow manure (or sheep, horse, or chicken), and you are ready to plant early spring crops like onions, parsley, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.
If you have a bed now, you can plant garlic. I highly recommend home-grown, air dried garlic!

 

[Meadowlark]

Impressive indeed - especially if you have all the right machinery. The thing is then, that this method works equally well whatever size patch you have to work with

Yes, small space or large space, all soils benefit from green manure and rotations. Having the right tools/equipment makes even a large space easy to work. Thank you for your comments.

 

[roadrunner]

For soil prep all I do is cutdown all the old, dying plants (chop and drop and leave roots in the ground to decompose) and cover with leaves that neighbors leave on curb for city pick-up. And then I buy winter crops (this depends on your climate). I can grow most brassicas and many types of beans, including lentil beans which I just use from store-bought eating beans and things like red clover...

It's a myth that soil needs to "rest", keep living roots in the ground to feed the soil organisms. Soil with no roots in the ground dies.

 

[Stephen williams]

Why do you find the need to build raised beds at all @SunnyY? Do you have a garden, and is there an area of soil that you can dig over?
We find these to be a pain in the proverbial, and cannot see any point in them at all - it is a fad as far as we are concerned, and causes more problems than it`s worth.
By the way, welcome to the forum

Hi some people like myself have really bad backs and cannot bend down and if we can it's not for long I suffer from A/S there is nothing I would love to do is to dig my garden over but cannot so I like raised beds and yes I am a new gardener to

 

[Ruderunner]

I don't think anyone is saying raised beds are pointless. They have a purpose and your case is an example. But for most gardeners there's better bang for the buck.