A small area at a comfortable height that provides fresh vegetables almost all year round. A raised bed is a small investment that can supply a surprising variety of treats and is easy on your back, too. Berlin (dpa) – If it is winter where you are, your garden may be in hibernation. But there is one area that can be used for a variety of gardening activities even now – the raised bed. If you have planned ahead, now's the time when you will be able to harvest vegetables that you planted in late summer, such as spinach and lettuce. Creating a new raised bed If you don't yet have a raised bed but enjoy the prospect of your own winter harvest, you can use the cold weeks to create a new one. Doris Kampas, a German expert who has written several books on gardening, says even beginners can create a raised bed with relatively little effort. "If you cultivate 2 square metres of raised bed, you need an average of half an hour per week for maintenance," she says – and it's easy on your back too. Raised beds are usually made of wood and placed on the natural soil. To prevent rodents from settling in, gardening journalist Antje Grosse-Feldhaus advises laying the base with a dense wire mesh. When it comes to lining, "sturdy foil protects the inner walls from rotting," she says. And Kampas recommends using materials from the garden to fill your raised bed. The bottom layer of the raised bed consists of waste timber. You can use everything except conifers. Place a mixture of perennial cuttings, grass cuttings and old potting soil on top of that. "The third layer is made up of easily decomposable leaves from the garden," says Kampas. The tannin-rich leaves of walnut and oak are best avoided, as are pine needles. Add compost on top. An organic substrate for growing vegetables is best for the final layer. If you don't have everything you need at home, you can find suitable material at your garden centre. Raised beds are comparable to a large compost heap, so the material sinks over the course of a season. If you already have a raised bed, you can simply add new material to it in winter. Kampas starts by using leaves and grass cuttings to stimulate life in the soil. Add fresh organic substrate on top. Protecting your plants You can protect plants more effectively and better in a raised bed during the winter. Kampas puts empty large glass jars over the ripening vegetables or uses a cold frame to cover winter onions, beetroot and lettuce. Fleece also helps to prevent frost getting at your plants. Without this kind of protection, the soil in the raised bed will be just like the natural soil in the vegetable garden. However, it is easier to provide protection in raised beds, and mulch also helps to keep out the cold. "You can mulch the plants with sheep's wool to protect the sensitive root collar between the roots and stems," says Kampas. Start of raised bed season Your raised bed comes to life much earlier in the springtime if you cover it during winter. The activity of the microorganisms starts a few weeks earlier, which in turn increases the temperatures in the soil. "As a result, the roots grow faster," Kampas says. This provides a jump-start, as the optimal growth of plants in raised beds is primarily based on good root growth. In general, the season starts around the beginning of March, if you are in northern Europe, when seeds can be sown again. But Kampas warns that "it depends on the weather when exactly you put the first seeds in the ground." If the weather is mild, you can start sowing at the end of February, but Kampas warns that "the first vegetables must be frost-resistant." Of course some plants are more robust than others. "Early varieties of radishes, carrots and spinach are the best place to start," says Grosse-Feldhaus. With more sensitive vegetables such as peppers, tomatoes or cucumbers, however, you shouldn't be tempted by the young plants on offer in the shops, or plant them before the beginning of May, or depending on your season. Kampas says that it's important that the recommended planting distances are adhered to so that lettuces, leafy and root vegetables develop well and do not compete with each other. A distance of between 10 and 30 centimetres is usually recommended. You should also remember that not all plants suitable for raised beds get along with each other, so you need to combine plant neighbours accordingly. For example, carrots and lettuce and spinach and kohlrabi go well together, but cucumbers and tomatoes, and potatoes and peas should not be planted next to each other. The following information is not intended for publication dpa/tmn dwa xxde bzl lue amc arw
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