It’s mid-summer and here in my Florida backyard I have mostly flowers growing. I’ve used my three Vegega raised beds to hold some things and some are doing better than others. More amendments for Fall will be needed.
Over the past winter and spring, I set up some new raised beds. I bought the metal beds from Vegega after watching a YouTube video. Another Floridian had purchased from this company and she had lots of good things to say.
I garden on my own, and it took a bit of time to assemble, fill and plant the beds. You can read my post here. I knew that they would need time to “cook” me up some great soil. Branches, leaves and old growth were tossed in along with compost, dirt, mulch and earthworms. I knew the soil would settle and slowly compost. Still, I planted all three beds with some flowers and vegetables to see what happened.
The Round Vegega Raised Bed
This is my oldest bed. It gets more shade than the others also. I had some lovely Ubatuba pepper plants growing in here, and a cherry tomato. All of them eventually died. I believe it was a lack of good soil and drainage. I plan to add more good soil and amendments as Fall approaches.
Now it is mid-summer and a Tulsi basil is planted along with a few cowpeas (cover crop beans). One Celosia, one marigold, and a small pepper plant are struggling.
An empty, or partially empty raised bed is a good place to set potted plants.
The Long Vegega Raised Bed
My long, oval bed was the most difficult to set up. I love the shape though. It is full of sweet potatoes (I hope – I see lots of vines) with Zinnias around the edge.
This plant mixing was not a great idea. The sweet potato vines keep trying to wrap around the flowers. By September I will be digging up this bed and getting it ready for Fall planting.
My long oval raised garden bed made of metal, with sweet potatoes and zinnias growing.
The Square Vegega Raised Bed
The dirt in my square raised bed has sunken quite a lot. Aside from one hot pepper plant, the bed holds flowers. Many Celosia and a few Zinnias are growing nicely. Like all the other beds, I will add compost and more dirt when Fall approaches.
Plans for Fall Growing
While summer is fine for growing flowers, in Fall I want to grow food! Each of these beds will hold fall crops. Between the big beds, the white barrels, and all my smaller grow boxes, I should have plenty of space for vegetables.
First I have to add more compost. My homemade compost is “cooking” and has been all summer. I’ll use it to amend the gardens, but I’ll also have to buy some. I definitely don’t grow my own food to save money! In fact it costs quite a bit, at least to get started. The point is to have very fresh, organic food to eat. You can’t get fresher than stepping out your backdoor and picking a salad for supper!
My three Vegega metal raised garden beds are now set up. They are all mostly filled, but only two are planted.
I have three Vegega raised metal beds. It has taken me months to set them up (only a day or two) and then get them filled (this is the hard part). Now, two of them are filled with plants and the third one is nearly ready.
The first bed was round, and easy to manage. The second, larger bed was not so easy, but I got it done. It was a long bed, called a 9-in-1, and it had so many pieces! I put all of them together by myself, and I’m not so young! If you have a partner to help, or if your husband does all the work, then it would be a breeze! LOL…
I was able to put my third Vegega metal raised garden bed together inside the house. Thankfully, it was a smaller one.
I’m sharing photos, and information, of all three of my Vegega beds on this page. I’m very happy with them, and so far, my plants are too!
17″ tall, 3.5 ft. square Vegega bed with rounded corners.
I just signed up to become a Vegega affiliate because, why not? It’s super easy to sign up, and I am giving an honest review of a product I’m using, and that other gardeners may be interested in. If anyone clicks through and buys something, I could get a small royalty percentage. (Thank you if you do that, but I am not writing this page to make money.) I will mention it is a “paid link” whenever the link could earn for me.
Vegega Metal Beds, #1, #2, and #3
These beds are not cheap, and I really hope they do last many years (20 supposedly). It is work to peel the covering off each of the metal section. Then they are screwed together, placed in the yard and leveled. But the longest job is filling them.
Buy and begin the assembly and filling way before you think about planting. Especially if you are a one woman (older) gardener. My goal was to have the beds ready in March. I’m only a few weeks off.
So far, I am happy with the outcome. I have vegetables happily growing in two of the beds.
Bed #1
My first bed, or the first one I purchased and set up, is dark green and round shape. I have banana pepper plants, and an Everglades cherry tomato plant currently growing in this bed. Some holy basil, onions, and borage are growing around the edge.
Read more about the Vegega round raised beds (paid link) at their site. I like the 17 inch depth, and all three of mine are that height. It gives long roots plenty of space. This one was pretty easy to assemble and fill.
42″ round, 17″ high Green Vegega bed
Bed #2
The second bed I bought is long and narrow. It is a light green color, and I’m not sure of the official color name. It is planted right now with sweet potatoes. I also have Zinnia seeds popping up along one side. There is space for other flowers or small herbs at the ends.
This long bed was the most difficult for me to set up. It took longer to assemble and fill. This bed has two bars down under the dirt which help to keep the sides in place.
The metal is safe for growing food, and will hold up much longer than a plain, wooden bed. This is especially true in Florida where wood rots in no time. Some people complain that metal is not environmentally a good choice. Wood comes from trees, so how environmentally friendly is that? These metal beds are supposed to last for 20 years or more. Read more about Metal vs. Wood Raised Garden Beds here (paid link).
Bed #3
The third bed (featured on this page) is 3.5 feet square, with rounded corners. The color is Oyster White. Volunteer (squash or pumpkin) seeds have begun to grow, but nothing has been officially planted here yet.
3.5′ square metal raised bed. Volunteer squash or pumpkins are growing.
Although this Vegega bed has been sitting in my yard for weeks, it is not completely full. I have been cleaning up old vegetable plants and chopping the stems into this bed. The green beans are gone, and most of the broccoli. Because summer is coming, I’m not sure what I would plant in this bed, so I’m in no hurry. (I’m in Florida and summer is a tough time for gardening.)
To fill this bed, I have used the following;
Cardboard (in bottom – helps to level the bed) & random packing paper
Pine straw – also on the bottom over the cardboard. I chose this because they had it at my local yard shop. Straw would be a good choice.
Vegetation – old broccoli plants, stems, carrot tops, old vegetables for compost, and cuttings from the yard.
Purchased potting soil, my own compost, and Perlite.
Florida Vegetables For a Raised Bed
Summer is not a great time for gardening in Florida. It is our “winter” where we need to be inside where the AC keeps us cool. But gardeners know that the weeds never stop, so early morning garden checks are necessary.
Crops growing in summer should be hardy, drought tolerant, and love the heat. Sweet potatoes fit that category. My entire long bed is planted with sweet potatoes. They don’t need much attention. I have found old sweet potato vines in my yard, from years ago!
Okra, if you like it, is easy to grow and would probably love a raised bed.
Seminole pumpkins might work if the vines can travel over the edge to the ground without a problem. These pumpkins like some shade too, and root along the vine.
Even crops that like it warm may need some shade during a Florida summer day. My pepper plants are in the round bed which gets a lot of morning shade. I have an umbrella that can be opened to give them more shade as we heat up.
Eggplant will last for years here. An eggplant in the center of a round bed, or at the end of a long bed, would be a good idea. In fact, if you need the shade, put the eggplant at the end that blocks the sun. Eggplants attract ladybugs too, which is a plus.
In Fall, I will be using these beds to grow lots of crops. I have success with bulb onions, carrots, broccoli, beets, arugula, Tatsoi spinach, dill, parsley and basil. Radishes take up little space and could go around the perimeter. Tomatoes can go into the beds in early spring.
I plan to include flower seeds around the edges of all the beds, and seasonal herbs. Holy basil grows nicely in summer, but most others like cool weather.
I’m excited to get growing in my Vegega beds! I’ll keep you posted.
Each year I face the challenge of gardening in small spaces. Nearly three years ago I moved into my long-awaited home. It has the smallest usable yard space of any house I have ever lived in. The lot size is just about an acre, but much of that is down a hill and in the woodsy wetlands area. My front yard is large enough for me, but I wish I had more to work with in the back. Each Spring I must find the best ways to rotate and plant vegetables which will get enough sun to grow well.
Small Garden Space
I have a family of three, but my kids are not as excited about eating fresh garden vegetables as I am. I don’t have to grow much of a crop of anything – just enough for me. And that is a good thing, since I don’t have the space for it.
Last year I tried fabric pot gardening and it worked out well. You can see in my picture above that I had one large round raised garden. I used the smaller garden bags to grow potatoes, beans and carrots. The nice thing was that I just set the pots in the sunniest areas along the deck, and had instant gardens!
The rest of my planting is done along the strip of ground at the edge of a drop off which is loaded with blackberry briars. With all the trees growing nearby, the lower part of the yard is too shady to plant anything. It doesn’t leave much room to do everything I’d like, but I do get some nice veggies by mid to end of summer. And I put up a cement block raised bedout front which helps expand the crops too.
Hydrangeas Blue 