As I have said in other posts having a plan is very important. Plants don’t like being crowded, they need adequate spacing so as to prevent diseases, and adequate spaced plants will thrive over crowded plants. Having a plan will also help you buy the correct amount of seeds and/or plants. I have come up with a variety of different raised bed plans.

If you’re frugal and love flowers and herbs dedicate a bed to flowers and herbs that self seed. The challenge is learning what is a flower plant and what is a weed in spring time. Also there is a risk that nothing will come up, but that can easily be remedied by having extra seeds and throwing them in. Some flowers and herbs that have reliably self seeded for me: borage, calendula, sunflowers, and dill. Internet suggests these will also self-seed: marigolds, poppies, bachelor buttons, violets, cosmos, and nigella. Sunflowers are a bit tricky there are new varieties that are hybrids so they won’t come back true to variety. I have found that sunflowers that are meant for seeds will self seed quite easily such as Russian, Mongolian Giant, Titan, and Mammoth Grey Striped. I have also found King Kong will self seed. A little warning that seed sunflowers usually get tall. I have successfully grown sunflowers in raised beds, but you do need to strategically place them.

Another idea is to dedicate a bed to perennials, plants that come back year after year. Some perennials tend to get invasive so growing them in a raised bed is a perfect way to contain them. Some perennials that are zone 3 hardy: milkweed, bee balm, rhubarb, yarrow, Chinese lanterns, yarrow, shasta daisies, hyssop, sorrel, chives, strawberries, lambs ears, and mint. Penner Pumpkins has successfully grown these in a zone 3 area. Perennials are a nice way to save money because you don’t need to buy new plants every year. Penner Pumpkins sells perennials online and at markets. The online store opens on April 12 2021. The store can be found here.

A very popular method of gardening is square foot gardening. My concern with this type of gardening is diseases taking root. Plants like space and air flow which will usually decrease the amount of diseases (such as powdery mildew and blight) that spread through a garden. Also by crowding plants you’re going to have to watch moisture levels. If going through a long hot and dry period you might be watering every day. If putting down soaker hoses this wouldn’t be an issue, as you just need to turn on the tap. A minor warning if your on city water your water bill might sky rocket. If your frugal saving rain water and using it to water the garden is the best way to go, but with SFG you might be watering everyday. Spacing in a SFG is a bit different than doing row gardening. I found this source for spacing.