#Gardenchat: Raised Bed Gardening

by | Jun 2, 2016 | Gardening

#gardenchat; gardening; gardens; plants; raised beds; do it yourself; chat; Twitter chat

#Gardenchat: Raised Bed Gardening

On May 23, 2016, I hosted the ever popular and exciting #gardenchat session on Twitter.  My friend and fellow gardener, podcaster, and blogger Bren Haas asked me to host the #gardenchat when another host had a conflict and could not make it.  I happily accepted since I have participated in weekly #gardenchat sessions for two years, and I always wanted be a host.  Based on my recent garden update post, I decided to focus on raised bed gardening for this session.

What is #Gardenchat?

#gardenchat; gardening; gardens; plants; raised beds; do it yourself; chat; Twitter chat

#gardenchat is a weekly chat on Mondays from 9-10 PM ET about gardening topics.

A group of gardeners created #gardenchat in 2010 to share information about their gardens and gardening experiences.  According to her website, “Bren Haas started the documentation of #gardenchat Twitter chat forum on October 2009 to help people connect with others, share and grow successfully.”

How does it work?  Participants use the hashtag #gardenchat to essentially “chat” about gardening issues and topics. The chat is hosted by an expert or panel of experts who develop the list of questions before the chat and answer questions or share information during the session.

Of course, you DO NOT need to be an expert or even answer the questions during the session.  Just participate, and you will learn a lot and meet some really great people!  I have met some great folks over the past two years, and I look forward to participating when I get the chance.  Participating in this chat DOES help you to gain some followers who are active, friendly and fun, so give it a shot.

What were My Questions?

Hybrid Rain Gutter Grow System; peppers; hydroponics; Larry Hall; Grow Bag Garden System

I will plant jalapeno peppers in the Hybrid Rain Gutter Grow System in 2016

As I thought about the session and some of the issues I have had with raised beds gardening , I developed a set of questions and sent them to Bren.  She edited the questions, completed the graphics and posted the questions about raised bed gardening on her website.  Here are the final questions discussed in the session:

  1. Do you use raised garden beds in your garden?
  2. Please share pictures of your raised beds.
  3. What size are your raised beds?
  4. What materials did you use to create your raised beds?
  5. What is the orientation of your raised beds (i.e., north-south, east-west)? Why?
  6. Are you using a soil mix? What is it?
  7. What preparations do you do in the spring or before planting?
  8. What do you use to amend the soil prior to planting or during the season?
  9. How do you water your raised beds?
  10. Where can we find you and your raised beds on the internet?

During the session, I provided pictures of and information about what I was doing for each of the questions.  In some cases, I wanted to find out what other gardeners were doing so I could improve my raised beds in the future when we purchase property.  I will post up my answers in a separate post.

Where can I see the Results?

The #gardenchat results can be found by going to Bren’s website and clicking on each question for raised bed gardening.  Bren has a great little video from her website that shows how this works (make sure to click on the sound):

Of course, I just learned this myself; for the past two years, I have been adding my own responses and not replying to the question directly.  Lesson learned!

Links

For more information, the following links are provided for you:

You should really connect with Bren and me on Twitter!  Sign up, sign in and follow us!

Special Thanks

Thank you, Bren, for allowing me to host and have a ton of fun with everyone!  I really appreciate the opportunity, and I look forward to having you as a guest on the Small Scale Life Podcast in June.