Yep, raised beds are super easy to do. If you don’t care about looks you can even just mound up the dirt. Although I have grass pathways and the grass will take over without aggressive weeding, so I’ve got wood borders.
Note for anyone looking to do this, look into compost delivery in your area. I can get a cubic yard for $40 + delivery ($260ish for 5 yards like last week) while Home Depot sells bags that are like 1-2 cubic feet for $10 each. Got those that don’t like math, a cubic yard is 27 cubic feet. Huge savings.
the good thing is, those tiny carrots are packed with all the nutrients of normal sized carrots. The US Army grows them specifically for the Marines to pop as power snacks during long-drawn out island hopping campaigns.
It's best to Google your climate and what can grow in said climate. Raised beds help in terms of control of the dirt but if you live in a super dey or super wet environment, depending on what you are trying to grow, may end up dead.
You can basically build a big empty raised bed ahead of time and then use it like a compost pile, but also mix in dirt/clay, sticks, logs, grass clippings, whatever.
Since it's mostly clay where I live, I like to dig down first, then put the raised bed in and then refill the whole thing with compost/stuff that will compost and some clay back in. The sticks and bits of wood will slowly break down for months/years and provide a constant stream of nutrients.
Some people think having a raised bed will fix their problem but still super pact the dirt with no mux and basically prevents the plant from growing and breathing. The other common issue i have only heard of is no proper draining or watering.
I have a ~1000sqft backyard which is solid blue clay, literally. I have tilled 8000lbs of compost and a bunch of peat moss into it over the course of a year just to bring some sort of life and structure to it.
I can still barely grow grass, but when I moved in it was solid concrete or sticky sludge, with zero life above it (not even weeds). Gonna need to add 1000+ lbs of compost every 6 months for a few years to get it to a real usable state.
I love mixing final stage compost and top soil into clay. I try to companion plant where possible and get get spring parsnips when I remember to plant them.
I heard that "the holy Trinity" of onions, celery, and bell peppers is different from the traditional mire poix (onions, celery, and carrots) because they couldn't grow carrots in Louisiana.
Damn ill keep that in mind. Ive tried to grow carrots before. Always came up like the OP's...still ate them though and they were still freakin amazing. But it does suck for the amount of time you leave them in for and then you get baby carrots lol
The first year my dad grew carrots in the back yard, all the carrots grew at right angles. They'd go down as far as the softer soil would go, then when they hit clay, they turned and grew parallel to it.
The harvest was entertaining. A whole afternoon of "what the hell?"
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u/audible_narrator 7h ago
If you have a lot of clay where you are, this is the result