5 Beginner Raised Bed Garden WATERING MISTAKES to Avoid 

Thank you for this video. I have had to learn this. I always seemed to overwater everything so I was surprised to find out that I was underwatering my raised beds. My beds are 2 feet deep and so have excellent drainage. My plants were not growing and were yellow. I learned that underwatering can also cause your plants to be yellow. One trick I learned is to plant sweet alyssum in my beds to act as a kind of canary in the coal mine. If the sweet alyssum is not blooming then I’m underwatering. The added bonus is that hover flies love the sweet alyssum and they eat any aphids that are on my plants. It’s a win-win.

I have a drip irrigation system for my raised bed tomato garden. The recommendation to place lines under the mulch made sense for soaker hose, but I don’t do that for my drip tips for a few reasons. First, having the spaghetti lines above the mulch allows me to move them around and adjust flow as needed. Second, I can visually inspect if there is a problem, such as a clogged or damaged tip or a leak, which you could not do if they were shielded from view. And lastly, buried emitters will tend to get clogged by debris or algae. So I guess this recommendation was in the context of soaker irrigation. Yes, UV and solar radiation will shorten the lifespan of an exposed system, but I think the tradeoff is worth it.

Honestly, the English garden just looks stunning!!!! Just beautiful! You are a one of a kind garden artist!!!!

Your thumbnail soaker hose grid was actually the BEST thing I have ever done in my vegetable garden. Changed my gardening outcomes and made my production 4 times better

Love the house with the thatched roof!

I regularly recommend your videos to my gardening group. A fount of info, and just a nice place to visit!

Thanks, Brian. The over/under watering problem was going through my head this morning. You alleviated some of my concerns. I think I'm doing alright.

Thanks again for the refresher, Brian. I always learn something new👍🏻

Great advice especially for container gardening with the watering!

So we live in northern Colorado where it gets very hot and dry most summers and I garden in stock tanks up in the foothills. Have dealt with hydrophobic soil and it is terrible. We have been trying to get automatic watering going, but have had problems. So how I water now is to hand water, but with the soaker setting on the nozzle held under the plant so a lot of water is delivered without being wasted. I also mulch and interplant, so not a lot of open space in the beds. It is tedious, but like weeding, I find it to be relaxing and gives me a chance to really look closely at all my plants every few days. I also use a water meter now to see how deep the water is going - before, my finger told me it was ok, but a few more inches down, it was totally dry. We have a new plan for the soaker hoses, so we shall see what happens this year. Fingers crossed.

Your garden is fabulous. Thanks for sharing 👍

Side note. I love those Foxgloves. Tallest I ever seen. Admits I got a bit sidetracked admiring them and had to relisten to the end. Beautiful garden you have.

Thank you Brian, as always great information! 💐💚🙃

Another eye openning video. Thanks Brian. After watching I went out to plant spinach and lettuce in some round containers and even after two days of on and off rain, the soil was completely dry except for about an inch on top. I used your suggestion to remedy this and hopefully will be able to plant soon. ( still is in the 20s at night and 40-50s during the day.

Incredible gardens! For 25 years I have been adding food scraps to my soil (I'm a cook) and all 5 gardens are full of worms. I use wood chips from a local tree firm. We're in Nashville - the 5th rainiest city in the nation. Last year I used irrigation 9 days. The past few weeks it's rained at least 4 days / week. I plant on a good day (mid 80s), it rains the next day and plants explode. I use raised beds for 1) ease of working and 2) controlling weeds and soil. My biggest watering problem involves seedlings but I'm learning (thanks to you).

Thanks so much Bro! ❤️🙏❤️ Great advice! What a beautiful property!

Rất vui được nghe bạn chia sẻ kinh nghiệm làm vườn với mọi người 👍.

Great video, thanks for sharing and take care 😊

Great video! I love your roof and landscaping nice work. 😊

Thank you. I do have this problem with new soil . And of course I’ve already planted. I did get the bedding straw and need to get out and put it down.

Great info - thanks.

Long time gardener here, and I basically already knew all the stuff you're talking about in this video. I knew I would before I even clicked on it. (Don't ya just hate it when people say stuff like that!!) I promise, that all the above is not meant as a know-it-all-snarky thing to say! Bcuz - The reason I clicked, and KEPT watching, was bcuz I just wanted to soak in (ha! SOAK IN!! 👀! See what I did there!!) all those gorgeous fox gloves you've got going on!! I knew they'd be there!!! Standing there so tall... Waving their pretty Bells around! You (and they) did NOT disappoint!!! JUST GORGEOUS BRIAN!!! BRAVO! 👏👏👏👏👏👏

Great tips for the newbies. 💧💧💧

nice man! Want to have a raised bed but outta space! Glad i have pots just water everyday / pick up the pot if needed , and its fine!

Great information

Great information!

great video !

very helpful

Thank you Brian for the tips. I'm using grow bag's and here in Florida it's hot and no rain. I have to water every day.

I did not put anything on the bottom of my raised beds. Built them in my garden on top of my native soil. Filled them with compost leaves etc. soil is great. Thanks for a resh

Thanks bro

Unfortunately I have to water with a hose because I can’t do a drip system unless I want hoses strung all over the patio. My yard isn’t that big. I do have an area along one side of a fence that I would love to add raised beds too but no water available there. I need to ask my nephew who’s a plumber if he could add a spigot over there and I’d be set. Thanks for sharing your time and inspiration

I have limited space on my yard so I’ve been using these things from my work. They’re kind of like 5 gallon buckets so I’m basically container planting and I’ve been using for a couple years and they always have really good luck with the tomatoes and the eggplants this year I’m trying, vertical zucchini and peas. It’s hard for me to put a drip system in because they these things are not connected, but I’m gonna give that a shot this year.

Is this the same recommendation for container pots? Love ur videos!

Thank you for the Video..... By the way, Can we water the plants in winter when temperatures is freezing.

One of our new tall, raised Birdies beds went hydrophobic last year. I soaked the snot out of it, leaving a hose on in different spots for a long time. The problem reversed. I do suspect the hugelkulture layers in this new bed were adding to the problem. Already had straw mulch but it was a coarser texture than I had used previously in other tall raised beds. So important to be checking our gardens every day!

I am older than the dirt I water, and 9 AM is when my blood is flowing enough to get moving... I am slow and water carefully, and have a soaker hose, just need to put it in the raised bed. My buckets, I also water carefully.

Just reordered Neptune's Garden for this season - Thank you for the discount code - for those that don't know there is also a code for birdies raised beds (wish I'd have looked into that last year ) 😉

Cedar and pine animal bedding is a great mulch. It’s inexpensive and comes in a bulk size which allows you to mulch a lot of beds. It breaks down beautifully. I’ve been using it for years in my garden.

I use cloth grow bags and water at the base of the plants

💜💜💜 Tuck!@ pS; thanks for the great information. Never lnew it wws possible to consider a variety nased on what they are resistant to!!

Audio is great from here

Brian, I would love to go to each raised bed individually and water at the root of each plant but when you are hurting and can't stand up for too long you try to hurry, also if I was physically able, I would have put in the drip system last year but when you depend on someone else, it's not happening!

I've been using pine shavings for my mulch. Is it possible for the mulch to soak up the water; not letting the soil soak up enough. I do use a drip system. Should I thin the mulch or just move it away from the emitters?

I rely on a moisture meter to test water needs for all container and raised beds.

I live in the southwest, what do you think of little pebbles with sand for mulch?

Here’s a video suggestion! I would love to do drip irrigation in my raised bed (2’ W x 12’ L x 2.5’ H - soil all the way down to the ground with the bottom 18” or so brick and the top recycled lumber). There just isn’t readily accessible water and getting the infrastructure over there in our zone 5b/6a is a down the road expense. So I was noticing on drip depot’s website that they had kits for gravity fed drip irrigation. I could set up a big old rain barrel nice and high. Do I need the special supplies, or will any drip supplies do? Most importantly, will it work as well?

Super video. You have such a neat way of presenting information in a direct, organized way that my brain can absorb and understand. I’ve been feeling frenzied with getting the garden going this year but your demeanor is so calming. I can do this. Thank you.

Something I think you might emphasise more is the importance of knowing your soil type, how it affects drainage and what one can do about it. Where I live the natural soil is all just about all aeolian sand (95% sand - and coarse at that - 5% silt, practically zero organic material). Water just punches a hole right through it. On a timer controlled drip system with ½gph PC emitters it's bone dry 4" down & 3" to the side of the drip point. Changing to soaker hose rather than point emitters does help with the spread but then wastes water when you have widely separated plants. Only by blending in 50% silty loam (in the form of commercially purchased "plaster sand", adding copious amounts of vermiculite, cocopeat and leaf mould have I been able to get it sort of under control. The eventual answer is mulch, mulch and more mulch...

Audio good here.

you can use yucca extract as a wetting agent works well to solve hydrophobic soil.

Another option for hard soil is implanting vertical PVC piping down below the surface. One can always water-up the PVC pipe, and the deep watering will soak out at depth into deep soil, creating your zone of saturation (water level) for those maturing plants in the summer and fall times, when water is needed for the fruitings and deep tuber, root, and bulb growths.

Great tips that I know but don't always remember to do. If choosing to mulch with grass clippings, just be sure the lawn wasn't treated with any chemicals. While it might make the lawn look good, maybe not so much for your veggies.

How about underground dripping, would you recommend it?

is there a chart for timed watering at what temps? I have soaker hoses to set up in my beds.

I live in Florida and have sandy soil that water just beads up on the surface. Would it be a good idea to use a surfactant such as a detergent solution to help water to penetrate the soil? ( in addition to mulch)

Where did you get this your drip irrigation tape ??

When the soil in my indoor planted pots become hydrophobic, I add a drop or two of Dr. Bronner's castile soap to my watering can before watering. The water then soaks in properly.

I’ve used several RB soil recipes, including yours. I don’t have a water retention problem. I have a water saturation problem. I live in Kailua-Kona Hawaii and grow year round. But from May through September is dry weather till 3-4pm and then it can dump. The boxes drain but the peat hold the water thus the tomatoes are being over watered. I’ve used less peat but then I end up with too much wet top soil. Ugh help

Hi! I am really enjoying your videos. Do you have one on drip irrigation? My problem is that I can't make one system work whether it be emitter tubing, tape, or emitters. All seem to clog up at the end of the year. there is that inconsistency also with too much or too little. Maybe the finger test is good. Might be better than a moisture meter? Any tips for a good solid drip layout? Thanks! BTW, I took away a lot!

I buy my cooking oil in large (2 gal) containers and when the oil is gone, I clean the jugs and poke a small hole on the side at the very bottom. This makes a great portable drip system and slowly puts water down. How slowly? It's a matter of how big a hole you poke in the side to get the delivery at the pace you want it...

if very dry, water with a watering can plus some dish soap/washing up liquid, it will absorb much more efficiently.

Refresher course

I'm trying raised beds this year. I put cardboard on the bottom, thick branches, then smaller branches cut up and then dry leaves and filled it up with garden soil and manure. I have never done this before and I hope I'm doing it right

What happened to the gardening for free episodes you started, any updates or more ideas?

I used baby shampoo non antibacterial to break up the dry hydrophobic clay soil I had. Made it softer and I tested if it worked by seeing how easy it was a stick a screwdriver in.

Blossom end rot CAN be fixed by adding calcium to the ground. I've done it myself. I just happen to sit on some calcium rich ground on my homestead (like 100% pure white calcium rock in some areas), so this was easy.

I tried mulch for a couple years and my bug problem got out of control. How do you combat the bugs from mulch?

Dig peat or compost into the soil before planting, better than mulch as it acts like a sponge holding water in the soil. Both is best. Wood chip mulch uses up soil nitrogen.

Breaking up the surface of the soil with a fork before watering helps it’s penetration. Then mulch.

Water early evening, the plants need water to process overnight metabolic activity. Agreed, wet leaves at night can promote fungal problems.

Tip- pick any tomato’s that are starting to blush before you water or before rainfall

Can anyone explain to me how to use newspapers the propper way please. What i mean is do i just lay out full newspaper or do i rip it up how many layers of the paper do I use stuff like that as I would really like to try this system. Thank you so much in advance.

Hydro transpiration. Where more water evaporates than gets into the plants or ground.

Even watering is my challenge. Drip system underwaters some plants while overwatering others.

Thank you Brian. How can I kill tiny black ants in one of my containers? They've built an ant hill, I've never seen that before. Thanks very much. Love your channel. David

At 8:11 what is the huge big purple plants behind you?

Social media has social engineered people to be greedy with social media companies money. If you like and subscribe and follow as many channels as possible it cost you nothing. Every clip regardless of the content should be viral. Spread the love.

First 😊

I use straw mulch & it actually CAUSES weeds as opposed to suppressing them 😡

Ever heard of rain?

Not enough distracting ads. Maybe. : )

ugh i still cannot settle on a mulch lol horror stories on every kind

When I mulch, the sowbugs, earwigs, and slugs show up😢

I can only water at night. My garden is not at my home

I have to disagree with the watering times. The best time to water is at dusk. The water seeps down over time to the deepest level since there's no sun to evaporate it. Then, it can sit all night when it's cool and available to the plants. The water can spread and incorporate itself into the soil when it's dark and cool. When the sun rises, especially in the summer months when everything heats up quickly after 9am, that water you provided the evening before is still there and not subject to evaporation as much as if it were sitting in the top couple of inches of soil. I always water in the evening so the plants take in what they need overnight and there's still water deep in the soil for the next hot day. Deep water will wick up when it's very dry, and thus, the plants can have water without having to be stressed by a micro drought during the hottest part of the day. Replenish the water at dusk, and the plants have all night to recover.

One of my reasons when I pick cardio equipment is if it’s under an A/C vent 😂 Some people feel safer being next to someone else if they have medical problems or are just worried about passing out or falling they know someone is close to help. Or she just always uses that treadmill. Or she wanted to watch the tv. This kid is really an entitled troll and definitely needs to DO BETTER!

What do you recommend doing to prevent this during the off season? I'm a low desert container gardener and will be having some unplanted grow bags during the hottest part of the summer.

Am I the only one getting no audio?

OH NO!!!!!!!!!!! SOIL RABIES!!!!LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!