After Six Years of Minibed Gardening - An Update

[@zoharflax6363]

What a cool and practical garden design! Thank you for sharing.

[@crystal_RN_6044]

I absolutely love my mini bed garden. I'm starting year 4 and expanding again this year. This system works and made me love gardening again.

[@Randy_Smith]

I took your advice about planting a rye cover crop last fall here in Indiana (Zone 5) and I'm thrilled with how it turned out. I planted it in two separate 3x10 beds around the time of my first frost (mid to late October) and it was able to get established before the hard winter freeze set in. By early April it was over a foot tall when I terminated it. I cut the rye at the base and then used a sharp spade to scrap away the crown. The rye that I cut gave me more than enough material to use as mulch for both beds I've got snow peas growing in both beds. These beds were previously part of my lawn and the rye did a great job of conditioning the heavy clay soil and getting it prepped for crops.

[@Randy_Smith]

@julegate I got a half pound from Johnny's Seeds two years ago. I used the last of it last year and I just ordered some from Urban Gardener in Westfield. The seed from Johnny's was great but I thought I'd give a local place a shot.

[@Randy_Smith]

@julegate I haven't received the Rye seed yet but I have been very pleased with all of the other seed I've gotten before. I also bought seed potatoes from them this past year and they did VERY well. My father in law has been buying from them for awhile and seems pleased. They have some wildflower mixes that are made up of Indiana natives and they are super

[@Randy_Smith]

@julegate no need to apologize about the question! Happy to help another Indiana gardener

[@beckymeyer1818]

Love my minibeds, too - can't imagine gardening without them. My wood frames have not held up as well as yours but even in bad condition they work. Will be replacing many in the near future. Thanks for all the inspiration over the years!

[@readysetdone6272]

This is my first year with mini bed gardening and so far I’m loving it! Thank you for all your mini bed videos, I’m growing things I’ve never Ben able to grow b4.

[@elizabethjohnson475]

I put my minibeds in a year after you did. I have reused billboard, black plastic, 11mL. Last year it started to show wear. I think I can stretch it out for a few more years, but I now have to be careful not to walk near those worn spots caused by the sun and our intense hot summers. I was ready to give up all gardening because of weeds, there were so many! Then you developed minibeds-on-plastic and I was able to garden again and not be overwhelmed!!!! You know your cat excluder? I have to use mine to stop squirrels from digging. A couple days ago they killed a small red bell pepper plant. Thanks for mentioning cultivating with the fork you sent me. I have never cultivated in my minibeds, but will do it now. I see you have garlic; me, too. Do you have to cut the tops back when the bulbs are getting bigger, as with onions? My onion sets were going to seed-heads just when the days are finally long enough for the bulbs to grow (I put the onions in back in the fall). I'm trying a new tip to thwart aphids. They are already in my cabbage blooms (for seed harvest). I heard to take large, yellow Solo plastic cups and cover in vaseline; that aphids think the yellow is a flower and get stuck in the gel. I will let you know later how this works. I make my garden grow more plants each year and do a lot of preserving. I'd like to expand, because this size couldn't possibly feed the 2 of us year 'round. And soon, that may well be the need according to our world that is now in a death spiral. I found that 2 foot walkways gives just the right room when I have to be on my knees working the beds. I've had no problem with my wood frames at all. Maybe yours were affected by frequent rain and humidity that we don't have. I've never flipped mine. I agree that potatoes are the very best in a row garden. Give us an update on your remodel and your "orchard". I keep you and yours in my prayers nearly daily, and wonder about Futureman. God bless from far north California

[@herrickkimball]

Hello Elizabeth, I don't do anything with my garlic plants until I dig them up. They are treated differently than onions here in my region. The yellow Solo cup aphid traps are an interesting idea, well worth trying. No wood rot? That's amazing. Your prayers are greatly appreciated, especially for Futureman. Thank you!

[@christineedwards4865]

A thin layer of rot resistant mulch like shredded cypress or pine bark on top of your plastic would greatly extend the life of it by blocking the UV light from the sun, the main source of wear on plastic weed barriers. Make sure the mulch is rot resistant so it doesn't form wood chip compost on top of your plastic, which would just be a new home for weeds.

[@johnndavis7647]

Thanks for the garden videos.

[@teebob21]

Herrick, thank you for this ongoing series. You have inspired me to replace half of my growing space with minibeds on plastic and I am also trying to recreate your 4-Day Carrot method. Weed control was killing my interest in gardening as I was spending every single summer day trying to keep up.

[@hadrianaugustus5712]

Well done! Keep the videos coming.

[@uptheplots]

Great update, good to see the minibed expanding. Is there a reason you use rye and not field peas or beans as a cover crop?

[@herrickkimball]

Yes. Winter rye makes more in-the-ground root biomass than any other cover crop I know of. And the top-growth makes great mulch. Undercutting the hammer-planted bunches of rye with a short handle hoe is simple and fast. The soil then has beautiful texture. All that root mass decays in the soil and provides food for the microbiology. I've grown other cover crops in the beds. None benefit the soil structure like the rye. That has been my experience. I also grow buckwheat in the summer months as a cover crop. It grows fast. If I leave it to blossom stage it attracts pollinators. The beautiful thing about Minibeds is that you can experiment in small beds with different cover crops. Try them all and see which ones you like the best. Thanks for the question.

[@christineedwards4865]

Blueberries are notoriously difficult to grow because their requirements are a bit more strict than your average garden plant. You could make them grow there successfully, but it's a challenge if it's not their native habitat with highly acidic soil. You'd have to check your soil ph, and probably have to amend with acidic soil amendments like sulfur. You also need at least 2 different types of blueberry that bloom at the same time for better pollination, which will increase yields. Your new raspberry plants will definitely be easier. By the way, you're the first person on KZbin that I've seen use sheet metal for gardening. It's a great tool. I use sheet metal to smother large patches of weeds for the first stages of bed prep, because it's so much easier than digging and pulling all the weeds by hand.

[@cynthiafisher9907]

You could use gorilla tape to patch the smaller holes in the plastic. I have done that. It doesn’t last forever, but it lasts a year or two. I think it would be helpful to mention that this system might not work without watering in a desert climate.

[@elizabethjohnson475]

I tried not to water, here in zone 9, far north California. We get no rain in summer. After several weeks, I put in an irrigation system on a timer years ago. Still works well.

[@richardpowers4200]

Hi Herrick, love the vids! I wonder if the bed frames were yearly washed with sodium percarbonate (oxy clean) would increase the longevity? Or maybe not since the direct contact with ground. I will try when my systems going.

[@herrickkimball]

Good question. I'm too lazy to wash them. But I would like to know the results of your efforts. 👍

[@jeffmeyers3837]

@Herrick Kimball Is the "bunker plastic" just a 6-mil silage tarp with white on the opposite side? In other videos you mentioned it was a recycled billboard sign. Just wondering what it is since it has lasted you 6 years which is impressive. Silage tarps claim to be UV stable for 18 months which isn't very long. Thanks.

[@herrickkimball]

It's a silage tarp, or bunker cover plastic. white one side. 6 mil. 6 years so far. I mention billboard plastic in some videos, and have it in part of my Minibed garden. But billboard plastic is, as I understand, pvc plastic, while silage cover is polyethylene. There is a difference and I discuss it in my Minibed trilogy. I don't recommend the PVC billboard plastic.

[@johnndavis7647]

Did you arrive at your row spacing based on garden cart wheel width?

[@teebob21]

How many extra years do you think you could get out of these 2x4 pine frames if a gardener rubbed them with linseed oil before installation?

[@herrickkimball]

Hard to say without giving it a try. But linseed oil is kind of expensive. My hope in the beginning was that the frames would last at least 5 years. Only a few are really decayed like I show. I’ll replace with inexpensive cull 2x4. They’re twisted and warped but when cut into Minibed lengths they can serve the purpose.

[@teebob21]

@@herrickkimball I've got a spot for 88 minibeds: two billboard tarps trenched in. I'll try it on half of them and report back in a couple years. :)

[@davidpatrick1813]

Any idea to keep birds out?

[@herrickkimball]

I don't have any pest bird problems. But if I did I would use hoops over the Minibeds and some sort of netting. I do that for some crops to exclude insects and have videos showing my system. Thanks for the question.

[@aperson1181]

Do you have contact info for the Amish Green house ?

[@CBJ2007]

What is the overall length and width of your minibed garden?

[@herrickkimball]

60ft. x 38ft.

[@jimmykimball2877]

😁