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Planting and Maintenance

How do I make my garden more productive?

Top dress your beds with compost and earthworm castings and cover with mulch to feed the soil and improve moisture holding capacity. Foliar feed your plants with compost tea, seaweed, and algae extracts to fertilize plants for faster plant growth and greater yields.

Use trellises to make better use of vertical growing space. Stagger plantings one to three weeks apart for a longer harvest, and overlap plantings and ripening periods.
Use season extenders like a cold frame or shade cloth structure to keep cold- or heat-sensitive plants growing longer.

Plant more perennial fruits, nuts, vegetables, herbs, and flowers on the borders of your garden to create windbreaks, attract pollinators, or provide forage for backyard chickens.
Beds planted with perennials require less maintenance over the years than those planted with annuals, and harvests increase in size as the perennials mature.
 

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Comments & Feedback – Thank You

I recently purchased a raised cedar bed from Naturalyards and I am delighted with my purchase. The bed required assembly, but no tools were needed. I put together a 4x6 foot 16.5 inch deep bed in about 10 minutes. It took me longer to get the pieces out of the boxes than it did to assemble them. Things I particularly like about this vendor are: 1) that they have different grades of wood; 2) that the price includes shipping; 3) the speed with which the bed was delivered; and 4) the very nice people that I dealt with when ordering. I highly recommend this vendor.

– Brian N., Chevy Chase, MD

I just wanted to thank you for the wonderful raised beds—they are beautiful and I could not be happier with them.  Your product and service are wonderful—all was signed, sealed and delivered in record time.  I did have my beds installed before Memorial Day just as you promised.  Thanks—I am very happy.

– Sharon A., Reno, NV

I purchased some raised bed planters last March. When they arrived, I thought, "Nancy, what were you thinking?!";  I am a brown-thumbed lawyer with no time to tend a garden, and wasn't really sure I would be able to set the darned things up.  Well, I set the beds up in about 20 minutes (all three)! I have to admit, I only have one filled and planted, but I have raised a cherry tomato plant that is over six foot tall and nearly as wide as well as some bell peppers and a zucchini plant that are producing.  It has been a very fun project for me.  I may only get one bed up and operating per year, but at my age the years are zooming by anyway, so they'll all be up and running before I know it, right?

– Nancy B., San Diego, CA