Inside My Vegetable Garden: Raised Beds, Favorite Plants & Tips

Many of you know, but I LOVE to garden. There's something so rewarding about growing plants. They're so happy, always there, and they grow! I know that seems silly, of course, plants grow, but it is so neat to put some TLC into them and see them flourish.

Every year I plant a large vegetable garden, but this year, I decided to do raised beds! I found these really neat galvanized metal beds from Hayneedle for $45. I ordered 4 of them and I'm so glad I did! They were so easy to assemble and the perfect size to be able to access from all angles. They also came with a liner so the soil won't leak out. The best part is, since they're metal, I can move them anywhere, unlike wood that will rot over time. They each took about 12 cubic feet of soil (So 5 bags of the 2cu Miracle Grow Garden Soil and one bag of Miracle Grow Compost, which I put on top for extra nutrients). Since it is my first year of raised beds, it will take a little while to build up the perfect soil. But this was a great start!

I decided to have 4 different beds, one would be the lettuce bed, the other the large leaf bed, a tomato bed, and lastly a vine bed.

In my lettuce bed, I planted butterleaf, arugula, spinach, kale, collards, swiss chard, and romaine. I did a mixture of plants and seeds. I think next year I'll just grow them from seeds. It is so easy and they grow quite fast! We are loving our lettuce bed. It is so nice to have fresh greens for salads and smoothies.

In my large leaf bed, I'm growing broccoli, cauliflower and Brussel sprouts. These guys take up a bunch of room but I can comfortably fit 8 plants of each!

In my tomato bed, I have 8 plants of a couple of different varieties. I have two cherry tomatoes, one golden variety, and the rest of our red tomatoes. I do use tomato cages as it helps to support the tomatoes as they grow!

In my last bed, my vine bed, I'm growing everything that creeps. I have a trellis with green beans and snow peas, cucumbers, zucchini, mixed carrots, watermelon, and cantaloupe. For the low lying vines, I picked a corner where they can spill over the beds and just grow wild!

For all of our herbs (basil, rosemary, cilantro, mint, thyme, and parsley), I planted them in my flower beds close to the house. That way, I can easily access them when I need them. We also planted a patch of strawberries!

Some tips I've found helpful to have a healthy prosperous garden are:

1. Don't overwater, sometimes they like to dry out in between watering.

2. Sing to your plants.

3. Fertilize as needed.

4. Tie up branches and help them along as needed (this is helpful for tomato branches and growing the vine plants).

My garden brings me so much joy. It's my little oasis. I love cooking with my produce. I can't wait for later in the season when I can share my favorite canning and pickling recipes!!