It is late in the season for sugar snap peas, and probably for carrots also. These are normally grown in the winter. The melons take a lot of room and I would go for the baby cantaloupe which I think do best for you. Everything else on your list should do well in youe warm summer weather. Al

I think you have time to get a spinach crop in and harvested before it gets too hot (I like Bloomsdale Long Standing). I would also recommend Swiss chard (any variety). You might also consider some basil to interplant along with your 'maters.

If you are going to grow smaller melons, you might try growing them vertically to save space. Just make sure to support the fruit with nylon hose or cheesecloth.

And if you have the extra space, don't forget to consider a few flowers!

I agree with Calistoga, you are probably too late for Snap peas. I started mine in late Sept. and harvested them over the winter.

Good luck!

For the healthiest plants, try companion planting. I border my raised beds with herbs and flowers, then plant the veggies on the inside. Use your favorites, I have an edible landscape so I choose edible flowers, like calendula, stock, pansy, nasturtuim, borage. They will all attract beneficial insects to your garden, and you can add them to your salads. I use culinary herbs and medicinal herbs that I will use, like thyme, oregano, rosemary, basil, dill, cilantro, parsley, lavender, sage. Plant spearmint in a separate bed, as it will spread like crazy and take over.

I put a copper barrier around the outside of my beds, to keep out snails and slugs. It works great. No pesticides needed.

In the winter I use remy cloth over my beds, so I can grow some plants year round. It keeps it warmer.

Renee's Garden has great seeds and she is local, check out her web site or they sell them in Orchard Supply and other nurseries. Her mediteranean Garden Oasis Cucumbers are the best. Last year I found a lot of seedlings at Whole Foods. They sell organic plants that come from locally grown farms, in like Santa Rosea, etc. They a had a great selectin of unusual, heirloom varieties of many veggies & herbs, so keep your eyes open every week when you go shopping, always something new.

Check out the common ground web site. Its got great info on planting dates, etc and good classes. They are in Palo Alto, buy maybe you have something similiar in Berkley??

Here is a link that might be useful: Common Ground

I have a raised bed also. Some great performers for me were the following:

'Bright Lights' Swiss Chard
'Scarlet Nantes' Carrot
Sweet Basil
'Sunsugar' Cherry Tomato
'Blue Lake' Bush Beans
'Yellow Pear' Tomato
'Early Girl' Tomato

My bell peppers didn't grow at all and neither did the eggplants. The 'Brandywine' tomato set flowers, but they kept falling off, even after I fertilized the plant.

Hello Silybum,
A few quick questions:
1 Where do you get the copper barrier and what is the price?
2 What type of wood do you use or does the barrier support the soil?
3 Do you have gopher problems and what is the solution?
Forgive any maybee dumb questions. Newbee to raised beds.
thanks klb1@isp.com

A couple of comments on copper -
1. you can get it locally at Sloat's
2. Safer sells a brand that is about 1.5" wide with sticky backing - it won't stick long to wood, but is good around smooth ceramic pots.
3. Sloat's has a superior no-name brand of copper that is about 4" wide, 15' long, with serated edges on the bottom.
4. I used a staple gun, with heavy staples to fasten the copper to the walls of my raised bed - four beds were done in less than an hour this way.
5. I have read that the larger slugs/snails will not be discouraged by less than a 2" wide barrier - so if you use the Safer brand, you may need to go twice around, at an offset.

I *really* wanted this - http://www.slugrings.co.uk/pricelist.html

But they don't sell them in the US - and they couldn't suggest anyone who sells a similiar product when I contacted them - anyone know of these in the US?

The Brits really know their slugs...

But now I find I have a problem - the wide copper barrier is doing a great job of keeping out the snails in my raised beds - but I found that it is acting as a breeding ground for earwigs (or something like it). They like to hide between the copper and the wood wall of the raised bed. Not sure how to prevent this - it would take a lot of glue to completely seal the space between the copper and the raised bed wall. Anyone have any ideas?

When I couldn't find any slug rings in the US, I checked out copper sheet pricing online. The copper flashing used to repair roofs is the perfect gauge - and readily available. You often can find it on Craigslist. It is too heavy to ship - so find it locally. Tin snips and a vise and/or pliers should do the job - if you want to make your own.

So my latest thought, combining the things I learned above?

Rip up my wooden raised beds, and replace them with copper walled raised beds, using a thicker gauge copper. Think of it as one of those slugrings - but *really* large (like 3'x6'!). That should solve both problems at once - plus I like the patina that copper develops over time.

Not a project for this season - but I like to plan ahead for next...

My local salvage yard has lots of sheet copper on rolls in different widths and guages. The stuff for sale in garden centers approaches the cost of gold leaf. Al

Besides having to glue all of that copper to the beds, Middleton, you could also put little cups (or cans, etc.) filled with cooking oil to catch the little buggers. That would also be a lot of work, it sounds like.

Rolled up newspapers could be provided, then disposed of in your manner of choice. I think any method is going to take a bit of time and/or effort until you get them under control, though.

I feel for you!

Brenda

My lettuce was being decimated by snails and slugs, and I knew that copper strips would eliminate the problem, but I had no money....except for the jar of pennies on the top shelf in the kitchen. I stuck them onto the edges of the planters with some silicone sealant. They not only looked pretty, but they kept out those slimey varmints!

pbsjones -

OH - hey that is a good idea. Just knew there had to be a use for them somehow. Is there really enough copper in them to make it work?

Bejay

Copper strips with adhesive backing are available at stained glass stores for much less than they get at
the garden centers.

we are starting a new raised bed garden.. does anyone know if lining the floor of the bed with plastic will be a good weed barrier? We thought of weed cloth but it is so fragile, heavy plastic sheeting?? anyone have the crab grass problem?? help!

Ticklingmedusa, kill the grass & crabgrass FIRST, then do your raised bed. It'll work much, much better that way!

Snopeopl, I agree with you that Celebrity is an excellent tomato for our area, I find it much tastier than Early Girl. All I grow is tomatoes and basil, we are hooked on 'Sungold' (Renee's Seeds sells them in her cherry tomato mix). They always win taste tests and are perfect for our area -- disease resistant, and can handle our highs and lows without a problem.

I can recommend Spicy Globe Basil to go along with your tomatoes, BTW. It's a mini-leaf basil, quick growing and perfect with fresh tomatoes. Unlike regular large-leaf basils, the stems are thin like parsley so you can cut it up with a pair of scissors onto a salad and there's no tough stem parts to avoid, yet the taste is pure basil (although not minty like the supermarket basil). It is also very resistant to bolting, and reseeds itself generously if you let it. A true delight for the home gardener!

Hi snopeopl -your one town over from me ;-)
Have you checked out the Potager forum? It's a new garden site on GW. Great pictures and tips. I just started my Potager this year.
{{gwi:523424}}
I've sown-
Onions
Spring onions
Bronze fennel
Garlic
Thai peppers
Mesclun mix (just came up)
Spinach
Cilantro
Basil
Baby's breath

Planted-
Nasturtiums
Geraniums
Fushia
Marigolds

Sown indoors-
Cherry tomatoes
Black Krum tomatoes
As soon as they reach 10" out they go.

I sucessfully grew red bell peppers last year but I admit
it was hard. I only harvested 7 peppers from 3 plants.

Edna ;-)