One of the joys of home ownership is being able to establish your own garden. Whether your “thing” is raising vegetables and herbs for eating and cooking or growing flowers to add beauty to your lawn and as to arrange in vases to spruce up your home’s interior spaces, a garden can be a great source of pride and joy for many homeowners. Lots of sweat equity, too.
I spoke recently with Cleveland County Master Gardener Rahmona Thompson about an ongoing gardening trend—raised-bed gardening—as well as tips for growing different plants successfully in Oklahoma’s ever-changing weather.
Introducing Master Gardener Rahmona Thompson
Rahmona Thompson earned her Master Gardener designation in 2017 through the Cleveland County Master Gardeners Association, an affiliate of the Oklahoma State Extension Service Master Gardeners program. She became president of the association this year.
A self-described “Okie, born and bred,” Rahmona grew up in Ada from the second grade through one semester at East Central University. She and her husband moved to Norman so he could attend graduate school, and they decided to make their home here.
Rahmona holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in botany from the University of Oklahoma and a doctoral degree in the same field from Oklahoma State University. She was a faculty member in the East Central University Biology Department for 25 years, retiring in 2017.
As a Normanite and Norman Transcript reader, Rahmona noted that Betty Culpepper’s Pepper Patch, then Pat Folley’s and now Judy Kautz’s garden columns, “were/are must-reads. As a result, becoming a Master Gardener was on my retirement to-do list.” (Ed. Note: Betty, as some of you know, was my mother.)
In the Beginning …
Rahmona’s passion for gardening began in childhood and involved various family members.
“Digging potatoes, shelling peas, snapping beans, eating fried green tomatoes and pickled okra are fond childhood memories,” she recalls. “My paternal grandfather even had grape vines and chickens in his Oklahoma City backyard.”
Her father-in-law also maintained large vegetable gardens.
“I remember one summer eating so much cantaloupe that it was several years before I was willing to eat it again!” she recalled, laughing. (And yes, this superfood is in the same family as cucumbers, pumpkins and squash, so it is technically a veggie.)
Additionally, Rahmona’s mother “had flower beds and now has orchids and other potted plants.”
Raised-Bed Gardening: The Start
Rahmona became acquainted with raised-bed gardening while doing payback hours as a Master Gardener, which included volunteering in the CCMGA Demonstration Garden at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds, which has several of these beds.
With her interest sparked into square-foot gardening, Rahmona purchased the book All New Square Foot Gardening (2nd ed.) by Mel Bartholomew.
“I no longer follow the book’s plant placement recommendations, but my raised beds are made according to the book’s basic plan,” she said.
Rahmona’s husband, Ronald—a remodeler—built her raised-bed frames.
Raised Bed Benefits and Guidelines
The benefits of raised garden beds include higher yields, better soil, water conservation, fewer weeds, extended seasons and better pest control (source: OSU Fact HLA-6033).
“For me, quickly converting a patch of Bermuda grass lawn into a bed without needing a rototiller was the attraction,” she quipped, noting that the only major difference in raised-bed gardening vs. ground gardening is the bed preparation.
“The depth of the bed needs to correlate to the size of the plants’ root system,” Rahmona explains. “Annual plants or plants that die in the winter grow well in a raised bed of 6 to 12 inches deep. Small shrubs or dwarf fruit trees need over 2 feet.”
Rahmona’s Raised Beds
Rahmona likes to grow tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, spinless okra and dill in her raised beds because she can water-bath these vegetables to give as Christmas gifts. (Water-bath canning is her other major post-retirement activity.)
“However,” she added, “depending on my mindset (seeds or plants that catch my eye) and the weather, I have grown lettuce, arugula, green peas, green beans, onions, carrots, radishes, poblano peppers, red and green sweet peppers, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, Japanese eggplant, globular eggplants, squash, zucchini, basil, thyme and oregano.”
Managing Pests
Like all gardeners, she is faced with pests that would like to consume the hard-earned fruits of her labor. So how does she manage them?
“First, I don’t even attempt to varmint-proof,” she says. “There are some varmint deterrents I use. I ‘plant’ plastic forks and spoons near young transplants and onion sets to prevent them from being dug up. When I plant okra seeds/transplants, I surround them in a one-quart milk jug that I have cut off the top and bottom of and cut a slit in one side. This precaution is because the squirrels in my neighborhood love to eat the tops off okra seedlings.
“A blast from the water hose can shoo off chomping insects,” she adds. “But butterfly caterpillars can eat as much of my dill as they need, even if it means I must buy some for my canning. Basil can flower for solitary bees instead of being pinched back for more flavorful spaghetti.”
She adds, “I prefer a cacophony of vegetation to protect my yield, as described by Plant Partners by Jessica Walliser and Weed Free Gardening by Tasha Greer, as opposed to lots of labor, pesticides and herbicide. But if you are into a more orderly arrangement of plants, that is easily done.”
For gardeners who want to exclude animals, she said, “Chicken wire can line the bottom of the bed, and cages made of chicken wire or PVC pipe and netting can cover the top. Raised beds are easy to modify. All New Square Foot Gardening has lots of suggestions.”
Plant Selection and Care
Rahmona suggests planting species based on their temperature tolerance, not on when they show up for sale. (Pick up a free copy on the OSU Fact Sheets website (Extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/) for details.)
“In the spring, I have used a bed sheet to cover plants during a late freeze,” she said, adding, “but if there is an early fall freeze, what dies is what dies.”
If weather or a viral or fungal disease harms a plant, Rahmona simply trims the damaged parts off the plant. “Then if it dies, then it dies. Okra is the only species I will replant if there is enough time for it to produce pods before a killing freeze.”
So, seeds or transplants? Either/both is fine.
“I do both,” Rahmona said. “I direct-sow seed for cool season vegetables—radishes, greens, carrots, green peas, beans—and for summer vegetables—okra and cucumbers. I don’t have a room in my house to start seeds for transplanting, so I buy the early summer vegetables: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and herbs.”
Making Your Own Raised-Bed Garden
Rahmona has two 4-foot-by-4-foot beds and one 4-foot-by-2-foot bed, all made of 2-foot-by 6-foot untreated boards with the ends butted and screwed together.
“The boards can also be stacked two or more layers high. More expensive lumber such as cedar can be used, but do not use treated boards,” she said, “but any product that can form a perimeter can be used.”
In the CCMGA Demonstrations Garden, she noted, the beds are made of concrete blocks topped with patio pavers.
Of course, there are also fancy premade beds and bed construction materials available for purchase.
Rahmona’s beds are placed on top of cardboard, but other types of weed barriers—plywood bottoms or hardscape—will work as well.
“You do need to think about drainage when choosing materials,” she stresses. “Standing water will cause plant roots and wood-based materials to rot.”
For Rahmona, soil was the most expensive part of the building process because she used potting soil, which allowed her to skip mixing the different components, such as dirt, vermiculite, perlite, sand and compost, herself.
“Now you can buy raised bed soil already mixed,” she said, noting that if straight garden soil is used, it will need to be modified with compost or green compost/mulch plants such as clover or oats.
She urges beginners to look at examples of raised bed options at the OSU Botanic Garden Backyard Demonstration Gardens or on the OSU Extension link (labeled Backyard Demonstration Gardens).
For novices, Rahmona suggests starting out cheaply: “Use what is easily obtainable. You can always modify or improve a bed later if you are going to continue gardening this way.”
“You do need to think about drainage when choosing materials. Standing water will cause plant roots and wood-based materials to rot.”
"Use what is easily obtainable. You can always modify or improve a bed later if you are going to continue gardening this way.”