Reclaiming a space, in what was previously a forgotten strip of yard between the pool cage and the fence, we planted raised garden beds at the Palms House.
This posts highlights the pitfalls and plentiful harvests from our zone 9 yard.
Initial Design
Originally, we designed the garden boxes to be raised high enough so you wouldn’t need to bend over to get to the plants (hoping for a small win for Chris and his bad back).
And…The Redesign
We spent a lot of time and energy designing the ultra-raised garden boxes, but the design proved impractical. The plants were not surviving well with their roots exposed to the swings in temperature, especially the crazy hot days in Florida, and the drip irrigation wasn’t working well either.
As a result, we brought the boxes down to the ground. Below, you can see some of the tubes we used for a drip irrigation system. So, we ended up cutting the 4.5 ft. tall raised bed down to lower 18 inch tall beds.
The overall design was intended to mimic the modern fence behind the raised beds. This way they almost disappear. Just the plants pop out of the top!
We got an amazing amount of basil and tomatoes from this bed. Instead of using the standard tomato baskets, we used metal fencing (hardware cloth might work here too). We cut lengths with tin snips and then wrapped the lengths into columns. You can just wrap the wire around itself with some needle-nose pliers to secure.
Next, we secured the cages to the ground using a garden stake. The DIY tomato cages much taller and stronger. Our tomatoes grew all season long! Hope you like salsa!
We created simple A-frame trellis for the bean and pea plants.
Semi-Pro Tip:
They wanted around $100 bean for trellis at the hardware store. Make these yourself! We used furring strips (8ft. long for only $1), cut some pieces to the desired sizes, staple or nail together, and make a quick ‘custom’ trellis for about $3. Save $97 for 30 minutes worth of effort….sign us up!
Drip Irrigation
We also wove small drip irrigation lines throughout the bottom of the garden beds to water the planted areas. This drip irrigation connected to a regular hose, then connected to a timer at our spigot. Super inexpensive and low tech.
[…] to best utilize the almost 2 acre yard, but we finally have a Phase 1 plan in place. Similar to our garden at the Palms House, we will grow veggies and herbs. However, this time, we are also growing […]