Spinach

Chard in the raised bed: why it gives you more the more you harvest

Mrs Schneider harvested her chard once in mid-June. Then she left it alone, thinking it needed time to recover. By July it was fifty centimetres tall. She thought she had done something wrong. She hadn't — she'd just stopped harvesting.

Pre-growing for the autumn bed: what you should already be sowing in June so the autumn doesn't stay empty

In June the bed is full and autumn feels far off. That's exactly the trap. What you pre-grow now, you harvest in October — and what you miss, you'll simply do without.

The raised bed in the first heatwave: when shade helps — and when it hurts

The first 30-degree week arrives earlier every year than you'd think. What in the raised bed really needs shade, what the sun can handle, and why a shade net is sometimes the wrong move.

2026 sowing calendar for your raised bed (DACH)

A sowing calendar for all of 2026 — month by month, what to start indoors, sow directly, and plant out. With the one catch most calendars don't mention.

My raised bed only gets 3 hours of sun — what's actually worth growing?

Behind the shed, under a walnut tree, against a north wall — not every raised bed has guaranteed sunshine. 10 varieties that deliver anyway. And three you can skip.

The last centimetre in your bed — plants that fill every gap

Between the tomatoes, on the edge, in the row where nothing seems to fit: four plants that are fast, stay small, and improve your main crops along the way.