Quote Originally Posted by OakLeaf View Post
As I do every year while constructing my dug beds I wonder about building permanent raised beds....

Here's the issue I have though: My sweet corn patch is a different size and shape from my pole bean patch, which is a different size and shape from my basil and cilantro rows, my greens rows, my tomato and pepper rows, etc., etc. Squashes need lots of room to splay out; with carrots, I need to be able to get close in to weed them.

Those of you with raised beds, how do you manage your crop rotation?

It is difficult to deal with crop rotation with raised beds. I have raised beds with limited area, they are approximately 4 feet wide and 6 feet long and I have three of them. It does limit you. I do not plant sweet corn for two reasons; one is I really don't have the room for it; and the other is that my growing season is too short and I never get developed ears so I gave up!

I tend to plant closer together than I would plant if I had a great big garden out in the yard that was unlimited in size. and I mix things up quite a bit; companion planting type style. However, I do try to put the tomatoes and eggplants, and beans in a different bed every year to try to rotate in order to keep wilt, etc. from setting in. So far, I have done okay to keep wilt, etc. from setting in. My biggest challenge and all the garden books think this should not be a problem; but I have an infestation of earwigs that like to eat my small seedlings (they love chard) and eat holes in my salad stuff, etc. I am going to try the rolled up wet newspaper to trap this again this year and hope for the best.

I will planting seeds this weekend; and a few plants. We had snow last weekend and some really cold nights still, so I have been lazy this year; I'm also travelling a bit this year; so it is always a challenge to keep the garden watered while I am away.