How To Plant Veggies & Flowers In Your Raised Garden Bed

By Victoria Fuller

When starting your own little (raised, beautiful, sustainable, and expertly curated!) vegetable or herb garden it can be quite confusing to know exactly how and where to plant your little seedlings to yield not only the best results, but the best gardening experience for yourself!

This blog post is designed to (hopefully) answer some of your questions and provide a few tips and tricks to help make your garden thrive and ensure you have a fantastic time while you’re at it! (We would also like to disclose that these are simply tips and advice based on our own gardening experiences and feedback that we have gotten from other customers, if you want to do things your own way then power to you!)

As a general rule it makes the most sense to have your tallest and potentially climbing/trellis-using plants at the back of your planter, this way they can utilize the support of a trellis or wall (if your planter is up against a wall!). It also makes sense to have your tallest and leafiest plants at the back of your planter so that you aren’t having to reach over them to harvest them and so that they aren’t stealing valuable sunlight from smaller plants in the garden bed!

2. Should I space my seedlings a specific distance apart?

Most seed packets come with specific instructions on the distance that they should be spaced apart for maximum efficiency and results, poppies for example require between 6” and 12” between each seedling in order to give them space to grow and also to reduce the chance of mildew. When starting your seeds from scratch sometimes it can be tempting just to plant dozens of seeds in a small area in an attempt to “cast a wider net for success” but unfortunately this can be counter-productive. This year we planted dozens of poppy seeds in each pot and the result was a miniature jungle! Thankfully we were able to salvage some of them when we separated them out and transplanted them outdoors but sadly this isn’t always the case! Without ample room to grow and stretch their plant-legs (legumes?) many seeds simply won’t sprout at all.

3. Are there any tips on how to space out my seedlings?

Strings are a fantastic option for spacing out your seedlings, not only does it make it nice and easy to see exactly where you are planting but it can also really help guide your seedlings as well! See the image below for an example of one our customer’s garden beds with strings attached!

4. Does sunlight and the position of my planter really make a difference?

Yes absolutely the position of your garden bed makes sense! We would advise keeping an eye on your outdoor space and positioning your Cedar Planter in an area that gets the most sunlight, if it turns out that the position is *too* sunny it’s much more convenient to install a sun shade than it is to have to completely empty and reposition your planter box because it doesn’t get enough sunlight!

5. How often should I be watering my seedlings?

Every seedling is different and requires a different amount of watering, seed packets tend to feature watering and care instructions but just in case they don’t as a general rule we would advise that most flowers and vegetables require approximately 1 inch of water per week.

We hope that this blog post answers some of your questions, but if you still have further questions or queries please feel free to email them to us at info@cedarplanters.com!