The Best Raised Garden Bed: Salad Bowl Edition
The raised garden beds on my balcony, filled with salad ingredients
For the first time in years, I have been working with a very small area to garden in (I sold my house with my large garden earlier this year) and after a few months in the new property I’m renting, I found myself feeling frustrated and creatively stifled garden-wise. I want unlimited space! I want to grow everything!
But the upside of this is that it forced me to consider what many who have limited space do: what can I plant that is the most useful, delicious and doesn’t take up too much space? And then I came up with what I’ve called Salad Bowls! They are raised garden beds that sit easily on my balcony, crammed full of leafy greens, lettuce and herbs that I can easily pick and eat daily.
I realised I had to prioritise the food I want to eat everyday and edit out the rest (sadly larger things like sunflowers, broccoli and corn had to go). The Salad Bowls have worked an absolute treat with the produce lasting weeks on end, even during summer. The initial frustration was worth it! I’ve included the materials I used for them below.
Are raised garden beds worth it? I’m now a big fan!
Raised Garden Beds AKA Salad Bowls | The 4 Materials I Used
#1 Raised Garden Beds: I went to Bunnings searching for the rectangular raised garden beds my Mum used in her new balcony garden here. They weren't there, but I found these round ones which I love even more. They were around $30 each.
#2 Potting Mix: While at Bunnings I bought what I consider to be the best potting mix: Searles Potting Mix. I filled each raised garden bed with 2 bags of Searles = 6 bags of potting mix. They’re $10 each.
#3 Salad/Leafy Green Seedlings: While I grow 90% of veggies from seed (because I own an organic seed company!), I’ll admit this project was one of the rare times I made life easier for myself and bought already-grown seedlings. I did this because we were in the height of summer and I wanted to get greens as quickly as possible. Northey Street Nursery is where I went because I trust their seedlings. I bought cos lettuce, red-veined sorrel, endive, spinach and Kang Kong (an Asian-type spinach).
#4 Watering Can: Obviously you will need a watering can to water the seedlings daily. I love watering as you can see from the image below! I use a good-sized 9L one with a nozzle (v important). You can get them anywhere including Bunnings for around $10.
5 types of salad leaves from my raised garden beds
Very happy with this simple way to cultivate lots of leafy greens at home
Looking for more info? Check out my take on What Veggies To Plant in Brisbane or my Veggies In 5 Steps Garden Guide.