Atlanta area gardeners????

stanleh

We (well probably me) will be attempting to put in a raised bed garden tomorrow.  I got my 4x4 frame from Home Depot today and plan to install it tomorrow.  The lady I spoke with at Pike's Nursery said that I need to dig out about 1ft. under the existing ground (which is grass) and then mix that dirt with a bunch of other dirt.  I'm hoping to get a good night of sleep so I am ready to take on the red Georgia clay....I know my back will be a mess this time tomorrow.

I'm wondering what you are planting for the fall?  I'm thinking of broccoli, lettuce, spinach and then not sure what else.  I suppose it will depend on what I can find at Lowe's, HD, Pikes.  I have seen everything except spinach.  We don't eat much cauliflower, kale or collard greens or things like that but perhaps we will be.  Any other suggestions?  I'm planning on sectioning that 4x4 bed in to squares.

Heather

 

nitaw

I'm a little north of you, TN, and have a raised bed garden too. I didn't do any digging to prep my soil. How deep is your bed? My bed is 1 ft deep. I put down some cardboard boxes and a biodegradable weed blocker, filled up the bed with quality garden soil and started planting.

Pick up a copy of Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. It's a great instruction guide on how to do a square foot garden. It also has great info on certain plants (tomatoes, lettuce, carrots) - like when to plant and how to harvest.

I just bought my fall plant seeds. This year I'm doing broccoli, spinach, snap peas, turnips, carrots, and collard greens. 

Here is one of my favorite sites for veggie gardening.

My method is to plant what we actually eat. Use the site above and it'll tell you when the veggie is to be grown. Cool-Season (spring and fall), Warm Season (late spring, summer).

blue_elle

If you're following the square foot gardening guidelines you don't need to dig your soil. You can grow in 6 inch depth (a couple plants require 12 inch) if you're using the proper mix since the plants won't put out deep roots if they can get all their nutrients in that space. If you're just amending with soil from the garden center then you will need to break up the underlying soil since the plants will put out deeper roots, but I still wouldn't break my back tilling. You can probably grab the SQF book at your library. Even if you don't follow his method it's got a lot of really good info.

Here's a zone 7 chart that shows the timing for seeds, planting, and harvest for our area:

Zone 7 Vegetable Chart

stanleh

Thanks so much!  My hubby did all the hard work so it wasn't that bad.  We did dig up the grass and then about 2" below that so it wasn't horrible.  Now on to planting.............

musgral8

We had a horrible time with our clay soil, which is why we did raised beds. We have 4 beds, 4x8 and 4x12. We have tons of peppers growing right now, and just planted a fall crop of lettuce, spinach, onion starts, and red cabbage. In October I'm going to plant some garlic, and I have brocolli and kale started in my house to transplant when it gets cooler. It's my first year with a fall crop, so I'm a little nervous about yield.