How to make beds in the country

Many beginner gardeners with the advent of spring think about how to make beds. Indeed, in fact, there are several types of ridges: warm, high, multi-level, ridge-box or pit. What type of beds to choose for a particular culture, how to properly organize the structure and what are its advantages? We will try to give answers to all these questions in the proposed article.

Warm beds

Warm ridges are built by gardeners who strive to get the first spring crop of vegetables as early as possible. In a sense, they are an alternative to greenhouses and greenhouses. The principle of operation of such ridges is to use the heat obtained from the decomposition of organic matter.

A warm ridge can be laid in a trench or box. The height of the sides of the structure should be approximately 50 cm. The width of the ridges can be varied. So, you can create narrow ridges 40-60 cm wide, or wide 100-120 cm. Each gardener chooses the length of the ridges independently. The sides of a warm bed can be made from slate, boards, timber. A metal mesh should be placed at the bottom of the structure, which will become a barrier to the penetration of rodents.

After the box of a warm bed is created, it is necessary to fill it with layers in the following sequence:

1. Sawdust is placed at the bottom of the box. Before use, they are scalded with boiling water and spilled with a manganese solution. The thickness of the sawdust layer should be at least 15 cm. The sawdust in the process of using the ridges will retain moisture and nourish the plants with it. It is worth noting that when constructing warm ridges on clay soil, the bottom layer should be drainage, consisting of large wood residues.
2. The second layer is laid with organic debris, for example, foliage or turf mixed with manure or bird droppings. After laying, the layer is rammed, subsequently it will heat up the upper layers of the soil. Its thickness should not be less than 15 cm.
3. The third layer should consist of fast-decaying organic matter, such as grass or ready-made compost. Its thickness should not be less than 10 cm.
4. The fourth layer is a fertile filler. It should be made by mixing 6 buckets of garden soil (peat) and one bucket each of treated sawdust and sand. It is also necessary to add superphosphate, wood ash in the amount of 1 tablespoon, as well as urea, zinc sulfate, potassium sulfate in the amount of 1 teaspoon to the resulting substrate. The thickness of this fertile layer of earth should be at least 20 cm.

You can make beds in the garden in autumn or spring. Autumn ridges overheat in winter in a natural way, but you can speed up the process of decay in beds created in spring with the help of special preparations, for example, Baikal-M or Radiance. They contain a large number of beneficial bacteria, the vital activity of which contributes to the accelerated decay of organic matter.

It should be noted that warm ridges can be equipped not only in open areas of the ground, but also in greenhouses, greenhouses. See the video for information on how to do this:

You can use warm ridges for 4 years, after which they should be dismantled. Over time, the microelement composition and intensity of heating of the soil in the box changes. That is why farmers recommend growing the following crops on them:

1. In the first year of decay, organics release a lot of heat and contain an increased amount of nitrogen. Such conditions are great for growing cucumbers, watermelons, pumpkins, zucchini and squash. Root crops cannot be grown under such conditions.
2. In the second year of operation, it is recommended to plant cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, cabbage, peppers on warm ridges,
3. In the third year of use, warm beds are suitable for growing all types of crops, including root crops, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants.
4. In the last fourth year, the nutrient content in the soil is significantly reduced, which means that the ridges are unsuitable for growing heat-loving crops, however, root crops, legumes, onions and greens will feel great in such conditions.

Heat-loving crops can be planted on warm ridges in early spring. Additionally, you can protect them from the cold with the help of a film shelter on the arcs.

High beds

Another popular type of beds in a summer cottage is high ridges. They are designed for growing vegetables in areas located in marshy areas and in rainy regions, as they provide good drainage.

Ridges are called high, with a height of 30 to 80 cm. When creating high ridges, it is necessary to build a box. The material for this can serve as a wood board, brick, plastic, metal. The process of erecting high ridges consists of the following steps:

• A metal mesh is placed at the bottom of the box as an obstacle to rodents and geotextiles, which will not allow weeds to germinate.
• On top of the protective materials, it is necessary to lay a drainage layer consisting of crushed stone, expanded clay, pebbles or brick fragments. The height of this layer must be at least 10 cm.
• The box of a high ridge is filled with homogeneous, fertile soil, free of weeds and larvae of harmful insects. So, for filling it is better to use purchased soil or clean the fertile soil on your own by sifting and spilling with a solution of potassium permanganate. A layer of soil should fill the entire bed, to a depth below 3-4 cm of the upper edge of the side.

Making high beds with your own hands is not at all difficult. At the same time, any kind of plants can be grown on them. You can see an example of an originally made high bed in the photo:

High ridges are guaranteed to provide good soil drainage, facilitate weeding and plant care, and are highly decorative. This type of beds allows you to grow heat-loving plants in regions with an unfavorable climate.

Raised beds

This type of beds is classic and the most common. To create such ridges, special facilities are not needed. It is not at all difficult to make such beds in the country with your own hands. For this, only a shovel is needed.

Ridges 10-20 cm high are considered raised, without a special box. Depending on the preferences of the gardener, their width can be narrow 50 cm or wide 100 cm. Trenches between the beds are made with a shovel, digging recesses at least 30 cm wide. The edges of such a bulk ridge are compacted with pops of the same shovel.

These raised beds are great for growing any crop. They are easy to water, but not very convenient to weed. When arranging the beds, one should take into account the features of different parts of the world. So, heat-loving crops must be placed in the south, where daylight is maximum.

It is worth noting that with the help of raised beds it is easy to create beautiful, original forms that can become a real decoration of the site.

Other types

In addition to the above species, there are other, more “exotic” beds. The most famous of them are:

• boxes, which differ from ordinary raised ridges by the presence of frames made of wooden boards, stones, slate;
• pits are designed for growing moisture-loving, tall crops;
• multi-tiered ridges are used mainly for growing crops with an underdeveloped root system for decorative purposes.

An example of how an unusual garden bed can decorate a summer cottage is shown in the photo below.

Basic principles of the device

Having determined the required type of beds, the farmer must familiarize himself with the basic principles of its placement in the garden:

• It is very important to arrange the beds on the cardinal points: the most heat-loving crops, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, must be planted in the south, while dill, basil and other greens will feel good in the northern shade.
• To place the ridges, you should choose the most even piece of land, where water flows will not wash off the crops, but will evenly soak into the soil.
• Beds in high, hilly areas receive the maximum amount of light;
• Using fertile soil when creating ridges, you can count on the maximum yield of vegetables;
• The aisles between the beds should be wide enough so that the movement of a person is not difficult, and growing crops in the neighborhood do not obscure each other.
• Beds with a frame are more reliably protected from the penetration of weeds;
• In low terrain, when creating beds, it is necessary to provide for the presence of drainage; in arid regions, on the contrary, it is recommended to place the beds in recesses.

When creating beds in your backyard or cottage, you must definitely take into account the above principles. They will facilitate the care of plants and allow you to get the maximum yield of vegetables.

It is impossible to unequivocally answer the question of how to properly make beds in the garden, because there is a huge variety of different types of structures for growing vegetables. All of them can be used in specific conditions. So, you can get an early spring harvest, without a greenhouse and a greenhouse, with the help of warm beds, but high or multi-level beds will allow you to create a real architectural masterpiece for decorating a garden. The choice of one or another design always remains with the gardener.